The dream of an advanced telecommunications network serving the member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is swiftly turning into a reality.
At a meeting in Tanzania last month, yet another three international projects were brought forward to the implementation stage, as part of a major infrastructure upgrade programme known as the SADC Regional Information Initiative (SRII).
"These projects were identified as the most urgent on the priority list, and they entail upgrading the links between South Africa and Zimbabwe, and between Zimbabwe and Botswana and Zimbabwe and Mozambique," says Roger Chiume, Executive for International and Special Market Services at Telkom.
For many years countries in the region have battled with inadequate network capacity, non-existent links and out-dated technology.
The SRII project is the brainchild of the SADC Council of Ministers. Its main objective is to upgrade and expand the existing terrestrial telecommunications network and establish a regional network with advanced technology capable of linking all countries in the development community.
It really took off with the appointment of a task group which met for the first time in Maputo in January last year.
Estimated to cost a total of $180 million, the SRII project is being conducted in three two-year phases. The short-term entails upgrading existing analogue facilities to digital Synchronous Digital Hierachy (SDH) technology.
In the medium term existing digital Pseudo-synchronous Digital Hierachy (PDH) links will be upgraded to the more advanced SDH system. The final phase entails expanding network capacity and building SDH rings to help re-route traffic in instances of network failure.
The plan is to complete the project by 2005, while the entire phase one roll-out should be finalised by the end of next year. Nine of the 25 projects on the priority list, which have been identified and planned on a bilateral and multi-national basis, are already at an advanced stage of implementation.
"Telkom is one of the key players helping to bring this project to fruition. We have a lot of traffic that needs to be delivered to countries in the region. In the past we have encountered problems because the various networks are at different stages of development.
"With the SRII project we will eventually have a regional network that boasts the most advanced technology and can compare with the best in the world," said Chiume.
Telkom is also playing a major role in the development of the new submarine cable known as SAT-3/WASC/SAFE (Southern African Telecommunications/West Africa Submarine Cable/South Africa Far East) which wraps around the African continent from Europe to the Far East.
The $600m project will link 17 landing points in 15 countries from Malaysia and India to Portugal and Spain via South Africa.
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