ICT Sector Group - progress on EASSY cable
ICT Broadband Infrastructure Network for Eastern and Southern Africa.

An ICT Broadband Infrastructure Network for Eastern and Southern Africa is to be built during 2007 and 2008. This network of fibre optic cables will consist of two interconnected segments; a submarine segment and a terrestrial (over land) segment.

The network is a top priority NEPAD project that was endorsed by the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) meeting in Abuja on 9th March 2003. The project aims to develop a broadband ICT network linking all countries in Africa to one another and, in turn, to the rest of the world. This project is being tackled in two phases; phase one is the network for Eastern and Southern Africa. Phase two will be a separate ICT Broadband Infrastructure Network for Central, West and North Africa.

Development of the two networks is being undertaken as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the involvement of a wide variety of stakeholders including governments, regulators, telecom operators, and other communication service providers.

The role of NEPAD e-Africa Commission

The NEPAD e-Africa Commission was established in 2001 and is the NEPAD's task team responsible for information and communication technologies (ICT). It is mandated to manage the structured development of the ICT sector on the African continent, in the context of NEPAD. It is also required to develop broad strategies and a comprehensive action plan for ICT infrastructure and its use for ICT applications and services.

Subsequent to the 9th March 2003 decision by the NEPAD HSGIC, the Commission convened a meeting of stakeholders in Nairobi on 4th June 2003 to promote this project. Many of the same companies that later signed the consortium Memorandum of Understanding for the development of what became known as the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable Systems (EASSy) project attended this Nairobi meeting.

Consequently, the MoU Parties grew in number and developed the project in the context of NEPAD submitting periodic reports to the NEPAD Steering Committee and Head of States meetings through the NEPAD e-Africa Commission.

Through NEPAD, the project obtained funding from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) for the execution of a feasibility study, which established the viability of the project. The NEPAD HSGIC at its Algiers meeting in November 2004 identified the ICT broadband infrastructure network for Eastern and Southern Africa as one of the NEPAD flagship projects.

Prior to this, the Commission had convened a multi-stakeholder workshop in Johannesburg, 28 to 30 July 2004, at which a basic rationalized broadband ICT network covering 22 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa was agreed. The agreed network brought together a number of initiatives in the region, such as COMTEL, SRII and the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), into a cohesive plan for progressing the development of the agreed basic network.

At the conclusion of the workshop, the NEPAD e-Africa Commission was tasked with monitoring progress and assisting the various initiatives in practical ways as well as initiating a dialogue with ICT Policy Makers in the region with a view to resolving such policy and regulatory issues as may impede or prevent the realization of the rationalized regional network.

To achieve this, the e-Africa Commission worked with Government ICT Experts, ICT Policy Advisors, Regulators, ICT Consultants, Civil Society, Legal Experts, Executives of Telecom Companies, and Development Funding Institutes to develop a policy and regulatory framework within which the network, including the submarine cable, could be developed. The Experts and Policy Advisors agreed that the integrated ICT Broadband backbone should be based on the principles of:

1. Non-discriminatory Open Access (all authorized communication service providers may lease capacity on the regional network on the same terms including pricing)
2. Equitable Joint Ownership of the backbone infrastructure across the region
3. Separation of ownership of the infrastructure from its use.
4. Use of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to build, own and operate the Broadband ICT network
5. Broadband ICT Infrastructure should be viewed as a "public good" and operated on a cost-recovery basis.

The Experts and Policy Advisors also agreed that these principles would cover both the submarine as well as the terrestrial segments of the network. In addition, they recommended that a Protocol should be signed between the countries of the region in order to underpin their collaboration in developing this network and provide a policy, legal and regulatory framework.

About the Kigali Protocol.

A Protocol that encapsulates the above principles in a policy and regulatory framework, as well as the details of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) that will own, operate and maintain the NEPAD network, was developed and was initially signed on August 29, 2006, in Kigali, Rwanda by ICT Minister duly accredited by their governments. The Ministers also adopted resolutions among which were a resolution to leave a window of opportunity for signing the Protocol open, until November 30, 2006. By this deadline, twelve countries, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, had signed the Protocol.

Those countries that were unable, for one reason or another, to sign the Protocol before the end of November 2006 will still be able to accede to the Protocol when it comes into effect in the first half of 2007. The regional ICT broadband network will therefore cover most of the 23 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa that it was intended to cover. The network should be completed by the end of 2008 and will be operational in 2009.

The Kigali Protocol incorporates the open access principles listed above, and does not give preferential treatment to any country; big or small, coastal, land-locked, or sea-locked.

Benefits to be gained from the regional broadband infrastructure network

• The broadband capacity of the network will enable introduction of new communication services to the region.
• By connecting the countries of the region directly to one another, the regional network will eliminate the high transit charges that are currently levied on calls from one African country to another via foreign-owned satellites.
• The principle of open access will enhance competition in country markets, as all Authorized Service Providers will have the right to lease capacity on the network, on the same transparent and non-discriminatory terms. This will lead to further lowering of communication costs to end users.
• The SPVs will be predominantly owned by telecom operators from the signatory countries. These operators will also be the main users of the network. The SPVs may therefore be viewed as a mechanism for telecom operators coming together to lower their costs by benefiting from economies of scale.
• By carrying bulk traffic from the region to international destinations, the SPVs will be in a position to negotiate huge discounts on interconnection charges with their international counterparts.

The way forward

Many telecom companies from the countries that have signed the Protocol have expressed interest in joining the Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) that will own, develop, operate and maintain both the submarine and terrestrial segments of the ICT Broadband Infrastructure Network.

A meeting of prospective shareholders in the submarine SPV(s) is planned for April/May 2007, in Kigali, Rwanda.

The regional network is currently referred to as the NEPAD ICT Broadband Infrastructure Network for Eastern and Southern Africa. The SPV shareholders may choose to give it a different name at a future date.