Broadband Internet in East Africa: Uncertainties on Rural Connectivity

The first undersea cable to bring high-speed internet access to East Africa has gone live. The fibre-optic cable, operated by African-owned firm Seacom, connects South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique to Europe and Asia. The firm says the cable will help to boost the prospects of the region's industry and commerce. The cable - which is 17,000km long - took two years to lay and cost more than $650m. But it is not clear whether the internet revolution will reach the villages, many of which still struggle to access reliable electricity.

Read more from:
BBC Website
Tinyurl.com
Seacom Website

Call for Proposal: START Grants for GECRA

START announces the Call for Proposals for the 2009/2010 START Grants for Global Environmental Change Research in Africa. A proposal is to be prepared using a special application form available at the START website.

Due date for Proposals is: 30 August 2009.

For more information, click HERE  or contact the undersigned:

Charles S. Kauffman
International START Secretariat
2000 Florida Avenue NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC, 20009, USA
Tel: +1-202-462-2213
Fax: +1-202-457-5859
cskauffman@agu.org

Euro-Africa ICT Conference: a call to remove roadblocks

The SECOND day of Euro-Africa ICT conference has just commenced. The major theme this morning has been dominated by hot discussion on how Europe, Africa and the Carribean regions can work together to remove roadblocks. Some participants were concerned about the definition of roadblocks and suggested a word "challenge" instead. However, at last it was used interchengeably with "challenge". The biggest challenge identified was lack of adequate infrastructure to deploy the technology to rural and unreached areas. The status of two major infrastructure projects in Eastern and Southern Africa was presented.The SEACOM project is at the completion stage and is expected to start operation sometimes after June 2009. EASSy project is the second. Its construction shall start soon and be completed by the end of 2010. More about the two projects click here for SEACOM and here for EASSy.

Tanzanian participants during the 1st Euro-Africa Forum on ICT Research in Brussels. With me are Professors Tolly Mbwete, the Vice Chancellor of the Open University of Tanzania (center), and Faustine Kamuzora, the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Mzumbe University in Tanzania (right)