African NREN Overview Internet2 Fall Member Meeting Chicago, 4-7 November 2006 Boubakar Barry Association of African Universities Research and Education Networking Unit

Agenda About AAU AAU and R&E Networking Connectivity in Africa Cost issues Key challenges for R&E Networking in Africa Established RENs RENs in formation Towards an AfREN - Opportunities

About AAU Established in November 1967 in Rabat, Morocco. Based in Accra, Ghana 194 members, in all African sub-regions General Conference once every 4 years, with election of the Board Conference of Rectors, VCs and Presidents once every 2 years Several programmes and services (QA, Mobility, Leadership and Management, HIV/AIDS, DATAD, Gender, R&E Netwg,...)

AAU and R&E Networking 11th General Conference in February 2005 in Cape Town, SA: four-year Core Programme approved Prominent among other foci: support for the development if ICT for HE in Africa Strong mandate to the Secretariat to assume focal point role for ICT initiatives Focus on R&E Networking for improvement of access to information and knowledge

AAU and R&E Networking (cont'd) Fact: with over 400 universities in 53 countries, there are less than a dozen active NRENs in Africa (mainly located in Northern and Southern Africa) Since the 11th GC, several activities with AAU involvement: Open Access Conference, Maputo, May 2005 Roundtable on “Progress and Challenges in Building NRENs in Africa”, Philadelphia, September 2005 Workshop on African REN, Geneva, Sept 2005

AAU and R&E Networking (cont'd) Conference on African REN convened by AAU during the WSIS summit in Tunis, Nov. 2005 Call on AAU to take up the coordinating role of African REN initiatives Need for AAU to set up an unit within the Secretariat Commitment by donor community to support initiative Workshop on REN during AfNOG 2006 in Nairobi, April 2006 (focus on campus networks and on strategy and policy issues) Importance of the foundations (campus networks) Importance of building consensus Sub-regional approach AfREN

AAU and R&E Networking (cont'd) Where are we in this process? With support of PHE in Africa and IDRC: set up of a REN Unit within AAU Secretariat WP for the next 3 years in development First activities of the unit: MoU with AfNOG and AfriNIC for capacity development Appointment of Advisory Panel members and first AP meeting Regional Workshop on NREN, Accra, Nov 2006 Participation in relevant events (University Leaders' Forum, this meeting) Identification of and contact with potential partners AAU open to partnerships

Connectivity in Africa Least connected continent In most of the countries, incumbents rule over telecommunications market Poor infrastructure except in few countries Resources concentrated in major urban areas Absence of or no implementation of ICT policies Predominance of copper infrastructure on national backbones Very few IXPs, leading to inefficient use of international bandwidth Absence or weakness of regulatory bodies etc.

Connectivity in Africa (cont'd)

Connectivity in Africa (cont'd) Projects aimed to change this figure SAT3 cable (full capacity: around 120 Gbps) A set of several submarine cables SEA-ME-WE 3 (40k km) which links Europe to Australia via Mediterranean Africa) Atlantis 2 (12k km) linking Southern Europe to South America via Wet Africa (Senegal and Capo Verde) SAFE (13.5k km) linking South Africa to Malaysia via Mauritius and Reunion Island SAT/WASC which links Southern Europe to South Africa SAT3 implemented Problem: consortium with monopolistic pricing policy “Monopoly” of consortium to end within the next months. New access and pricing policies? Role of regulatory bodies!

Connectivity in Africa (cont'd) EASSy cable Still in project phase Different access policy than SAT3 Separation of shareholders' rights from access rights Programme for connection of land-locked countries Very promising project for East-African countries BUT: Big delays Questions on if the project will be ever implemented Dispute around ownership by NEPAD Some stakeholders are already seeking for alternative solutions (KDN, Telkom Kenya) The future? Unused resources: dark fiber

Connectivity in Africa (cont'd) Eastern Africa Submarine System Toliary Durban

Connectivity in Africa (cont'd) Global Connectivity SEA ME WE 3 SAT-3/WASC 20 SAFE EAS Sy

Bandwidth cost issues African bandwidth prices probably the highest in the world Main reasons: lack of competition use of costly technologies (VSAT) absence of or inappropriate regulatory frameworks Medium bandwidth price in Africa: US$5,000 per 1 Mbps Prices as high as over US$10,000+ per 1 Mbps Efforts in some countries to apply lower tariffs for the Education sector; but prices still prohibitive One of the short term solutions: (well thought) bandwidth consortia

Key challenges for R&E Networking in Africa Awareness raising at the highest level (Vcs, Ministers, Heads of State) on the importance of R&E Networking for African development Development of clear and coherent national ICT policies taking into account both regional issues and R&E specific needs Regulatory environment Power supply Market environment disparity throughout the continent; need for harmonization Human capacity development Building a partnership framework involving all stakeholders and international partners

Established NRENs Active RENs essentially established in Northern and Southern/Eastern Africa Well established NRENs include: TENET (South Africa) KENET (Kenya) MAREN (Malawi) EUN (Egypt) MARWAN (Morocco) RNU (Tunesia) CERIST (Algeria) Most of other NRENs are in a more and less advanced stage of formation

NRENs in formation Several initiatives in all African regions Most of the initiatives located in Southern/Eastern Africa (UbuntuNet momentum) Most advanced intiatives: MoRENet (Mozambique) Rwandan NREN TENET (Tanzania) RENU (Uganda)

NRENs in formation (cont'd) Recently, high activities in West and Central African countries Quite promising initiatives in Nigeria (Ng ICT Forum) Possible launch during AfNOG 2007 Ghana (GARNET) Formally launched on Nov 2006 Cameroon (RIC) Embryo already exists Senegal (RENER) Ongoing consultations among stakeholders Côte d'Ivoire

Regional initiatives First regional initiative in Africa is the EUMEDConnect project Links Mediterranean African countries with Europe through GEANT Direct links from individual countries to GEANT Now, over to interconnection between the countries Other major initiative: UbuntuNet Alliance of several Southern/Eastern African NRENs to interconnect and share bandwidth Initially set up in order to benefit from the EASSy cable (as shareholder)

Regional initiatives (cont'd) RESAO: initiative of Francophone universities as component of curricula reform process Essentially West and Central Africa Commitment at high level (Education Ministers and Vcs) New initiative for West/Central Africa during the recent Accra NREN workshop Task Force for follow up set up Initiative want to build on ongoing RESAO initiative BUT: first battle is at campus and national levels

Towards an AfREN - Opportunities Despite the enormous challenges, real opportunities to move the African R&E Networking agenda forward Awareness of the key players on the ground Emergence of community at the continental level which shares the same vision Begin of involvement of governments Support from donor organizations Support from the international REN community Positive signals from the private sector Key point now: to build a strong alliance with all these stakeholders and to not loose the momentum

THANK YOU ! Contacts: Boubakar Barry (barry@aau.org) renu@aau.org Website: www.aau.org