<div>Hi AR-</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Thank for the interesting article. I read some of the surveys. It really is exemplary of the education system In the countries. Also, is heart throbbing stories of the capacity issues these kids suffer from. I am so glad to see a lot of attention is paid to the Educational system in Africa nowadays and no other than technology as the enabler. The rise of India and China's economies have really put the education equation in question, even in the US and developed countries. Africa should naturally be a beneficiary from these issues and dialogs.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Bisous,</div>
<div>Sophia<br> </div>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 13/08/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Khaled KOUBAA</b> <<a href="mailto:khaled.koubaa@topnet.tn">khaled.koubaa@topnet.tn</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff">Interesting article. <br>My question is when research group and think tank understand that if you want a real-like research you have to be in region and not in a nice office downtown DC :)
<br><br><br>Anne-Rachel Inné wrote:
<blockquote type="cite">
<div><span class="e" id="q_11460af8d40e29d9_1">For those interested - <br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arp.harvard.edu/AfricaHigherEducation/Online.html" target="_blank">http://www.arp.harvard.edu/AfricaHigherEducation/Online.html
</a><br><br clear="all">
<h2 style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 15px">Computing and Online Knowledge</h2>
<table align="center">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="120">
<hr>
</td>
<td width="10"><br></td>
<td><span style="FONT-SIZE: 20px"> </span>
<h4>Computers in African Universities</h4></td>
<td width="10"><br></td>
<td width="120">
<hr>
</td></tr></tbody></table>
<p><span>Are computers necessary for a university education? </span>It is possible to teach most subjects well and thoroughly without expensive technology. But computers offer a solution to a problem identified by all the students surveyed: outdated textbooks and course materials. They are also vital for much of modern science, engineering, and business. Leaving students without programming skills may leave them underprepared for graduate school or unemployable in industry.
</p>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p><span>Access to the internet</span> is so desirable to students in Africa that they spend considerable time and money to get it. Many students surveyed, with no internet connection at their universities, resorted to private, fee-charging internet cafes to study and learn. The fees are not small: several US$/hr, exceeding in many countries the average daily income. One student reports spending large amounts of time walking to the internet cafe because he could not afford both the internet fee and the taxi fare. (Imagine, by analogy,
U.S. college students walking for hours and paying $100/hr to do optional reading). Connection to online knowledge is valued enough by students in Africa that they will make that sacrifice. </p></td>
<td valign="center">
<p><img alt="Internet cafe in Ghana (image from the BBC World News Service)" border="0"> </p>
<p> Internet cafe (Ghana)</p></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 75px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 75px; FONT-STYLE: italic">-- read this <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arp.harvard.edu/AfricaHigherEducation/Essays/essays/Ethiopia_1.pdf" target="_blank">
survey</a> from Ethiopia for the trauma of trying to write a research paper without textbooks, research journals, instruction, or an internet connection. </p>
<p><span>Programming </span>is essential for at least graduate-level science, engineering, and business: all use computer-based data analysis, modeling and numerical simulation. Computer use for data analysis can also, if taught well, help focus science instruction more on problem solving than on memorization of received knowledge. The students surveyed here, mostly participants in an international postgraduate program for science and math graduates, universally report that its chief benefit was practice in scientific computing. They also cite lack of programming instruction as one of the chief faults of their undergraduate educations.
