ROUND TABLE Developing Country Access to On-line Scientific Publishing: Sustainable Alternative 4-5 October 2002 The Abdus Salam ICTP Trieste -Italy Problems of Internet Access in research laboratories in Senegal A. Wague African Laser Atomic and Molecular and Optical Sciences Network (LAM Network: ) Department of Physics

I. Internet in Senegal Internet first reached Senegal in 1980 with the implementation of a node of the RIO(Reseau Intertropical d'ordinateurs) belonging to ORSTOM presently IRD (Intitut de Recherche en Developpement) a French research organisation. Through this implementation,, e- mail and file transfer were the main internet services provided just to few number of persons. At this time there was no national domain name ".sn "....

In 1992 in Collaboration with ORSTOM, the Computer engineering department of ENSUT( Ecole NationaleSuperieure Universitaire de Technologie ) became the manager of the.sn domain. In the same year The RINAF project (regional Informatics Network for Africa was launched by UNESCO with The ENSUT as a nodal point for West Africa. In 1994 users of the SYFED ( Systeme Francophone d'Edition et de Difusion) Centre in Dakar run by AUPELF-UREF gained access to through the french Minitel system.

But up to this period there was no internet providerrs registred and authorised to market internet access in Senegal( For more information on internet development in Senegal see : Information and Communication Technologies and Social development in Senegal. By Olivier Sagna -UNISRID document - OSIRIS- September 2002 ) But up to this period there was no internet providerrs registred and authorised to market internet access in Senegal( For more information on internet development in Senegal see : Information and Communication Technologies and Social development in Senegal. By Olivier Sagna -UNISRID document - OSIRIS- September 2002 )

An Up to date Connectivity to internet in Senegal started indeed in Mars The Main provider is " la Sonatel" ( Societe Nationale de telecommunication du Senegal) a branch of France telecom, a French company. Internet access in Senegal by Sonatel is done through two links provided by MCI USA and Teleglobe Canada. Sonatel rent is lines to secondary providers which are at the number of 14. Among these secondary providers the University Cheikh Anta, Sentoo, Enda, Aupelf Uref, etc. Connectivity of individuals and compagnies is done though these secondary providers

Now the bandwidth for internet Acess in Senegal is 53 Mbps. it started with a 64 kbps link in Presently for internet access in Senegal one can consider the following data Number of Internet service Providers : 14 Number of Internet subscribers: Number of Internet costumers : Number of Internet domains ".sn" declared : 1150 Number of effective Internet domain".sn : 160 Number of Internet accès points : > 150.

The permanently connectivity cost in Francs CFA through Sonatel by dedicated lines, is as follow: ( Ref. Osiris) 64kbps (installation) (monthly cost) 128kbps650000(installation)597600(monthly cost) 256kbps650000(installation (monthly cost) 512kbps (installation (monthly cost) 1024kbps (installation (monthly cost) 2048kbps (installation) (monthly cost) The TVA at 18 % is not included in the cost

Technically in addition to dedicated lines it is possible in Senegal to connect to internet through the national telephone network ( by Internet Service providers, or through the integrated digital service network (ISDN), or through the Senpac X25 data packet transmission network of Sonatel

I. Problems of Internet Access at University. The University Cheikh Anta diop of Dakar is one of the provider of internet in Senegal and have presently a 2Mbps bandwidth dedicated line connection through Sonatel.( it started with 64kbps in 96) The domain name.sn is under the supervision of the university Cheikh Anta Diop The University include several Faculties and Institutes with more than 25,000 students But the problem of connectivity of faculties and institutes in the university is still a challenge..

In the Faculty of Science and technique during the last ten month the connection of different departments has started beginning by the Department of Mathematics and informatic which have in charge the curricula of student training in informatics. Our laboratory at the Department of physics is now fully connected to the university network after 6 years of modem link to the Refer (The SYFED Network with the advent of internet was completed by by the REFER one- Reseau electronique Francophone de l'Enseignement et de la Recherche) server of Aupelf UREF at our own charge. The technical consideration should take into account the generalisation of connectivity to internet by reducing the cost

The implementation of the technology of information and communication in education system in Senegal covers several aspects: 1)the equipment of schools, universities and institutes, 2)the training program for teachers and students, 3)the implementation of collaborative actions between different partners.

At the same time the connectivity to internet is related to several kinds of problems: 1)the weakness of the bandwidth, 2) the character of the cost of telephone charges for modem connection, 3)the cost and the maintenance of equipment, 4) the problem of training for researchers in the manipulation of computer program related to connectivity questions. 5)the creation of program including the activities inside the University and creation of educational and research oriented program on the net

II. Internet in Research Labs the internet access should provide to research laboratories an access to scientific documentation and to make more visible the research works at university by the creation of low cost e-journals. Internet should be an instrument for scientists to perform their research not only to send . by performing the internet access it is possible to integrate the information technology to the pedagogical and research systems at university, and this could modify positively the research, training and teaching processes, with new possibility of interaction and time management for teachers, researchers and students.

For that purposes it is important to solve the problem of generalisation of the connectivity by reducing the cost of the telephone and of the specialised links and to solve the problem of the weakness of bandwidth. In addition the University should provide the necessary support for the access to on line e-journals and to the support for equipment acquisition and maintenance.

CONCLUSION it is important with the development of internet facilities in Africa to promote 1)information and communication network by making communications reliable and available at reasonable cost for a broad range of individuals, public and private sectors,and to provide access to information resources for every university and research centre 2) to promote a new generation of scientists capable in using and creating information and communication technologies to speed the development by improving educational systems and enhancing human resources needed to implement strong scientific communities