[kictanet] Fwd: [aisi-l] SEACOM gets funding boost
Eric Osiakwan
eric at afrispa.org
Wed Nov 14 08:22:02 EAT 2007
Begin forwarded message:
> From: "Wairagala Wakabi" <wakabi at cipesa.org>
> Date: 14 November 2007 10:56:10 GMT+03:00
> To: "African Information Society Initiative - Discussion Forum"
> <aisi-l at lyris.bellanet.org>
> Cc: discuss at afrispa.org, "Eric Osiakwan" <eric at afrispa.org>,
> gispa at yahoogroups.com, africann at afrinic.net, "African Information
> Society Initiative - Discussion Forum" <aisi-l at lyris.bellanet.org>,
> "Ghana Information Networking and Knowledge Sharing"
> <ginks at dgroups.org>, afnog at afnog.org, "KICTAnet ICT Policy
> Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>, afrinic-
> discuss at afrinic.net
> Subject: [aisi-l] SEACOM gets funding boost
> Reply-To: "African Information Society Initiative - Discussion
> Forum" <aisi-l at lyris.bellanet.org>
>
> Netters,
> Its backers are saying SEACOM will be the only new cable completed
> in time
> to give South Africa the bandwidth needed for the 2010 WC, with
> "actual
> production of the fibreoptic cable and undersea facilities"
> starting next
> week. SA's SNO, NEOTEL, has helped marshal capital from local
> financial
> heavyweights, enabling NEOTEL to be owned 50% by South Africans.
>
> Tut Tut...
>
> Wakabi
>
>
> Sea cable venture lands big investors
>
> By Lesley Stones, Business Day, November 14 2007
>
> AN UNDERSEA cable promising cheap bandwidth for Africa yesterday
> finally
> named its backers, signing up enough well-connected local investors to
> guarantee its landing rights in SA.
>
> Investment heavyweight Venfin is sinking $75m into the project,
> taking a
> 25% stake in the 15000km cable linking SA to India and Europe.
>
> Cyril Ramaphosa’s black investment house Shanduka is taking 12,5%,
> worth
> $37,5m. Another 12,5% goes to Convergence Partners, a group of black
> investors led by Andile Ngcaba, the chairman of Dimension Data
> Africa and
> a former director-general of the communications department. Nedbank
> Capital and Investec will provide financing for the $650m project.
>
> SA’s second network operator, Neotel, is pumping in a far more modest
> R20m, and using its telecoms licence to guarantee that the cable
> can dock
> in SA.
>
> The local ownership is sufficient to ensure that Seacom meets
> controversial new conditions being drawn up by Communications
> Minister Ivy
> Matsepe-Casaburri, dictating who can land a cable in SA. The
> minister is
> insisting that any cable must be majority owned by African
> investors to
> come ashore.
>
> South Africans hold 50% of Seacom, and that rises to 75% African
> ownership
> thanks to 25% held by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development’s
> Industrial Promotion Services, a development agency based in Kenya.
>
> The remaining 25% lies with New York’s Herakles Telecom, a development
> group that has invested $4bn in Africa.
>
> Neotel is investing only in the local landing station, but its
> licence to
> operate in SA conferred on it the right to land a cable, said MD Ajay
> Pandey.
>
> “Our understanding is that the country needs international
> capacity, and
> the way international cable landing protocols have been defined
> means we
> have the opportunity here.”
>
> Venfin CEO Jannie Durand said Neotel’s licence to land a cable in
> SA meant
> everything had been done “legally and correctly”. Venfin was backing
> Seacom for two reasons, he said: “We are hopefully going to make a
> lot of
> money out of it and SA needs more bandwidth. We want to bring SA
> affordable bandwidth to the rest of the world.”
>
> Although the cable will cost $650m, it would be partly funded by
> loans as
> well as equity, allowing Venfin to take 25% for less than the book
> value
> of the project, Durand said.
>
> Pandey believes Seacom will be the onlyThe actual production of the
> fibreoptic cable and undersea facilities will start next week.
>
> The consortium has already invested more than $10m in a marine
> survey and
> engineering of the cable. The actual production of the fibreoptic
> cable
> and undersea facilities will start next week.
>
> Seacom will connect Mtunzini in SA to Mumbai in India and
> Marseilles in
> France via Mozambique, Madagascar, Kenya and Tanzania by June 2009.
>
> Terrestrial links will be built to take its bandwidth to numerous
> other
> inland countries. Its capacity of 1,28 terabytes per second is 10
> times
> the capacity on the existing Sat-3 cable around Africa’s west coast.
>
> The consortium has promised that it will charge other voice and data
> carriers significantly less for its bandwidth than they pay to use
> Sat-3
> or satellite services, which should trigger a massive decrease in
> the cost
> of phone calls, internet access and data transmissions for African
> consumers and businesses.
