The cost of internet bandwidth is expected to go down significantly in the next few months with the connection of Ghana to the Main One fiber optic cable.

The undersea cable which stretches from Portugal, through Ghana to Lagos will offer a third ultra-high speed connection to the internet after the Vodafone-managed SAT-3 and Glo One.

The availability of bandwidth is set to trigger massive cuts in the cost of the services.

Already Main One’s Chief Executive is promising to connect wholesale internet companies at least at half of what they currently pay.

Funke Opeke made the offer at a ceremony to officially announce the country’s hook-up to the fiber optic cable.

The cable has the capacity to transmit massive amounts of data. At 7.2 terabits per second the speed is ten times the current capacity of the SAT 3 which is the main provider of bandwidth for most internet users in the country.

Bernard Logan, of Tyco, the company that laid the cable told Joy Business: “If you transmit every single book in the largest library in the world and you did it 10,000 times at the same second it still would not overload our cable.”

The first phase of the project cost 240 million dollars and was financed by a consortium, including the Africa Finance Corporation, some Nigerian banks and the African Development Bank.

The Chairman of Main One, Fola Adeola however lashed out at the AfDB for the high interest rate charged, while an AfDB representative defended the interest rate charged. He says 14 percent was fair for a private application.

Source: Joy Business/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana

Main One Cable Company, a submarine cable company offering open access, wholesale broadband capacity in West Africa, and its system supplier, Tyco Electronics Subsea Communications SubCom, have completed the installation of the first phase of its cable system on schedule.

The installation of the terminal equipment is said to have been completed in Seixal, Portugal and are under way at the system’s landing sites in Lagos, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Main One Cable Company Funke Opeke stated that the Phase 1 of the Main One Cable System spans 6,800 kilometres and would provide the much-needed capacity between the West Coast of Africa and Portugal.

The dual fibre pair, 1.92 terabit per second, Dense Wave Division Multiplex project would first connect Lagos, Accra, and Seixal with onward connectivity to Europe, Asia and the Americas, while Phase 2 of the project is expected to extend to South Africa.
The cable system, which is expected to be ready for service in June 2010, will provide open access to regional telecoms operators and Internet service providers at rates lower than existing international bandwidth prices in the region.
The system will also provide broadband capacity to expand Internet access in the sub-Saharan region, as well as ease the difficulties of switching traffic between African countries without the need to go through Europe.

Opeke stressed that, “We are thrilled to say that the challenge of completing the marine work for the Main One Cable System is behind us and that we will soon be able to concentrate on the critical mission of providing high-capacity bandwidth to regions of the globe where it is long overdue,” adding that “together with SubCom, we have met our goals on schedule and we eagerly look towards delivering capacity to our customers and executing plans for expansion of the network.”

President of SubCom David Coughlan in his comments emphasised that “Since the launch of our alliance in 2008, SubCom has looked forward to completing the Phase 1 marine installation.
“Completion of the marine programme brings us very close to making the Main One Cable System a reality,” adding that “we consider the work we have done on Main One to be a significant accomplishment and are proud to be associated with this project.”

By Efem Nkanga

Source: http://www.thisdayonline.com

Ghana has initiated new guidelines for the erection of masts by telecommunications companies in the country.

Even though the full details of the guidelines are not yet available, the guidelines include regulations for collocation and prohibition from erecting masts closer to schools.

The Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrissu has told a Joy News bulletin monitored by ghanabusinessnews.com that a major requirement of the new guidelines is the improvement in quality of services.

He also said, the guidelines prohibit telecoms companies from erecting masts near schools. He said even though, there are no scientific proof to the possible health hazards posed by the emission of electromagnetic radiation from the masts, the decision is a precaution to protect Ghanaian children from any possible health dangers in the future.

In February this year, the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST) placed a ban on the mounting of telecommunications masts in the country until further notice. The issue was later resolved between the ministry and the telephony providers.

The telecoms companies, especially the mobile telephony companies have come under criticisms for mounting masts near to residential facilities and exposing residents to possible health dangers, they have also been accused of offering poor quality services and exploiting subscribers through raffles and customer reward promotions that take from rather than give subscribers any rewards at all.

Ghana currently has six mobile phone companies licensed to operate in the country, five are in operation – these are MTN, Tigo, Vodafone, Kasapa and Zain. The sixth, Globacom is yet to start operations.

