Many people wonder why Internet traffic in Africa is so low or why there's such a low bandwidth utilization in the continent. A big part of theses problems is related to the policy issue of "Open Access".Let me break it down. Africa's international connectivity is provided by one sole cable called SAT 3. That cable was financed by a consortium of 36 operators from Africa, Europe , Asia and the U.S. It lands in Angola, Gabon, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Canary Islands.It has a capacity of 120 Gbps but about 40 Gbps are currently used. Each operator, which is, for African countries, the national carrier, owns capacity on the cable depending on their contribution to the project. Non-owners who need international connectivity can get capacity on the cable in one of two ways. They can lease it from the national carrier if they have a license to carry international traffic. Or, they can buy it directly from the pool after the national carrier 5 years exclusivity. That is where comes the problem. Because the incumbent have exclusivity , it can basically charge whatever price it want. What ended up happening is that small ISPs who don't have enough capital to buy capacity from the cable pool or pay the enormous rates charged buy the incumbent settle buy using satellite telecommunication. "Open Access" will actually solve this issue by allowing the ISPs to compete with the incumbent cable capacity. It's a fair competition which will benefit the African countries by increasing the internet bandwidth utilization and making internet available for a wider audience. Among many advantages, adopting an "Open Access" policy will provide a better alternative to expensive and not-so-reliable satellite communications, reduce the cost of communications services, allow international trade and job creation, extent learning and promote social participation.