</p>
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 75px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 75px; FONT-STYLE: italic">-- read this <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arp.harvard.edu/AfricaHigherEducation/Essays/essays/SouthAfrica_1.pdf" target="_blank">
survey</a> from the comparatively wealthy South Africa for the conditions for learning programming at understaffed and underequipped universities </p>
<p><span>Hardware.</span> The most common response that students gave to the question "what can international donors do for African universities?" was "provide computers." Although lack of instructors in programming may eventually become an issue, at present the first need of African universities is hardware. One student surveyed described programming classes where all programs were written on paper; there were no computers available for running them. Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria, with 30,000 undergraduates, had exactly 19 computers and 1 printer in its libraries in 2006 (see this
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~mbolin/etim.htm" target="_blank">study of Nigerian universities</a>). </p>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="center">
<p><img alt="$100 laptop from the One Laptop Per Child project. The first production models are now available (early 2007)." border="0"> </p>
<p> $100 laptop</p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p>One possibility for upgrading African universities' computing facilities at low cost is to use the $100 laptops designed by the <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.laptop.org/vision/index.shtml" target="_blank">
One Laptop Per Child </a>project. The laptops were targeted at children (6-12 years), and several governments and the UNDP have signed <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://content.undp.org/go/newsroom/january-2006/100-dollar-laptop-20060128.en;jsessionid=a_Q884XX38gg" target="_blank">
agreements</a> to purchase and distribute them to primary schoolchildren. The OLPC machines would be a tremendous resource for university students as well. At minimum they can serve as e-books, accessing freely available textbooks and other online course material (see
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arp.harvard.edu/AfricaHigherEducation/Online.html#curriculum" target="_blank">below</a>). "Mesh networking" allows efficient connectivity and sharing of material with any other OLPC laptop within 1/4 mile; an entire university can then be "meshed" together and can share a single internet connection.
</p></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>At maximum the laptops could also be used for scientific computing. They use the same Linux operating system as do scientific workstations and can run the standard open-source software used for scientific programming and publishing (
e.g. Python, TeX). The laptops have relatively small data storage and memory (128 MB), but are sufficient for most programming courses and can be upgraded for more substantial data analysis. </p><a name="11460af8d40e29d9_curriculum">
</a>
<table align="center">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="140">
<hr>
</td>
<td width="10"><br></td>
<td><span style="FONT-SIZE: 20px"> </span>
<h4>Online curriculum materials</h4></td>
<td width="10"><br></td>
<td width="140">
<hr>
</td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>The students surveyed all mentioned out-dated and overly theoretical curricula as a failing of their universities. This is a symptom of low spending (lack of money to buy new textbooks or install laboratories) and of isolation (professors have little access to science outside their own graduate training). Both can be remedied given internet connections.
</p>
<p><span>Lecture notes and curricula.</span> There is a growing movement in the U.S. and elsewhere to make university-level educational materials freely available to all. A leader in this movement is MIT with its <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html" target="_blank">
Open Courseware</a> project, in which professors place their lecture notes, problem sets, exams, and even videos of lectures online for all to use, reaching 1.5 million users each month (see also this <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2001/ocw-facts.html" target="_blank">
summary</a> and articles from <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2006/ocw.html" target="_blank">MIT</a> and <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=198000568" target="_blank">
Information Week</a>). All of MIT's courses will be on the web by the end of the 2007. Other universities participating in open courseware efforts include Tufts, Johns Hopkins, U.C. Irvine, Univ. of Notre Dame, Utah State (see
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ocwconsortium.org/use/index.html" target="_blank">here</a>), and Yale (see <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.careerjournal.com/myc/school/20070216-chaker.html?cjpos=home_whatsnew_major" target="_blank">
article</a>). The <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.oercommons.org/oer/oer-categories" target="_blank">Open Educational Resources Commons</a> also gathers university course material and videos of lectures and demonstrations. The movement is not confined to the
U.S.: Britain's Open University, a fee-charging distance-learning university, is now making some courses freely available (see <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://education.guardian.co.uk/elearning/story/0,,1728283,00.html" target="_blank">
article</a>). </p>
<p><span>Textbooks.</span> The movement to make educational materials freely available extends to textbooks as well. Numerous authors have placed their work online for others to use. <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page" target="_blank">
Wiki Books</a> includes texts on many subjects. Individual highly-regarded textbooks available online include the science text <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.motionmountain.net/" target="_blank">
Motion Mountain</a>, with 30,000 downloads a year, and others in <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.htdp.org/" target="_blank">computer science </a>, <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.lightandmatter.com/area1book1.html" target="_blank">
physics</a>, and many other subjects. <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page" target="_blank">Project Gutenberg</a> (2 million downloads a month), Google Books, and other digital library projects are placing out-of-copyright volumes online for anyone to read.