And the country’s mobile telephony penetration is said to be over 60% of the country’s population of about 22 million.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi

Source: Ghana Business News

Accra, Ghana April 23, 2010: “Cyber crime has become extremely pervasive since the invention of the Internet.   In Ghana, many people associate the phenomena with Sakawa, which is Internet fraud or scamming. However, cyber crime goes beyond Internet fraud, it could also involve the hacking of networks, which could destroy a nation’s critical infrastructure. The perpetrators of cyber crime have become very sophisticated, so there is the need to protect our Internet resources by waging warfare against them,” said Prof Nii Narku Quaynor.

Prof Quaynor, made these remarks at social night, when he chaired a social gathering

organised by the Ghana Chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC) under the theme, Internet Security and the National Effort. It was attended by about 50 people from ISOC members, government, civil society, industry and academia.

Reiterating the importance of protecting our critical infrastructure, Mr. Daniel Asante, coordinator of the Ghana Computer Emergency Response Team (ghCERT) informed the gathering that ghCERT was partnering with government agencies, ghNOG, ISOC Ghana, GhNIC and other organisations to create awareness on Internet security issues and how some of the incidences can be prevented.  He however, said that because of the pervasive nature of the Internet, it was difficult to track down on the perpetrators and that everyone was obligated to protect the Internet against anti-social acts.

An interesting question that came up for discussion was how much security was needed to prevent the cyber crime.  While one school was of the thought that security was extremely necessary and that policies should be put in place to curb cyber crime, another was of the opinion that, the more security, the less friendly the Internet becomes, since the Internet is a network of networks and used by a large number of people.

Adding on to the debate, Prof. Quaynor said that technology keeps changing very rapidly and policies very quickly become obsolete.  Moreover, policies on Internet usage are done globally with the involvement of organisations such as, the IETF, ISOC, IGF, ITU, ICANN etc, and these normally take time before they are implemented.   He said, rather than preventing the occurrences, the role of ghCERT is to respond to problems as and when they occur.  Prof. Quaynor stressed on the importance of sharing of best practices among IT operators on a regularly, so that they are abreast of the issues.

Presenting the topic, Mitigating the ‘Sakawa’ Challenge, Mr. Charles Nelson, of Youth Against Cyber Crime, described himself as ‘a lone ranger’ in the war against Sakawa. He described the phenomena as endemic and that the future was bleak if the government does not take measures to nip the crime in the bud.  Of great concern to Mr. Nelson, however is the erroneous perception among people that young people who use Internet are all engaged in the Sakawa business.   “There must be a reorientation of the minds of the youth that the Internet goes beyond Sakawa.” He said.   “Advocacy is therefore, the key to change the mindset of these young people.

As the Internet continues to grow, there is a need for global computer emergency response teams to curb the incidences of cyber crime.  The Ghana project is therefore, a laudable initiative. According to Prof Quaynor, there is the need to create network of government ministries agencies and departments to come out with a defence strategy. He made this call when Mr.  Godfred Ofori-Som, Chair, Technical Committee, ISOC, Ghana, Ayittey Bulley, Vodafone, Ghana, Daniel Asante and Charles Nelson, constituted a panel to discuss the way forward in forging a strong computer emergency response team.  Mr. Asante, said that currently ghCERT was operating on funds from benefactors and voluntary contributions and that there was the need to look for other funding alternatives. Dr. Quaynor called on ghCERT to form strong ties with the government and tackle the issues from a multi-stakeholder approach.   Mr. Asante made a call for volunteers to join in the crusade to make the Internet a safer place.  He said GhCERT was putting a portal in place where it would disseminate information via listservs.

He also called for volunteers to team up with ghCERT to create awareness of the initiative.   Four other CERTS in Africa can be found in Tunisia, South Africa, Mauritius and Egypt.

The evening was climaxed with the launching of the new ISOC website, which has current Web 2 features, user generation content, with face book and twitter integrations. The launch was performed by Prof. Quaynor, Board Chairman of ISOC Ghana.

About Internet Society Ghana Chapter

The Internet Society Ghana Chapter (ISOC-Ghana) is a not-for-profit organization and official Chapter of the Internet Society.  The mission of ISOC –Ghana is to inform the private and public community of Internet users, on recent developments in Internet technologies and their impact on today’s global society.

Contact:

Vera Doku
Communication Chair

ISOC Ghana

[E] : Vera.doku@gmail.com

[M]: +233-244627994