Increasing Bandwidth for African University Development

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• Increasing Bandwidth for African University
  Development
• Internet2 Workshop April 2004

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The Landscape Affecting Internet Access In Africa
Is Changing Dramatically
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Connectivity Map of Africa
Bandwidth Supply Has Increased Dramatically In
The Last Few Years With Both Fiber And Satellite
Sources

• Primary Bandwidth Sources
• Undersea cable SAT3- SAFE
• VSAT four major satellite vendors- Intelsat-
  PanAmSat- New Skies- EutelSat

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Sample Bandwidth Costs for African Universities
However bandwidth prices vary dramatically are in
general many times what they could be if
universities purchase in volume
Samples size of 26 universitiesAverage Cost for
VSAT service Quality, CIR, Rx, Tx not
distinguished
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Objectives of IBAUD

• The vision of IBAUD put simply is to enable low
  cost, high-speed Internet bandwidth to every
  African academic and research institution.
• In order to do this the organization intends to
  focus on four primary lines of action
• Obtaining special bandwidth licenses for
  medical/academic institutions in each country
• Creating a buying club of research institutions
  that can negotiate the best price for bandwidth
  equipment and services
• Assist participating institutions in utilizing
  the bandwidth more effectively
• Explore how the resulting network can be
  leveraged to increase the effectiveness of
  research and educational initiatives - especially
  enabling the dissemination of relevant
  information to end users in each country

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Similar Initiatives

• African Virtual University Have purchase bulk
  bandwidth for 10 of their sites
• Partnership for Higher Education Conducted
  bandwidth study and investigating bulk bandwidth
  purchase for six univeristies
• World Bank Uganda Schools Connectivity Project
• RASCOM launch planned of Rascom Star satellite
• Kalitel This Turkish satellite operator is
  offering affordable bandwidth to non-profit
  organizations and socially conscious commercial
  organizations.
• Clarke Institute Global Trust Fund for
  Tele-education This is a project proposal aimed
  at mobilizing funds and underutilized bandwidth
  for use in in developing countries.
• Liberty Foundation/Panamsat Panamsat, a satellite
  operator donated a transponder to the South
  African Liberty Insurance Groups Liberty
  Foundation to be used for educational purposes.
• SHARE/Intelsat Intelsat and the Satellites in
  Health and Rural Education (SHARE) embarked on a
  project to set up teleconference link between
  Nairobi and Kampala and with Canadian medical
  schools.
• Multilateral Initiative on Malaria The
  initiative is using VSATs, currently in two sites
  in Ghana and Tanzania and four in Kenya.
  Potential sites will be established in Uganda and
  Malawi.
• UNDP Internet Initiative for Africa This
  Internet Initiative for Africa specifically deals
  with the introduction of Internet in Africa.
  Currently in planning stages

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IBAUD Strategies

• Sourcing funding to provide significant subsidy
  for equipment and initial bandwidth in order to
  encourage rapid uptake and creation of critical
  mass of institutions
• Contacting satellite providers for proposals and
  using competition to negotiate lowest possible
  prices
• Leveraging online content and NEPAD to
  encourage special bandwidth licenses