</p><a name="11460af8d40e29d9_research"></a>
<table align="center">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="150">
<hr>
</td>
<td width="10"><br></td>
<td><span style="FONT-SIZE: 20px"> </span>
<h4>Research journal access</h4></td>
<td width="10"><br></td>
<td width="150">
<hr>
</td></tr></tbody></table><a name="11460af8d40e29d9_research"></a>
<p><span>Economics of science publishing.</span> Internet access and open courseware can be a great asset for African universities, but cannot alone fully connect African universities to the international scientific community. African universities would still lack access to the journals in which essentially all of academic research is published.
</p>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p>The largest item in a university library budget is no longer books but rather subscriptions to these journals. For a serious research university, annual subscription costs are now in the millions: MIT paid $4 million in 2006 for science and engineering journals alone. These costs, and their steep rise (a 150% increase in the last 10 years) are a source of concern throughout the academic world. (See articles from
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.brown.edu/Administration/George_Street_Journal/vol24/24GSJ19c.html" target="_blank">Brown University</a> and <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA516819.html" target="_blank">
Library Journal</a>). The rise is not due to publishers' expenses. In 2004 the private journal publisher Elsevier reported profits of nearly $900 million (and spent $2.8 million lobbying the U.S. Congress). U.S. universities are cutting back on subscriptions (
e.g. <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.libraryjournal.com/clear/CA6314773.html#news2" target="_blank">Florida</a> and <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2004/2/6/facSenDiscussesJournalFees" target="_blank">
Stanford</a>; see also this <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.createchange.org/archive/librarians/issues/silent.html" target="_blank">review</a>). Developing-world universities cannot afford access at all. If African researchers do publish in international journals, they cannot access even their own published work. (Note that
U.S. taxpayers are in the same position, unable to read the research results their taxes have paid for.) </p></td>
<td valign="center">
<p><a title=""><img alt="A subscription for a single research journal in certain fields can cost more than total educational costs for six African undergraduates. Image from the U. of Maryland Health Sciences and Human Services Library." border="0">
</a></p><a title=""></a>
<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><a title="">$14,000/yr for a single journal</a></p>
<p>more <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://astech.library.cornell.edu/ast/engr/about/car.cfm" target="_blank">here</a> and <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.hshsl.umaryland.edu/information/news/exhibits/money/index.html" target="_blank">
here</a></p></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p><span>How can access be opened?</span> One possibility is to persuade publishers to make journals available at low or no cost to developing-world universities. The UN has begun an archive for agricultural research (<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.aginternetwork.org/en/" target="_blank">
AGORA</a>), and the WHO sponsors a similar archive for health studies (<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.who.int/hinari/en/" target="_blank">HINARI</a>). (See <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.udsm.ac.tz/library/ejournal.html" target="_blank">
here</a> for e-resources at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania; note their use of AGORA). Some individual publishers have also taken independent steps to open access (see article about the <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/84/8420sci1.html" target="_blank">
Royal Society for Chemistry</a>). But a broader and simpler strategy is to pass legislation mandating that all federally funded research results must be placed in publicly accessible archives. The <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://cornyn.senate.gov/index.asp?f=record&lid=1&rid=237171" target="_blank">
Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006</a> (Cornyn & Lieberman), introduced in the 109th Congress, would have required this (see also this <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arl.org/sparc/advocacy/frpaa/frpaafaq.html" target="_blank">
summary</a>). This legislation would force a reshaping of the publishing world that would have widespread support from libraries, universities in both the <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arl.org/sparc/advocacy/frpaa/institutions.html" target="_blank">
U.S.</a> and developing world, and scientists themselves. Most people agree that the current system must change, but individual scientists feel constrained to publish in prestigious existing journals and publishers have no incentive to release copyright on their articles.
