African universities have banded together to challenge high Internet bandwidth access costs by investing in the development of the new undersea cable on the east coast of Africa.
Last August, universities from Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda and South Africa formed a collaborative regional body, the UbuntuNet Alliance, in an attempt to lobby governments and gain access to low-cost bandwidth on the EASSy cable. At least eight other Southern and East African countries have expressed interest in joining the fray.
The 9 900km East Africa Submarine System (EASSy) cable, which is being developed by a consortium of 31 telecommunications companies, will run from Port Sudan in the north to Durban on South Africa’s east coast. It is expected to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2007 and will have nine landing stations positioned along the east coast, completing the fibre loop surrounding Africa.
According to the alliance, universities in sub-Saharan Africa are being hampered in their research and learning endeavors by the high cost of Internet bandwidth.
Most African countries currently receive their international bandwidth access at excessively high costs, via satellite or the SAT-3 undersea cable which is controlled by a club consortium of telecoms monopolies throughout Africa.
Russel Southwood of the information and communication technology website Balancing Act recently told the BBC that SAT-3 prices had been as high $25 000 per megabit per second per month, but had fallen to between $10 000 and $15 000. The actual cost to the operators is about $2 000, said Southwood. A spokesperson for the consortium has indicated that bandwidth prices on the EASSy cable would be at least 65% lower than the current satellite access costs.
The UbuntuNet Alliance has managed to raise $3million to invest in the EASSy cable and, according to its spokesperson, Victor Kyalo, other donors are also being tapped.
“UbuntuNet will definitely buy into the EASSy cable,” said Kyalo, who declared the main motivation was the availability of affordable quality connectivity.
But there have been hitches along the way. The success of the initiative now rests on the ability to cut through the bureaucracy. Kyalo said it had been very difficult to get factual information out of the EASSy consortium.
UbuntuNet’s frustrations during its negotiations with the consortium came to light at a conference in Mombasa, Kenya, last month.
Key stakeholders bemoaned the lack of communication between the alliance and the EASSy consortium. Southwood, one of the organisers, lamented that six potential investors in EASSy had not even received a letter of reply to their expression of interest in the project.
“It’s like, Dear Aunty, I want to meet EASSy, who is tall, dark and handsome but, unfortunately, he won’t return my calls,” said Southwood.
Another major sticking point is that some consortium partners have insisted that investors in the cable must have an international gateway licence. The licence allows telecoms operators to move Internet traffic across national borders.
Kyalo said their proposal is structured so that UbuntuNet Alliance would not need an international gateway licence. “UbuntuNet will invest and buy capacity in the EASSy ring, which it will make available to the member national research and education networks. Each of the networks will then fulfil the interconnection and other regulatory requirements in its country to be able to access and use the available bandwidth for education and research purposes.”