More on EASSy cable and the private sector players involved

This business day article highlights the difficulty theat lies in a partnership between public and private actors, each with their own agenda and objectives, in providing low-cost and efficient access to a broadband connection originating from a cable to be installed around the Eastern rim of Africa and coming inland to reach landlocked countries.  Reliance and Alcatel-Lucent both seem to be willing to lay the ground work for actually providing the infrastructural needs but other private players will not tap into the network unless it is a profitable venture.  Meanwhile, the governments of those countries that stand to benefit from the cable are demanding cheap access be provided to drive growth in the IT and Communications sectors, generating exponential growth in these service industries, more FDI and SME development.  This is an interesting story that is playing out and a valuable lesson in Public-Private Partnerships P3s.

Lesley Stones
Johannesburg

ARGUMENTS about the cost of bandwidth on a telecommunications cable to be laid around Africa’s east coast could see more money pumped into a duplicate cable laid in direct competition to the original R300m project.

A second multimillion-dollar cable to replicate the planned East Africa Submarine System (EASSy) may be laid because of a clash between private investors wanting to profiteer and governments demanding cheaper bandwidth to reduce the cost of doing business and stimulate economic growth.

Some positive light thrown on corporate ’survivors’ in Zimbabwe

I get the feeling more and more as of late that there are hordes of investors standing eagerly by as the Zim crisis appears to be reaching some sort of climax.  A recent rise in the ZSE is partly “underpinned by weak money market interest rates, higher exchange rate movements coupled with negative inflation projections”.  How sustainable is this with the tightening of liquidity due to treasury bill deficits and approaching maturities couple with the printing of more and more Zim dollars? Talk about a bubble being blown (and burst) again from the same old balloon that continues to wreak havoc on the Zim economy. But how much do past infrastructure developments and the sound economic and business principles that made Zim the ‘breadbasket’ of Southern Africa keep wary eyed investors anxious in the wake of a potential overturn of a dictator who seems to be getting more and more desperate in finding support locally, regionally and internationally? Expected returns could be what puts Zim back on the fast track to finding its way back to the ‘breadbasket’ label it once adorned. Also see discussion on Ryan Shen-Hoover’s site.

Zim corporate survivors in strong position – Imara

Published: 03-APR-07

Harare – Zimbabwe’s listed companies are proven survivors that are well placed for the long haul. That’s the positive message drawn from Zimbabwe’s corporate reporting season by the investment professionals at Harare-based Imara Asset Management Zimbabwe, part of the Imara financial services group.

ICT environment in sub-Saharan Africa

A couple of recent articles from www.mybroadband.co.za highlight some of the key issues surrounding the ICT curve in SSA. 

SA’s broadband and ICT environment worsen

By Hilton Tarrant, Moneyweb, 31 March 2007 A report released yesterday by the World Economic Forum shows that South Africa has fallen ten positions in the Networked Readiness Index.   While many will be tempted to say that our broadband access has increased, costs have come down, and regulation is improving, this definitive study shows that SA is simply not keeping up with the rest of the world. The report, officially titled “The Global Information Technology Report 2006-2007″ (GITR) compares 122 economies worldwide in the following areas: The regulatory/infrastructure environment for ICT; The readiness of individuals, businesses and governments to use and benefit from ICT; The actual usage of the last technology available.