U.S. legislation can break this logjam. Open research access is supported by many groups, including the <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ala.org/ala/godort/godortresolutions/20060626308.htm" target="_blank">
American Library Association</a> and the <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/frpaa/" target="_blank">Alliance for Taxpayer Access</a> . </p><a name="11460af8d40e29d9_internet">
</a>
<table align="center">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="165">
<hr>
</td>
<td width="10"><br></td>
<td><span style="FONT-SIZE: 20px"> </span>
<h4>Internet connectivity</h4></td>
<td width="10"><br></td>
<td width="165">
<hr>
</td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>The proposals above for strengthening African universities with online knowledge depend on being able to actually access that knowledge. That would not have been possible a decade ago: the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) found in 1999 that students could not download research articles from a number of African universities because data transfer rates were so slow that connections were dropped (see
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.aaas.org/international/africa/oljreport/index.shtml" target="_blank">report</a>). In 2007, using online resources in sub-Saharan Africa is a possibility. Still, serious challenges remain.
</p>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p><span>Explosion of demand for internet connectivity.</span> Internet access is now possible in all African countries and demand is growing from all sections of society. The change is recent and steep. In 1996 no countries in sub-Saharan Africa other than South Africa and Namibia had connections faster than 64Kbps (still painfully slow to
U.S. users accustomed to a hundred times that), and many had none at all. By 2001 the entire continent had reasonable connectivity and the total number of internet users was estimated as 5-8 million (see <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www3.sn.apc.org/africa/afrmain.htm" target="_blank">
here</a>). By 2007, users in sub-Saharan Africa had grown fivefold to 33 million, nearly 4% of the population. (See these <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm" target="_blank">
data</a>; growth is some 30% per year). Many African universities now maintain websites (see <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www-sul.stanford.edu/africa/africaneducation/african-universities.html" target="_blank">
here</a>). The internet cafe is a ubiquitous feature of African cities, along with the storefront computer training school. Demand for access is high outside major cities as well: see these articles by a local entrepreneur starting an internet cafe in rural Kenya (
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://startupkenya.blogspot.com/2007/01/internet-in-village.html" target="_blank">1</a><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://startupkenya.blogspot.com/2007/01/laying-groundwork-for-rural-cyber.html" target="_blank">
2</a><a> </a><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://startupkenya.blogspot.com/2007/02/cyber-cafe-with-edge.html" target="_blank">3</a>). Maasai students in Tanzania have begun applying to university, because the internet allows the first to enter a way to send information home to others.
</p></td>
<td valign="center">
<p><a title=""><img alt="Internet use in Africa, 2007, and growth in usage from 1997-2007 (New York Times, data from World Bank, Miniwatts Marketing Group)" border="0"> </a></p><a title=""></a>
<p><a title=""> Growth of internet in Africa </a><br>(NYT, from 2007 World Bank data)<br>NYT article: <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/business/yourmoney/22rwanda.html" target="_blank">
(link)</a> <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arp.harvard.edu/AfricaHigherEducation/Reports/NYT_AfricaOffline.pdf" target="_blank">(pdf)</a> </p></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p><span>High costs.</span> The most remarkable aspect of the rising demand for internet connections in sub-Saharan Africa is that it is occurring despite the the highest connection costs in the world. The African consumer (or university) pays 50-500 times more than an American for an equivalent connection (
e.g. $3,000/month instead of $30/month for a 1 Mbps connection; prices vary by country). African universities therefore cannot afford the bandwidth they need to make efficient use of online resources. The average African university, with tens of thousands of students and faculty, has the same aggregate bandwidth as a single household connection in the
U.S. (see <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.idrc.ca/es/ev-84498-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html" target="_blank">article</a> or this <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.foundation-partnership.org/pubs/bandwidth/index.php?chap=chap2&sub=c2c" target="_blank">
study</a> by the <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.foundation-partnership.org/index.php?sub=about" target="_blank">Partnership for Higher Education in Africa</a>). The principal reason for high costs is the lack of optical fiber infrastructure (discussed below).
