Pan African e-Network Project

During the inaugural session of the Pan-African Parliament held at Johannesburg on 16th September, 2004, the President of India, H.E. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, proposed setting up of a Pan-African e-Network, to be entirely funded by India. The network would connect all 53 countries of the African Union to provide effective communication and connectivity among these countries. 2. Pan African e-Network Project of 53 nations of African Union will be connected by a satellite/fiber optical network which will provide Tele-education, Tele-medicine and VVIP Connectivity. The Satellite Network for the African Continent will have one satellite hub Earth station in one of the designated African country linked to VSATs in other countries for providing these facilities. There will be one VSAT each for Tele-education, Tele-medicine and VVIP Connectivity installed in every country. The network will connect 5 universities to 53 learning centres for Tele-education, and 10 Super Speciality hospitals to 53 remote hospitals (patient end locations) for Tele-Medicine. It is proposed to link the satellite hub Earth Station of Pan African e-network with India by leasing bandwidth in the existing submarine cable link for providing Tele-education Content and Tele-medicine consultation. 3. The main objective of Tele-Medicine service in this network is to share the expertise of Indian medical professionals in the field of healthcare with the experts in Africa. 10 Super-Specialty Hospitals will provide Tele-Healthcare, Continuing Medical Education (CME), Training to Nurses, Paramedical staff and other health workers in the 53 PAN African countries. 4. Five Universities will be equipped with Tele-education studios with post-production facilities, data centres, a portal comprising the universal Tele-Education delivery system software which incorporates the e-learning, content management and digital library solutions for each university as an integrated package. Teachers will be able to interact with the selected students in a sequence and also simultaneously collaborate with them using the collaborative tools; return IP link shall provide audio, video and data connectivity to the university studio and enable students to have a live interaction. Remote location should easily become a teacher to all the connected users seamlessly using the return link. All the five studios are controlled and managed by the central hub for management, scheduling, broadcasting, review learning process etc. 53 learning centres will act as virtual class-rooms for the remote centres and also may be network-enabled for further expansion. 5. The network is designed to have 169 terminals and a central hub to deliver the services mentioned above. The proposed network utilizes state-of-the-art technology and can be integrated with the latest broadband technologies like Wi-Fi and Wi-Max. The network is scalable to support different applications catering to increased number of users. 6. Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) has been designated as the nodal agency for implementing this project. Project Description http://fpweb/wsis/goldenbook/Docs/Activities/2607125/project.pdf This project has been submitted to the Golden Book database.

International implementation

Planned for future from 2007

Many stakeholders

* The role of governments and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development
* Information and communication infrastructure
* Access to information and knowledge
* Capacity building
* ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life
* International and regional cooperation

• Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

• Project
• Programme