The New Partnership for Africa?s Development(NEPAD) has launched an initiative to develop Internet connections linkingAfrican countries to one another and to the rest of the world by 2015. NEPAD is a poverty reduction program underthe African Union.
The project, calledthe Broadband Infrastructure Network, will connect east African countries to acommunications network stretching from South Africa to Rwanda. A second broadband network will connect Lesotho,the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, Namibia and Madagascar to anundersea cable running along East Africa.
Edmund Katiti is the policy and regulatoryadvisor for e-Africa Commission, which helps coordinate communication andinformation technology projects for NEPAD. He says the continent needs to be connected so it can engage ine-commerce, which has made a lot of money in countries like India. He says, ?Currently we can?t do that becausewe don?t have broadband, and where the broadband is available it isexpensive. So we want to make sure thatall countries in Africa have access to broadband connectivity and thisconnectivity is affordable and reaches as many people as possible.?
Katiti says so far eight countries havesigned a protocol in Kigali, Rwanda, that supports the effort and gives itsconditions and policies. Among thosethat have signed are South Africa, Malawi, Mauritius and Rwanda. He adds,?The framework aims to develop apan-African broadband infrastructure and can connect Africa to the rest of theworld because most of the Internet content currently resides in Europe andAmerica. So, we need to connect to that.?
Katiti says the challenge for NEPAD is to getas many countries as possible to sign the protocol so Africa can become part ofthe global economy.