Connectivity Providers Database

From: Jeff Cochrane <jeffc@INFO.USAID.GOV> To: Multiple recipients of list AFRIK-IT <AFRIK-IT@LISTSERV.HEA.IE> Date: Sun, 20 Oct 1996 14:17:32 -5 Salut Afrik-ITains! Just a brief stopover in Libreville on my way to Washington. I've been the past week in Central Africa reviewing opportunities for electronic mail connectivity for USAID partners in a regional environmental program. This is my first ever visit to Gabon, and I've only seen a bit of Libreville. Beautiful beaches, mild temperatures, occasional sunshine during these two rainy season days. Many nice restaurants and hotels -- seems quite popular with tourists. On my first day I took my lunch of grilled fish at a table set under a thatch room under the palms on the beach while watching a thunderstorm pass. To my report on Cameroon I've added the information below on Gabon. I hope you find it interesting. I continue to be impressed by how easy it seems to be for so many of the national telecommunications companies to adapt their existing infrastructure to provide Internet services in their urban centers. In countries where the international telecommunications links are already quite modern, it generally seems more a matter of political will than anything else. Cheers! Jeff @ Libreville Access to the Internet in Central Africa In Libreville a meeting was held with a senior official of Telecommunications Internationales Gabonaises (TIG) concerning Internet access in Gabon. An agreement has been signed with MCI to furnish a 128kbps link, with TIG selling local full-Internet accounts within two or three months. A Sun Ultra server is to be installed. Prices have not yet been established, but are expected to be about CFA 20,000 (US$40) per month for five hours access to a POP3 electronic mailbox, CFA 30,000 (US$60) per month for 10 hours of access to electronic mail and the World Wide Web, or CFA 50,000 (US$100) per month for up to 50 hours of full Internet access including Usenet news and FTP. The access to the Internet planned by TIG in Gabon is somewhat different from that available through SOCATEL in the Central African Republic. While TIG intends to install a direct TCP/IP link with MCI, SOCATEL's connection is TCP/IP via X.25 with France Cable. The solution of "tunneling" full Internet access via existing X.25 links was rejected as inefficient by TIG. The cost of access in the CAR is reported to be CFA 15,000 for setup, CFA 10,000 per month, and CFA 60 CFA per minute. If used solely for electronic mail, the cost to an organization sending and receiving even as much as 50 pages of mail daily should be around $25 per month. Local observers point out that TIG has promised full Internet access in the past. When asked about this, TIG officials respond that the signed agreement with MCI is proof that new services will be available soon. While awaiting access to the new Internet service in Gabon, there is presently access to Compuserve services, including electronic mail, via a TIG X.25 data link to a Paris server. Compuserve charges US$9.95 per month for up to five hours, plus US$2.95 for additional hours. For the TIG X.25 service, there is a CFA 20,000 setup charge, plus CFA 13,000 per month, CFA 7,000 per hour, and CFA 8,000 per "kilosegment" (64 kilobytes). For a small organization sending and receiving about 10 pages of electronic mail per day, this might cost US$150 per month. A larger organization sending and receiving 50 pages per day might pay as much as $570 per month. Officials of TIG say they expect to install X.25 data links to their new full-Internet service in several major towns, including Oyem, Franceville, and Moanda. The X.25 data links within Gabon will presumably be lower than those between Gabon and France. A telephone dialup node may be established in Port-Gentil. TIG also intends to permit limited competition in the Internet services industry, leasing lines capable of 28.8kbps data flows for about US$2,000 per month to firms that can establish and resell access to their own World Wide Web servers, though TIG expects it will be more cost effective for these firms simply to rent space on the TIG server. ... [Added to the section about Cameroon:] $10,000 per month for a leased 64kbps line in Cameroon may be compared to the $2,000 per month suggested for a 28.8kbps leased line in Gabon. *** AfricaLink -- http://www.info.usaid.gov/alnk Tel 1-703-235-5415 Fax 1-703-235-3805