News

India Kicks Off Billion Dollar Pan-African e-network Project

The Indian government's USD 1 billion Pan Africa E-network project, a joint initiative with the Africa Union (AU), will be started initially in Ethiopia, South Africa, Ghana and Mauritius. The project aims to develop Africa's information and communication technologies by connecting all of the 53 African countries to a satellite and fiber-optic network.

India hopes the investment will help it to sell more telecom gear to Africa, including Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs), as well as IT services for telemedicine and other social applications. It has said it wants to make inroads into Africa's ICT markets before China steps up its investments there.

“Africa needs nothing less than the development of broadband infrastructure if the continent is to move together with the rest of the world,” Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa said, at an event to launch the cellZ network (mobile phone service provider) in Zambia's western province last month.

The Africa Development Bank has also announced plans to invest USD 1 billion in the continent's telecommunication and energy infrastructures.

Indian president Abdul Kalam first announced the E-network project in 2004. In October 2005, the Indian government and the Africa Union signed a memorandum of understanding to formalise the project. The AU, in Addis Ababa, is an organisation chartered to accelerate economic development and peace in Africa.

The Indian government has already established tele-education and telemedicine hubs in Bangalore and Ahmedabad. It will establish a hub in Africa to act as the main contact


print	save	email	comment