On Nov 19, 2007 5:02 PM, Hari Kurup <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The SEACOM cable talked about will have a landing point in SA and east > africa enroute to Italy via the red sea.
If there are a majority of African investors and other restrictions! see story pasted below So we have this one: http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1505911175;fp;16;fpid;1 FLAG's cable, TEAMS, and Uhurunet (formerly NEPAD Broadband Initiative, formerly EASSy) and SEACOM. Can't imagine they are all going to be built, it'll be two, I reckon, or maybe 3, but if 3, then 1 or 2 won't make enuf to service their debt. But to interconnect all the IXen in various countries, some will need to use VSATs still! >From the East African, but I don't have the link, sorry: Tue Nov 20, 2007 1:53 pm (PST) Africa: Baharicom Give Operators Only 45 Percent of Marine Cable The East African (Nairobi) 20 November 2007 Kezio-Musoke David Nairobi African telecom operators have been allocated only 45 per cent shareholding of the recently proposed Baharicom submarine cable, which will cover Africa. Thirty per cent shares will be allocated to Nepad while the remaining 25 per cent will go to international investors. Baharicom is the holding company for all shareholders of the $2 billion undersea cable. The submarine segment of the cable, which will connect the East African seaboard to international broadband traffic, has been renamed Uhurunet in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the beginning of sub-Saharan Africa's independence from colonial rule. The Uhurunet cable was formerly referred to as EASSy and later as the Nepad ICT Broadband Infrastructure Network for Eastern and Southern Africa (NBIN). The proposed share allocation of Baharicom comes after South African Minister for Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri recently warned that no undersea cables will be allowed to land in South Africa and provide cheaper broadband unless they are majority owned by South African investors. Ms Matsepe-Casaburri said many so-called investors have announced that they will be landing their cables in South Africa, but will only be issued landing rights if their operations are majority owned by Africans or South Africans and if they prioritise African development. Whether Uhurunet will be allowed to dock in South Africa will now depend on the final guidelines that Ms Matsepe-Casaburri is compiling after the proposed allocation of shares. South African telecom operators Telkom, Neotel and MTN together own some 27 per cent of the proposed 50,000 km Uhurunet cable. Uhurunet was recently endorsed by ICT ministers from East and Southern African countries. It has an increased capacity to all destinations of 3.84 Terrabits per sec, of which 1.2 terrabits per sec will be available to the Nepad SPV, compared with the original 640 gigabits. According to Dr Edmund Katiti, policy and regulatory adviser of the Nepad e-Africa Commission, shareholders in Baharicom will benefit from economies of scale and thereby lower the unit cost of cable capacity, reducing the cost of communication to end users in Africa. Landing points will be provided for all coastal and island African countries in line with the Nepad priority objective of linking all African countries to one another by broadband infrastructure, and African traffic will be carried directly to all high traffic destinations. There have been various submarine cable initiatives around Africa, which planned to land in South Africa - the Nepad Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), the Infraco cable, the Vodacom cable, Telkom, 5-P Holdings and Neotel with Seacom. South Africa's Department of Communications believes that South Africa's demands for Internet connectivity will be met by the proposed Nepad undersea cables, which will run east and west from South Africa to Europe and Asia. Nepad seems wary of a move by a majority of South African telecom operators, including Vodacom, Telkom and Neotel, to install their own high capacity submarine cables around Africa to connect directly to high traffic destination of the world. Dr Katiti said that, "Such initiatives would duplicate and render the Nepad Network redundant." He added that the Nepad SPV will participate as the largest single shareholder in the submarine holding company. "We have noted and recognised a policy statement by the South African government requiring South African or African majority shareholding in cables intending to land in South African shores," said Dr Katiti. "Discussions are going on on the precise shareholding percentages." The Nepad e-Africa Commission had also urged member countries to expedite the ratification of the 2006 Kigali Protocol by last Thursday. Articles 12 and 13 of the protocol, which was signed by 12 countries, stipulates that national policies, legislation and regulations be harmonised with the protocol by March 2008. The Commission has asked countries to accede to the protocol before the end of December 2007. The protocol on the policy and regulatory framework is based on the Constitutive Act of the African Union. The policy principles include application of non-discriminatory and affordable access to the networks and application of the principle of public-private partnerships. Other principles are the acceptance that cross-border terrestrial and submarine cable segments can be developed, owned and maintained by Special Purpose Vehicles and legal entities with shareholders. It is expected that the Baharicom cable will be completed before the Fifa 2010 World Soccer Cup in South Africa. The cable, according to Dr Ham Mukasa Mulira, Uganda's Minister for ICT, will boost broadband connectivity in sub-Saharan Africa and reduce international connectivity costs by two-thirds. "The infrastructure will support high-quality, high-speed and reliable electronic communications in Africa and connect the continent to the rest of the world at affordable prices, thus accelerating regional and continental integration," he said. The shortage of fixed lines in Africa has limited Internet access, enjoyed by only four out of every 100. According to the International Telecommunication Union figures, the region's average monthly price for broadband is $762 per month, more than three times the cost in Asia and way out of reach of most Africans. > > -- > HAri > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > All very nice but anyone any idea what extra capacity is going to be put in > > SA to accommodate the extra traffic it will get from East Africa? > > > > Sa only has fiber going to the Seychelles and beyond and to the west of > > Africa ongoing to Europe. Rumors say it's already at its max in both > > directions. > > > > Rob > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > > Reinier Battenberg > > Sent: Monday, November 19, 2007 11:30 AM > > To: Linux Users Group Uganda > > Subject: [LUG] another cable coming > > > > > > It seems cable projects are announced weekly these days. Here is one > > > > http://newvision.co.ug/D/8/220/597778 > > > > And now the math: > > > > The estimated cost of satellite bandwidth on a monthly lease ranges from > > $1,700 to $6,000 megabit/second per month. > > The SEACOM cable will be 20% cheaper than the current costs. > > > > Sorry???? only 20% cheaper??? > > > > This will be a success similar to the one on the west-coast, which is > > running > > > > at 10% of its potential. Real sad. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > LUG mailing list > LUG@linux.or.ug > http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug > %LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ > > The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including > attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. > --------------------------------------- > > -- Cheers, McTim $ whois -h whois.afrinic.net mctim _______________________________________________ LUG mailing list LUG@linux.or.ug http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug %LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. ---------------------------------------