</p>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p><span>Low capacity.</span> High costs unfortunately go hand in hand with low capacity. Sub-Saharan Africa currently has the lowest data transmission bandwidth in the world (below even the steppes of Central Asia) and is falling further behind: its capacity is growing more slowly than in any other region. A 2006 report by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) states: "Bandwidth is the life-blood of the world's knowledge economy, but it is scarcest where it is most needed ..." The report also concludes that sub-Saharan Africa has the world's "highest unmet demand for telecommunication services". (See report
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/apc0612.php" target="_blank">summary</a> or full <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arp.harvard.edu/AfricaHigherEducation/Reports/open_access_EN.pdf" target="_blank">
pdf</a>). </p></td>
<td valign="center">
<p><a title=""><img alt="Africa has the world's lowest internet bandwidth (data througput) to North America, and its capacity is growing more slowly than in any other region: the continent is behind and falling further behind.
(Figure from the International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA) Standing Committee on Inter-Regional Connectivity (SCIC), Jan. 2006" border="0"> </a></p><a title=""></a>
<p><a title=""> Internet capacity worldwide </a></p></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p><span>Optical fiber links</span>. Optical fiber infrastructure is the cheapest and most efficient way of transferring data. Only 14 of 49 sub-Saharan countries have any fiber connection to each other or to the rest of the world (NEPAD, 2004). The remainder must use expensive satellite or radio connections. A single cable runs along the West coast of Africa. Few overland networks penetrate the interior, and East Africa is completely isolated.
</p>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="center">
<p><a title=""><img alt="Submarine optical fiber cables around the world. Color of cable denotes bandwidth. Note how poorly Africa is connected, and the total absence of cables to East Africa" border="0"> </a></p><a title="">
</a>
<p><a title="">World submarine optical cables </a></p></td>
<td valign="top">
<p style="MARGIN-LEFT: 20px">Absence of a $200 million investment in an East African cable is likely hurting local economies many times over. Interest in building such a cable has however risen in recent years. The first proposal, made in 2002, would be funded by a consortium of private operators (the East African Submarine System, or EASSy). As of July 2007 four separate proposals for East African submarine cables are in play; the expectation is that one will succeed. (See
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://fibreforafrica.net/main.shtml?x=5059738&als%5BMYALIAS6%5D=Fibre:%20Questions%20need%20answering&als%5Bselect%5D=%3Cdiv%3ENo%20item%20found%3C/div%3E" target="_blank">
article</a> from Fibre for Africa). Only one of these proposals is based on an open-access model. No international donors have offered majority funding to date. </p></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>Lack of guaranteed open access is a concern because a single cable operated as a private monopoly will not generally reduce costs for the consumer. Although West Africa is now linked to Europe by optical fiber (the SAT-3 cable), communications costs there are generally no lower than via satellite. In the absence of strong regulatory agencies, the consortium of investors who funded the cable have kept bandwidth costs prohibitively high. The SAT-3 pricing strategy has been termed "high cost, low volume": bandwidth is sold for $4500-$12,000 per Mbps/month and the cable is underutilized. (Prices differ by country; the $4500/month figure was obtained only after a 2-year court fight in Ghana). Even the low Ghana price is 20 times higher than could be offered by a non-profit cable (less than $250 per Mbps/month, estimate by Eric Osiakwan of the
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.afrispa.org/" target="_blank">African Internet Service Providers Association</a>). The original SAT-3 operating licenses expired in June 2007 and are being renegotiated, possibly opening an opportunity to drop communications costs for W. Africa. (See
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.cipaco.org/spip.php?article903" target="_blank">article </a>and <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/2006/11/07/open-access-sat3/" target="_blank">
