African universities hungry for bandwidth

West African universities are establishing an information-sharing network to improve access to research, reports VOA news.

Boubacar Barry, coordinator of research and education networks at the Association of African Universities, says the problem of access is rooted in the prohibitive costs of bandwidth in Africa, despite progress in deploying telecommunications infrastructure.

African universities pay about 50 times what a US university pays for its bandwidth. In general, an entire university of 20 000 students in Africa will have the same bandwidth usually available for one household in the US.

The International Astronautical Congress (IAF) in South Korea is planning to form regional groups for the Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Africa regions to allow countries a framework to pursue common goals in space programmes, states The Korea Times.

Berndt Feuerbacher, president of the IAF, says: “The groups will act as the instruments for countries to make goals on a regional scale, and define problems and develop technologies that are particularly suited for particular regions. This would enable various regions to operate on a higher level in space technology.”

Korea is a latecomer in the intensifying Asian space race, but intends to spend about $20.5 million to drive the country's capabilities in space exploration.

The Mozambique government will roll out an international tender for a third mobile phone licence in December, after delays amid complaints from the two existing mobile wireless operators, says Reuters.

A third operator was due to be licensed in Mozambique by June this year, but the awarding of the licence was delayed amid opposition from Mcel, a state owned company and Vodacom, which is owned by Vodafone.

Mozambique Transport and Communications minister, Paulo Zucula, says a market study had been concluded and the government is currently preparing a bidding document.