Africa's year in tech includes arrival of undersea cable

For Africa, the arrival fiber optic cables connecting eastern and southern Africa, expansion of Internet services and the growth of local software development were the defining tech developments in 2009.

The growth of undersea fiber optic cables boosted access to high capacity bandwidth, linking businesses and communities in Africa with Europe and South Asia. Africa has up to now failed to attract international business because of reliance on high-cost satellite systems to transmit voice and data services.

After the SAT-3 fiber optic failed to reduce connectivity costs in West Africa, this year the SEACOM and TEAMS fiber optic cables connected the Eastern coast while the Glo-1 and Main One fiber optic cables connected West Africa. SEACOM has landing stations in Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya while Glo-1 and Main One land in Ghana and Nigeria. In addition, TEAMS connects Kenya with the United Arab Emirates directly.

Though relative costs came down for the large bandwidth buyers, the consumers with small bandwidth needs did not feel the effect of the fiber, and costs did not meaningfully come down.

"The owners of SEACOM have claimed a 95 percent reduction in wholesale broadband costs, although it's up to regional ISPs to set pricing for consumers," said Bill Zimmerman, CEO and co-founder of Limbe Labs in Cameroon.

"In Ghana, a monthly half circuit 2Mg (E1) bandwidth cost has dropped from $12,000 (2003) over the SAT-3 to $4,500 in 2009," said Yaw Owusu, managing director of Gateway Innovations, part of a venture to promote BPO in Ghana.

The celebration for the fiber optic cables is yet to be heard from the residents of landlocked countries although the planned $215 million Central African Backbone (CAB), funded by the World Bank, is expected to link up landlocked countries in the interior including Chad, Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Meanwhile, the growth of BarCamp events across Africa served to illustrate a wave of innovation that has started to gain strength. At the events, techies demonstrate their innovation to their peers as well as the public, hoping to commercialize their ideas. All BarCamp proceedings from countries are uploaded to maneno.org.

In 2009, the first BarCamps were organized in Congo-Brazzaville, Swaziland, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mali and Zambia. Such events have taken place in Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria and Senegal in the past.

"These community-driven events have enormous potential to spread ideas, drive entrepreneurship and inspire agents of change," added Zimmerman, who was part of BarCamp Cameroon. "At BarCamp Cameroon, the impact of this single day event was tremendous; the wake of this event, several other groups were spontaneously formed including the Cameroon Linux Users Group (CAMLUG) and the Google Technology Users Group."

Next year, Zimmerman hopes to see more developer sites and events established by Africans; they may form an indigenous, self-organizing network that collaborates by sharing ideas, hardware designs, and code, among other developments.

Content development and expansion of broadband services to rural areas has been identified as a major catalyst for the costs of connectivity to go down significantly. The World Bank has a grant for content development in East Africa though the benefits are yet to be realized.

On the corporate side, it is hoped that the growth of data centers and technology parks will take root in the continent as Kenya and Uganda finalize construction of technology parks and Ghana, South Africa and Mauritius expand on existing services.

In 2010, more countries will join Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Mauritius, Senegal in trying to establish technology parks and data centers, added Owusu.

Countries such as Ghana have developed broadband strategies, identifying opportunities provided by high mobile penetration in Africa.

"Broadband -- domestic and mobile are key areas that are set to pick up; after all these cables land, the main issue is how to get the bandwidth out there -- mainly last mile access and for uncovered areas," said Francis Hook, IDC East Africa manager.

Much of the focus next year is likely to shift from infrastructure as a way of reducing costs to development of local content and local hosting. Internet exchange points for Cameroon and Sierra Leone are scheduled to be operational next year while other countries explore ways to expand existing IXPs.