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ID: 122116Added: 2008-03-13 3:16Modified: 2008-08-13 13:14Refreshed: 2009-01-07 12:17 
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News 10 of 10
http://mybroadband.co.za/news/General/3017.html MyBroadband 28 February, 2008 Local universities are bandwidth starved. This is how much bandwidth they have. Broadband connections have become commonplace in most first world countries, with residential connection speeds typically ranging between a few Mbps and 1 Gbps. Local broadband connections typically have maximum speeds of around 4 Mbps in the case of ADSL and slightly slower speeds in the case of Vodacom and MTN’s HSDPA offerings. These speeds are considered slow when compared to high speed broadband connections in European or Asian countries, but they are blistering fast when compared to what University lecturers and students have to be content with. Recent reports shed some light on the bandwidth problems facing Universities in South Africa, but how much bandwidth do they have? Here is a run down. How much local bandwidth do they have? The University of Pretoria has a 5 000 Kbps national connection and 10 Mbps of international bandwidth. The University of Johannesburg has only 3 072 Kbps of national connectivity and a 8 656 Kbps international connection. WITS University in Johannesburg has a 5 328 Kbps national connection and 16 576 Kbps international while Rhodes University in Grahamstown must make do with 3 112 Kbps of national bandwidth and 7 736 Kbps of international connectivity. The University of Cape Town’s local connection of 6 592 Kbps and the University of Stellenbosch’s 8 032 Kbps are faster than most other local Universities, but still very slow when compared with international standards. They have international connections of 19 200 Kbps and 15 944 Kbps respectively. While this is guaranteed local and international bandwidth, the peak speeds serving the full University – thousands of lecturers and students – are typically only a few times more than what a 4 Mbps ADSL user experiences during un-congested periods. Unsurprisingly students and lecturers are complaining that these slow speeds make Internet based research and work virtually impossible and may even create a negative sentiment towards the Internet as a research tool. South African and African Universities suffering According to Steve Song from the International Development Research Centre “the average university in Africa has the same aggregate bandwidth as a single home user in North America or Europe.” Song further points out that the average African university pays more than 50 times for this bandwidth than their counterparts in Europe or North America do for much more capacity. According to Song technological, commercial, and political issues are to blame for the dismal state of bandwidth at African Universities and he blames telecom policy reform as one of the critical barriers to access to ICTs in Africa. Hope There is however hope on the horizon for South African universities in the form of the South African Research Network (SANReN) which received R 95-million in funding to provide low-cost broadband links to the local academic community. SANReN aims to interconnect all South African research institutions to similar institutions elsewhere in the world in an effort to reduce the cost of connecting to the Internet. SEACOM also recently announced that it will – in partnership with TENET – reduce the cost of international bandwidth to Universities and Research Institutions in South Africa by 5 000%. It will provide via TENET 40 universities, education and research institutions in South Africa with 50 times more bandwidth than what they currently have. Some reports further suggest that the much anticipated TENET third generation communications network for academic research and collaboration (Gen3) has been in testing phase at some Universities, something which will add multiple Mbps to the institutions’ bandwidth capacity. ---------------------- Rwanda: Rwandatel, Huawei Link Up for a $35m Network Expansion allafrica.com/stories/200802251850.html The East African (Nairobi) 25 February 2008 Posted to the web 25 February 2008 Kezio-Musoke David Rwandatel has signed a $35 million deal with Huawei technologies. The deal will enable the firm to roll out a new global system for mobile communication (GSM) and a third generation Universal Mobile Telephone System (3G UMTS) in Rwanda. According to Rwandatel's marketing manager Victor Kinuma, the deal will enable the firm enter into a crossborder network arrangement with other regional telecom operators. The deal also includes the revamping of the landline network and replacing the old landline system with a new generation network. The agreement comes two months after the acquisition of 80 per cent of Rwandatel by Libya's LAP Green Networks. The same Libyan consortium owns a 69 per cent stake in Uganda Telecom (UTL). LAP Green announced during the acquisition of Rwandatel that it would invest $317 million to revamp the telecom sector in Rwanda. Mr Kinuma told The EastAfrican that with the new technologies being introduced, Rwandatel would soon be operating a roaming service with Uganda's UTL, offering another crossborder network between the two countries. Only MTN Rwanda and MTN Uganda offer a crossborder network under the MTN 'Home and Away' package. GSM is a digital mobile telephone system that is widely used with over one billion users worldwide. It is available in 190 countries. With GSM networks, operators have roaming agreements with foreign operators. Equally, users often continue to use their mobile phones when they travel to other countries. UMTS is a recent generation of mobile systems being developed within the UN's International Telecommunication Union IMT-2000 framework. It is part of a new generation of broadband multi-media mobile telecommunications technology. Rwandatel has since its inception been operating under the traditional CDMA technology, which may not cover rural areas and is inferior to international roaming between GSM carriers. Mr Kinuma said that the rollout of the GSM infrastructure will be complete by the end of 2008. "The GSM will cover most of the populated areas and roads, with the 3G UMTS covering most of the urban centres," he said. He said that in the coming weeks, Rwandatel will be signing contracts worth over $40 million to make sure that the company develops into a highly profitable and socially responsible firm fulfilling its mission to develop high quality networks to promote accessibility and provide greater quality of service to the Rwandan population. Rwandatel under its Terracom brand has been almost non-existent in Rwanda's mobile telecom industry, with only 5 per cent market share in a population of over 8 million people. MTN Rwanda, the other player in the market and the only GSM operator, boasts over 500,000 subscribers and also offers roaming packages with Tanzania's Vodacom and Kenya's Safaricom. Just a week ago, MTN Rwanda announced a cut on its international call tariffs by 60 per cent, a move that made Rwanda's calls within the East African region more affordable. Local calls were also reduced by 35 per cent. MTN Rwanda's call tariffs had been the most expensive in East Africa and probably the second highest in Africa, according to an International Development Research Centre report. During the launch of the new tariffs, MTN Rwanda's chief executive officer Themba Khumalo said MTN's decision is a direct demonstration of their commitment to extend the benefit of telecommunications to all citizens in support of the country's Vision 2020. Rwandatel said that the company would bargain for a reasonable training package for its staff to be included in the Huawei deal. "Rwandatel believes that the latest technologies can have tremendous impact in the developing word, more so on a country like Rwanda that believes in emphasising the roles of ICT in creating a knowledge based economy. That will assist in transforming the country into a middle income nation," it said. Huawei Technologies is one of the world's leaders in the telecommunication industry. It is a private high-tech enterprise that specialises in research and development. It serves 31 of the top 50 telecoms operators and puts 10 per cent of revenue into research each year. File : news_IDRC_Acacia_2008.doc
2008-02
News 10 of 10
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