[kictanet] Eassy renamed The Nepad Broadband Infrastructure Network

[Alex Gakuru]

Wow!
Q: So South Africa can unilaterally rename a Pan-African initiative alone?
Q: Was Kenya not to remain in the delay-prone project for redundancy?
Q: I also believed Kenya had stated we were building a regional TEAMS the vast capacity?
Q: Is South African Freedom of Information really working properly for their media?

More questions than answers according to me...

/Alex

alice at apc.org wrote: (Apologies for cross posting)

 -----Original Message----- 
From:   Raymond Smith (R)  
Sent:   Wednesday, February 21, 2007 2:19 PM 
To:     Johan Meyer (JP); Prince Radebe (PJ); Peet Janse Van Rensburg
(HP); Kobus Stoeder (JF) 
Subject:        Eassy renamed The Nepad Broadband Infrastructure Network


Cape Town | ITWeb, 20 February 2007 ] - Eassy (The East African
Submarine Cable System) has been renamed The Nepad Broadband
Infrastructure Network (NBIN), because Kenya has opted out of the South
African-led continental fiber optic backbone system, says communications
minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri.

Speaking before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications
today, Matsepe-Casaburri gave a rundown on the structure of the network,
such as the special purpose vehicles (SPVs) that are being created to
manage, maintain, operate and fund the terrestrial and undersea
components of the system.

According to the minister, the network will be controlled through a
"golden share" scheme, whereby African countries would be able retain
control of the various entities that are to be created to run the entire
network and keep it from falling into foreign hands.

Matsepe-Casaburri says the ratification of the inter-governmental treaty
should appear before Parliament around June and that 12 out of 23
countries that had initially agreed to it had signed the treaty.

The NBIN aims to provide a number of landlocked African countries,
mainly on the eastern side of the continent, access to two broadband
networks. One will run as backbone from South Africa through Botswana,
Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Uganda to terminate in the Rawandan capital
of Kigali. The second is an undersea cable that will run up the African
east coast and was supposed to land in Kenya. The new landing point has
not been announced as yet. Other countries that have signed up are
Lesotho, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, Namibia and
Madagascar.

Special vehicles

According to Matsepe-Casaburri, three types of special purpose vehicles
(SPVs) will be created to maintain, operate and finance the network. The
use of SPVs was recommended because they would be able to go and raise
the capital needed without having to resort to individual government
loan applications to international financial institutions.

African governments to operate and maintain the terrestrial networks
will own the first type of SPV. The second type of SPV will be a hybrid
model that would include African governments and private companies that
are licensed to operate telecommunications networks. The third type of
SPV will operate and maintain the undersea system and this will allow
the participation of foreign-owned telecommunications operators,
although they would not be allowed to have controlling stakes.

No foreigners

Matsepe-Casaburri says the participation of foreign-owned firms in NBIN
will be limited to ensure that it remains an African-led project, and to
ensure the security of the network.

She noted that the model developed is not what international financial
institutions such as the World Bank would have liked. However, she says,
it is based on an open access model with non-discriminatory pricing
meaning that anyone, whether a shareholder or not, would pay the same
fees.

"We wanted to avoid the club-type situation we have had with the
(Telkom) SAT-3 undersea cable, but this did not sit well with a number
of other countries and institutions," Matsepe-Casaburri says.

She wanted to elaborate on her comment, but then realised that the media
were present.

South African companies that have already been identified as potential
partners in the project are Telkom, Sentech, MTN, Vodacom and Cell C.
However, Matsepe-Casaburri says the door is not closed on other
potential investors.

________________ 
Raymond Smith 
Senior Specialist 
International Market Development 
Telkom Market Strategy and Development 
Phone: +27 12 311 6478 
Mobile +27 82 7750558 
FAX: +27 12 311 7910 


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