commentary </a>). The <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.aau.org/index.htm" target="_blank">Association of African Universities </a>has pleaded for, if nothing else, special rates for universities (see
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.scidev.net/content/news/eng/scholars-call-for-communications-cable-access.cfm" target="_blank">article</a> ).</p>
<p>Note that predatory pricing by the SAT-3 monopoly consortium is not a purely African problem. Although many of the SAT-3 consortium members are African telecoms, the three largest investors were non-African: in order of stake, TCI (at that time a subsidiary of AT&T) + AT&T itself (
U.S.A.), France Telecom (France), and VSL (India/Singapore). The U.S. stake in the cable may now have passed to Comcast. (<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://fibreforafrica.net/main.shtml?x=5039398&als%5BMYALIAS6%5D=SAT3%20consortium%20contract%20emerges&als%5Bselect%5D=4887798" target="_blank">
SAT-3 ownership </a>information is carefully guarded). </p>
<p>The E. African cable proposals, also consortium operated, have raised similar concerns about monopolistic pricing (see commentary <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arp.harvard.edu/AfricaHigherEducation/Reports/RichardBell_EASSy.pdf" target="_blank">
here</a>, and <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ralden.com/C1/EASSy/default.aspx" target="_blank">here</a>, analysis by the <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://fibreforafrica.net/main.shtml?conds%5B0%5D%5Bcategory........%5D=%27Why%20we%20need%20affordable%20international%20bandwidth%27&als%5Bselect%5D=4051582&als%5BMYALIAS6%5D=Why%20we%20need%20affordable%20international%20bandwidth" target="_blank">
APC</a>, and the <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arp.harvard.edu/AfricaHigherEducation/Reports/open_access_EN.pdf" target="_blank">APC report</a> mentioned above). (EASSy <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/back/balancing-act_359.html#internet" target="_blank">
consortium members </a>include AT&T (USA), Verizon/ex MCI (USA), France Telecom, BT (UK), Saudi Telecom, VSNL/Teleglobe (India), and Etisalat (United Arab Emirates), as well as 29 public and private Africa-based telecoms). A single East African cable operated on the SAT-3 model would yield no price benefits for E. African consumers, would provide minimal economic benefits and would leave E. African universities isolated. Either multiple competing cables or regulated or non-profit operation are necessary to lower costs for African internet users.
</p>
<p><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.fibreforafrica.net/main.shtml?conds%5B0%5D%5Bcategory........%5D=%27News%27&sort%5B0%5D%5Bstart_date......%5D=d&als%5Bselect%5D=4887798&als%5BMYALIAS6%5D=News" target="_blank">
Updates</a> on both SAT-3 and E. African cables are posted by Fibre for Africa. The subject is also frequently covered in the online newsletter <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.balancingact-africa.com/" target="_blank">
Balancing Act</a> which reports on telecoms and internet in Africa. </p>
<p><span>Reverse Subsidies.</span> An additional factor raising connectivity costs for Africa is a perverse pricing structure in which African users subsidize all data transfers to and from the continent. (Imagine that you paid telephone charges on both incoming and outgoing phone calls, while your neighbor paid for neither). These charges alone nearly double the cost of African internet usage, costing Africa between $250-500 million/yr. They also further entrench the stalemate: the African market remains small, investment in infrastructure is discouraged, and the companies that provide international bandwidth (IBPs) can continue to insist on predatory pricing arrangements.
</p>
<p>Why does international connection cost matter so much to local users within Africa? Because the lack of optical fiber lines and local data aggregation points means that even traffic within Africa is typically routed through Europe. An email sent from the Central African Republic to nearby Kenya, for example, is routed through London via two satellite connections. One means of remedying the pricing inequity is an international trade agreement. Another is to build up local land-based networks and regional aggregation points to reduce the need of European connections in the first place. Aggregation also pushes the international providers to come to Africa instead, after which they would bear connection costs equally.
