Access and Affordability to Broadband in EastAfrica.

By Maureen Agena

Facilitated by Natasha primo from the Association for progressive (APC) the afternoon and last session of day 2 during the EastAfrica Internet Governace Forum focused on access and affordability to broadband in Eastafrica.

Mr. Douglas Onyango from Gidigiclear EastAfrica Limited made a presentation on the broadband status in EastAfrica. He said that according to the worldbank analysis, it was revealed that 10 % points of broadband penetration result in 1.21% increase per capita GDP growth in developed countries and 1.38% in developing countries. Mr. Onyango added that with the three fibre cables now operational, the prices of the internet have considerably reduced. However, expansion of the infrastructure is still limited to capital cities where a steady market is guaranteed.

Country Reports on Broadband status

According to Eng. Charles Lwanga the Assistant Commisioner ,Telecom and posts in the Ministry of ICT in Uganda, he says that until rescently, Uganda depended only on statellite for international access which is very expensive and has limited capacity compared to optical fibre. He said that the national backbone infrastructure is that all Ministries (28) in Uganda are connected with 2.5Gbps connectivity; 2.5Gps connectivity is available in the districts of Kampala, Mukono, Bombo, Jinja and Entebbe and also the Optical fibre has been laid to the districts of Iganga, Tororo, Malaba, Busia, Kumi, Soroti, Lira, Gulu, Nimule, Luwero, Nakasongola, Masindi, Hoima, Mbarara, Bushenyi, Fortportal and Kyenjojo and currently the Ministryof ICTS is implementing Phase II (lighting the fibre). Eng. Charles said that the only way forward is that;Telecom operators should rollout Broadband infrastructure to all parts of the country regardless of profitability,eE-Government services should be rolled out through National Backbone Infrastructure for use by central and local Governments and finally that there is need for more optical fibre international links to cut costs of broadband.

Ms. Beata Mukangabo from  Legal affairs/RURA presents on the access and affordability to broadband in Rwanda.  She shared Rwanda ICT policy Mission of “achieving a middle income status for Rwanda by

2020 and transform its society and economy into an information-rich, knowledge-based society and economy by modernizing its key sectors using information and communication technologies” She also cited the characteristics of broadband in Rwanda as satlitte and optic cable like in the case of Uganda. Rwanda’s current broadband status is that it has experienced substantial growth in telecom services (especially mobile telephony) although broadband Access is still low and expensive and that the government subsidies to satellite bandwidth also the national Backbone is under construction and finally that there are regional initiatives connection to Submarine Cable.

In Kenya, Ms. Esther Wanjua said that the vision by 2030 is a globally competitive and prosperous nation with high quality of life by 10% p.a over 25years, equitable social development in a clean and secure environment and an issue based people-centered result-oriented and accountable democratic political system.

Conclusion

It was noted that all the countries in EastAfrican face similar challenges in access and affordability to broadband like costs, infrastructure, accessibility, governance and affordability.

Contracted to Tweet and Blog at the 3rd Regional EastAfrica Internet Governace Forum (EAIGF) in Kampala.

By Maureen Agena

Globally, technological development has taken the place of face-to-face interaction; with an increasing range of devices for communicating and disseminating information. It is evident that the world is changing rapidly and African Media is catching up with the technological revolution.

At the third East African Internet Governace forum which is being held in Kampala Uganda with a theme:”Strengthening East Africa’s Critical Internet resources: Thinking Globally, Acting Locally”, Twitter an interactive micro blogging platform based on open publication of 140 character messages is one of the most powerful social media tools being used to share information and Network about the event.

A citizen Journalist and a professional Journalist working together.

Together with Ms. Esther Nakkazi a Journalist with the EastAfrican Newspaper, we were contracted as official resource persons in-charge of communication during the 3^rd EAIGF. We were tasked with tweeting and blogging during the three days event. I must say that it is very interesting working with a professional Journalist. It is my very first time as a citizen Journalist to be contracted to tweet and blog at a regional workshop.

Twitter is one of the greatest inventions since the internet and one of the latest incarnations of “New Journalism”. It is an invaluable tool for both receiving and distributing News.  Twitter’s I40 characters are ideal for opinion, updates and information dissemination, keeping messages short, simple and accessible. These Characters make it a fast platform, one that can be used in the field and on-the-go.

The idea of tweeting during major events is a very powerful one since very many people who would otherwise not have received such information are able to follow and contribute.

Ten Take away Tips for Twitter.

1.      Think before you tweet: You can’t delete and indiscreet tweet.

2.      Think carefully about what you are re-tweeeting and acknowledge if it is unsubstantiated.

3.      Be an active twit: Tweet daily if you want your followers to stick

4.      Determine your twitter Identity

5.      Be human, Be honest, Be open, Be active.

6.      Do not lock your account if you want to use twitter for reporting purposes

7.      Twitter is a community, not a one way conversation or broadcast channel: Engage actively

8.      Avoid racist, sexist, bigoted and otherwise offensive tweets and never abuse a follower.

9.      Value add your tweets with links, Twitpic and other applications for audio and video.

10. Don’t tweet while angry or drunk

More useful links:

The US-based PBS website Mediashift has published a guide to Twitter at www.pbs.org/mediashift/2007/05/your-guide-to-micro-blogging-and-twitter135.html

Please follow the tweets  https://twitter.com/EA_IGF  and the blog at http://www.eaigf-uganda.blogspot.com/

Lillian Nalwoga from CIPESA Shares the Country Report of Uganda Internet Governace Forum.

By Maureen Agena

During the 3^rd East African Internet Governace forum that started on 11^th August 2010 in Kampala Uganda, Ms. Lillian Nalwoga from CIPESA  one of the organizations sponsoring the event shared the National internet governance report for Uganda. In her introduction, she said that the Ugandan Internet Governance forum started way back in 2006 and since then, 3 national IGF forums have been held.

Ms. Lillian Nalwoga presenting the Ugandan report

Lillian said that the objectives of the forums are to; provide updates on outcomes of key issues identified in the 2009, Create awareness about Uganda’s IG issues, Redefine IG issues that may have been vaguely defined as well as Seek to define new IG issues.

In her recap of the 2009 IGF, Lillian noted that there was need to continue the IGF debate in Uganda and at the global level also to promote access and affordability while getting ready for the landing submarine cables, a call for a change management of the .UG ccTLD , to develop an IPv6 transition strategy for Uganda also calling for review of proposed cyber laws in order to address issues of cyber security and privacy without violating the constitutional rights of citizens, Need to form a national cyber security strategy, the need to have gender balanced ICT policies to address gender imbalances in IG and finally Strengthening  Uganda IXPs.

It was noted that Uganda’s critical internet resources are; Administration, Application, environment and infrastructure. She also added that there is need for re-delegation of the .ug ccTLD by establishing a non-for profit  organization Uganda National Information centre (.ugNIC), establishing  a Board with multi-stakeholder representation, two advisory committees i.e. Technical Advisory Committee &Policy Advisory Committee. Seeking  to designate UCC as the sponsor of the .UG, while the created organization/company will be the technical Manager  was one of the solutions of re-delegating.

Other national reports came in from Emauel Hubemuremyi from Media High Council in Rwanda, Joe Kiragu from KENIC in Kenya and Victor Ciza from AfriRegister in Burundi. The session moderator was Dr. Waudo Siganga.