UhuruNet and African West Coast Cable System sign MoU

The African West Coast Cable System (AWCC) and UhuruNet will merge into one network. A memorandum of understanding was signed between Broadband InfraCo and NEPAD’s eAfrica commission September 8th that effectively makes the AWCC part of UhuruNet. 

UhuruNet was conceived by Africa’s ICT ministers in 2007 under the auspices of NEPAD with the sole purpose of constructing and laying an undersea cable around Africa connecting every country on the continent with the internet backbones in Europe, Asia and North America.

The AWCC is a South-African initiative led by Broadband Infraco, a state-owned South African telecom company which owns a 26%  stake in the project and was necessitated by the need to make enough bandwidth available ahead of the 2010 world cup in South Africa per FIFA requirements.

 NEPAD’s eAfrica commission is charged with developing and implementing UhuruNet. The ownership structure of UhuruNet breaks down as follows; a NEPAD special purpose vehicle 30%; African telcos and other investors 45% and international investors 25%. The 12 countries that signed on at the inception of the project get to choose and pick which investors hop on the special purpose vehicle ownership with a government representative from each country holding “golden shares”, giving veto powers when a two-thirds quorum is met to check activities and actions of the company.  

Part of report derived from this ITWEB story.

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