Africa: African Ministers to Sign Agreement to Bridge Digital Divide

October 13, 2006
Posted to the web October 13, 2006
An additional seven countries are expected to sign a protocol in Cape Town on Monday that seeks to bridge the digital divide on the continent.
Initially, seven countries signed the Nepad Broadband ICT Infrastructure Network Project including the East Africa Sub-marine System (EASSy) in Kigali in Rwanda in August.

Involving 23 African countries, the protocol commits the signatories to the construction and operation of the network including the fibre-optic EASSy cable.

The network is to integrate the continent's communication by harmonising ICT infrastructure initiatives across the continent, thereby contributing to bridging the digital divide.
The Nepad e-Africa Commission said the network would also reduce payments to foreign satellite telecommunications providers, while contributing towards socio-economic development.
African economic integration and participation in the global economy is constrained by factors such as the high cost of access for end-users to foreign-owned satellite telecommunication providers for cross-border, regional and international telecommunications traffic, said the Commission.

The EASSy cable will ensure that African countries are connected to one another through broadband fibre optic cable systems that will in turn link them with the rest of the world.
The cable systems will cover about 9 900km connecting the port city of Durban in South Africa, to Sudan.
The protocol further provides for the formation of the Special Purpose Vehicle, a consortium made up of the regions telecommunication companies and other operators to own; manage and maintain the EASSy cable as well as the terrestrial network.

The cable is estimated to cost about 280 million US Dollars and would be ready for service by 2008.

The previous meeting agreed to extend the deadline for signing the protocol to 30 November.
Speaking in Rwanda during the first signing, South African Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri encouraged active participation in this initiative.

The challenge now is for those who have signed the protocol, to work with and assist those who have not signed, for them to come on board, she said.

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