Africaâs Development (NEPAD) Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
Broadband Protocol in Rwanda
25 August 2006
South Africaâs Minister of Communications, Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, departs
this weekend for Kigali, Rwanda, for the signing of the NEPAD ICT Broadband
Policy and Regulatory Framework Protocol. The signing of the protocol will set
in motion the roll-out of the NEPAD ICT broadband infrastructure network
including the Eastern Africa Sub-marine System (EASSy) cable.
The meeting will be held as follows:
Date: 28-29 August 2006
Venue: Kigali Intercontinental Hotel
The protocol will be signed by countries participating in the NEPAD ICT
Broadband Infrastructure Network, including EASSy cable. Minister
Matsepe-Casaburri will be accompanied by the Director-General of the Department
of Communications, Ms Lyndall Shope-Mafole and other senior officials.
Minister Matsepe-Casaburri highlighted South Africaâs commitment to this
NEPAD-led initiative that will build an affordable broadband network, in her
Budget Vote Speech this year. The cable will ensure that all African countries
are connected to one another by the fibre optic broadband cable system that
will in turn link them to the rest of the world through existing or planned
sub-marine cable systems.
The cable will also integrate Africa by harmonising ICT Infrastructure
initiatives across the continent - enabling trade, social and cultural
interchange to take place with ease and affordability. The cable will cover
about 9 900 kilometres, connecting the port city of Durban, South Africa, to
Port Sudan in Sudan.
Next weekâs ceremony follows an earlier meeting of ICT Ministers held in
Johannesburg in June 2006, where Ministers undertook to work towards ensuring
that they gain the ratification of the legal and policy framework governing the
EASSy cable by their individual countries. Ministers also agreed to schedule
the official signing of the protocol for August in Kigali, after Rwanda agreed
to host the headquarters of the EASSy cableâs Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), a
consortium that will manage, maintain and operate the fibre optic cable.
The 23 countries involved in the network are Angola, Botswana, Burundi,
Djibouti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho,
Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, South
Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Albi Modise
Tel: (012) 427 8000
Fax: (012) 427 8026
Cell: 083 490 2871
E-mail: Albi@doc.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Communications
25 August 2006