>
> “Improved access for business and individuals in Africa to
> communications,
> broadband services and new technology offerings can improve lives
> and help
> grow the economies of our countries,” said Ngcaba, the chairman of
> Convergence Partners. “The linking of southern and east Africa with
> India
> and Europe is crucial for enhancing development and trade between
> these
> key regions.”
>
> gies that will deliver affordable broadband
>> services open to all. Leveraging existing internet access point as
>> hubs could be a very good starting point to build license-free
>> point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, mesh or even cellular networks
>> that will reach the masses in the villages. It will be nice when
>> someone leaves the town to visit relatives in the village and not
>> lost
>> connectivity to the wireless space because their provider does not
>> offer services yet in that area. Think of a cell phone with WIFI
>> capabilities that accesses paid networks in towns and free WIFI
>> access
>> at the village sector. So in town, you will use your paid
>> services, in
>> the village you will use the free WIFI access...how nice will that
>> be?
>>
>> Wilfred
>>
>>
>> ----- Message from eric at afrispa.org ---------
>> Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2007 09:33:30 +0300
>> From: Eric Osiakwan <eric at afrispa.org>
>> Reply-To: Discuss at afrispa.org
>> Subject: [AfrISPA.Discuss] Five Goals of Connect Africa
>> To: discuss at afrispa.org, KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
>> <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>, gispa at yahoogroups.com, Ghana
>> Information Networking and Knowledge Sharing <ginks at dgroups.org>, APC
>> - Private list for use by EASSY Workshop Participants
>> <Fibre-for-africa at lists.apc.org>, africann at afrinic.net,
>> afrinic-discuss at afrinic.net, afnog at afnog.org, African Information
>> Society Initiative - Discussion Forum <aisi-l at lyris.bellanet.org>
>>
>>
>>> Dear All,
>>>
>>> The Connect Africa Summit justed ended in Kigali with the following
>>> five major goals;
>>>
>>> Goal 1. Interconnect all African capitals with ICT Broadband
>>> infrastructure and strengthen connectivity to the rest of the
>>> world by
>>> 2012 as well as interconnect major African cities by 2015.
>>> Goal 2. Connect all African villages to broadband ICT services
>>> by 2012
>>> and implement shared access initiatives such as community tele-
>>> centres
>>> and village phones.
>>> Goal 3. Adopt key regulatory measures that promote affordable,
>>> widespread access to a full range of bradband ICT services,
>>> including
>>> technology and service neutral licensing/authorisation practises,
>>> allocating spectrum for multiple, competitive broadband wireless
>>> service providers, creating national internext exchange points
>>> (IXPs)
>>> and implementing competition in the provision of international
>>> internet connectivity.
>>> Goal 4. Support the development of a critical mass of ICT Skills
>>> required by the knowledge economy, notably through the
>>> estamishment of
>>> ICT Centres of Excellence network in each sub-region of Africa
>>> and ICT
>>> capacity-building and training centres in each country, with the
>>> aim
>>> of achieving a borad network of inter-linked physical and virtual
>>> centres, whiles ensuring coordination between academia and
>>> industry by
>>> 2015.
>>> Goal 5. Adopt a national e-strategy, including a cyber-security
>>> framework, and deploy at least one flagship e-government service as
>>> well as e-education, e-commerce and e-health services using
>>> accessible
>>> technologies in each country in Africa by 2012, with the aim of
>>> making
>>> multiple e-government and other e-services widely available by
>>> 2015.
>>>
>>> The African ICT Ministers have also shortlisted some projects under
>>> ARAPKE which would be implenented through Connect Africa @ http://
>>> www.itu.int/ITU-D/connect/africa/2007/bgdmaterial/flagship-11.html
>>>
>>> It is important that we all engage and ensure that these ICT
>>> goals are
>>> met by 2012 and the larger MDGS by 2015.
>>>
>>> Thank you and sorry for cross-posting.
>>>
>>> Eric M.K Osiakwan
>>> Executive Secretary
>>> AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org)
>>> Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031
>>> Fax: + 233.21.258811
>>> Cell: + 233.244.386792
>>> Handle: eosiakwan
>>> Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North
>>> Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North
>>> Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/
>>> Slang: "Tomorrow Now"
>>
>>
>> ----- End message from eric at afrispa.org -----
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Fibre-for-africa at lists.apc.org
>> http://lists.apc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fibre-for-africa
>>
>
>
>
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Eric M.K Osiakwan
Executive Secretary
AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org)
Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031
Fax: + 233.21.258811
Cell: + 233.244.386792
Handle: eosiakwan
Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North
Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North
Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/
Slang: "Tomorrow Now"
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