</p>
<p><span>Current actions.</span> Many governments in Africa are now planning and building infrastructure to reduce the need for intercontinental traffic. East African countries have been most aggressive in pursuit of this goal, with Rwanda as the strongest leader. Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda are all constructing inland optical fiber backbones (Uganda with funding from the Chinese government). Tanzania is at least in the planning stage (see report
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.arp.harvard.edu/AfricaHigherEducation/Reports/OpticalFibre.pdf" target="_blank">"Optical Fibre for Education and Research Networks in Eastern and Southern Africa"
</a>). <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.idrc.ca/acacia/ev-87391-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html" target="_blank">Connectivity Africa</a>, sponsored by Canada's International Development Research Center, has also done preliminary work on aggregation in six countries (South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania). A coalition of African Internet Service Providers has proposed a broad outline for regional aggregation and cost reductions (the
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.afrispa.org/Initiatives.htm" target="_blank">"Halfway Proposition"</a>). And the United Nations and the Rwandan government are sponsoring a telecommunications conference in Kigali in October 2007 to bring together African governments, businesses, and global telecommunications firms to discuss infrastructure and regulatory changes to boost connectivity (
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/connect/africa/2007/summit/index.html" target="_blank">"Connect Africa"</a>). Note however that all of these efforts still depend on construction of an East African submarine cable. It is difficult to orchestrate any solution to Africa's connectivity problems if the continent remains digitally isolated.
</p>
<p><span>Additional factors for universities in particular.</span> One additional factor in connectivity costs that may affect African universities in particular is lack of capital to buy equipment that would result in eventual savings. A
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.aaas.org/international/africa/oljreport/recs.shtml" target="_blank">AAAS study</a> of connectivity in African universities in 1999 found, for example, that Makerere University in Uganda paid steep monthly phone bills for a dialup connection because they could not afford a one-time cost of $18,000 for a radio link. These kind of situations may or may not exist in 2007.
</p>
<p><span>Helping universities in Africa.</span> Several organizations work with African universities to help use existing bandwidth more effectively. The U.K. <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.inasp.info/programmes/" target="_blank">
International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications</a> works with African university libraries. The <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.widernet.org/digitalLibrary/index.htm" target="_blank">
eGranary Digital Library project</a> places widely used free academic materials on local servers in African universities so that they can be accessed with only a local connection. </p>
<p>Many organizations are working to lower bandwidth costs for universities and increase capacity. Several countries in Africa have formed National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) seeking high-speed and affordable connections for universities, and have organized as the
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.ubuntunet.net/" target="_blank">UbuntuNet Alliance</a>. (Participating nations are Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda and South Africa). The target goal is university connections equivalent to those of the developed world: 1 Gbps or more. The
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.foundation-partnership.org/index.php?sub=about" target="_blank">Partnership for Higher Education in Africa</a> (including the Ford, MacArthur, and Rockefeller Foundations) has helped a consortium of 13 African universities to lower connectivity costs. The Partnership has
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.fordfound.org/news/view_news_detail.cfm?news_index=155" target="_blank">donated over $5 million </a>to make satellite bandwidth available to the consortium at $2330 per Mbps/month instead of $7300 (see also
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.foundation-partnership.org/index.php?sub=pr&pr=2" target="_blank">here</a>). This effort will be welcomed by students and researchers. It is not a long-term solution, however, and some local connectivity activists argue that giving subsidies to foreign satellite firms actually hinders long-term solutions. Even with the Partnership's support, universities would pay over $1800/month for the same household-scale connection that Verizon advertises in the
U.S. with an introductory rate of $9.99/month. Purchasing the bandwidth of a normal U.S. university (1 Gbps, the UbuntuNet target) would cost an unaffordable $2.3 million/month. The digital divide will ultimately be bridged only with optical fiber, and those investments are large in scale.
<br><br></p>
<p><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Last update: July 23, 2007 </span></p><br>-- <br>Anne-Rachel Inne </span></div><pre><hr width="90%" size="4">
_______________________________________________
AfrICANN mailing list
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:AfrICANN@afrinic.net" target="_blank">AfrICANN@afrinic.net</a>
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann" target="_blank">https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann</a>
</pre></blockquote><br> </div><br>_______________________________________________<br>AfrICANN mailing list<br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:AfrICANN@afrinic.net">AfrICANN@afrinic.net
</a><br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann" target="_blank">https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann</a><br><br></blockquote>
</div><br>