In a bid to make sure that the African continent becomes connected via ICT, the intergovernmental commercial organisation-Rascom has said it would partner with other international institutes to implement the project.
“With the second satellite launched recently, we are looking to partner with NEPAD in an e-learning project aiming at providing internet connectivity to more than 600,000 in Africa,” Mr Jones Killimbe, the director general of the Regional African Satellite Communications Organisation (Rascom) said at a news conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
Currently, the newly launched satellite is undergoing some testing before it is commissioned commercially, the boss said.
The intergovernmental satellite company with 45 member countries, including Tanzania, said it was all set to providing the African continent with affordable telecommunications infrastructure based on space technology.
“We give countries opportunity to interconnect directly using space technology and supplement existing telecom infrastructure by allowing them to provide services in isolated areas,” he added.
Among other services, the organisation intends to support e-health, e-post and transmission of both radio and television broadcasting services even in remote and underserved areas in Africa.
Mr Killimbe commended the deployment of fibre optic cables around Africa, saying that the move would ultimately create reliable connectivity in the continent.
The conference was held ahead the organisation’s board of directors meeting that will be hosted by the state-run Tanzania Telecommunications Company Ltd (TTCL) today in Dar es Salaam.
The Acting director general of TTCL, Mr Mrisho Shabani said: “had it not been for the contract that it had with its current satellite connectivity provider-Interset, it would swiftly move to Rascom, which is “cheap with better services.”
BACKGROUND
The first Pan African satellite was launched in 2007 from French Guyana in South America and started operations the followed year.
However, it encountered technical problems that prompted the company to quickly manufacture and launch the replacement satellite.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Al-amani Mutarubukwa
Quelle/Source: The Citizen Daily, 23.09.2010
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