End of monopoly could mean better internet access for African universities


	End of monopoly could mean better internet access for African universities

cobismith

5-29-2007 4:10 AM

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tags:

internet, africa, networks, development, communications, monopolies, connectivity, education, satellite, cable

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/775d1178-6dc1-4330-b95b-0ee35a8ffd58/29302912-F2D0-40C2-993D-0D3A2FEDD54B/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.scidev.net/content/news/eng/scholars-call-for-communications-cable-access.cfm?&amp;utm_source=feed-1&amp;utm_medium=rss" href="http://www.scidev.net/content/news/eng/scholars-call-for-communications-cable-access.cfm?&amp;utm_source=feed-1&amp;utm_medium=rss" style="font-size: 11px;">www.scidev.net</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scidev.net/content/news/eng/scholars-call-for-communications-cable-access.cfm?&amp;utm_source=feed-1&amp;utm_medium=rss"><DIV>The SAT-3 submarine communications cable — which runs from Europe down Africa's west coast — is currently monopolised by a consortium of state-owned and private telecommunications providers in different countries, and pricing structures have been the subject of criticism. </DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scidev.net/content/news/eng/scholars-call-for-communications-cable-access.cfm?&amp;utm_source=feed-1&amp;utm_medium=rss">That monopoly ends in June, which could open up internet access for west African nations.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scidev.net/content/news/eng/scholars-call-for-communications-cable-access.cfm?&amp;utm_source=feed-1&amp;utm_medium=rss">"In our universities you've got 18,000 students and 1,000 teachers using the same amount of bandwidth as an American household," said Sawyerr at a conference on African development at the UK-based Open University last week (16–17 May).</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scidev.net/content/news/eng/scholars-call-for-communications-cable-access.cfm?&amp;utm_source=feed-1&amp;utm_medium=rss">"The more people that use it, the slower it works. And because of the monopoly pricing in Africa, that university will pay 50 times more per unit than the American household."</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scidev.net/content/news/eng/scholars-call-for-communications-cable-access.cfm?&amp;utm_source=feed-1&amp;utm_medium=rss"><P>"The monopolies run out in June and it is very important that before our governments renew their licenses we persuade them that these companies could give away a portion of their lines at a discounted rate to us," Sawyerr said. </P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/29302912-F2D0-40C2-993D-0D3A2FEDD54B/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>