Welcome to the APC Africa ICT Policy Monitor

	Broadband in Africa: How low will prices go? Read: 'Wishingful thinking on broadband prices'. Will zero-cost internet in Africa ever be possible? Send us your views: chakula at apc.org [replace 'at' with @]
	CICEWA: Communications for influence CICEWA ("see-say-wah"), a new project by APC and KICTANet, seeks to identify the political obstacles to extending affordable access to ICT infrastructure in Africa - and to advocate to remove them. For more information on this new initiative, click here.
	New report from APC monitors information revolution A new watchdog report from APC and the Third World Institute monitors commitments by governments and the United Nations on the information society. Launched on May 22, 2007. Available for download here: Global IS Watch
	CHAKULA #17: Global Information Society Watch (GISW) - African country reports GISW, a project by APC, ITeM, and Hivos, looks to track the information society from a civil society perspective. CHAKULA #17 focuses on the African country reports. CHAKULA #16: Opening access to Africa What is the fibre rush for Africa all about? Who stands to benefit, and who will lose out? CHAKULA explores some of the issues and challenges in bringing cheaper, effective bandwidth to the continent.
	Better bandwidth for Africa APC's Fibre for Africa website looks at how access can be opened up in Africa, who stands to benefit, and who's standing in the way.
	This book, commissioned by APC and written by David Souter, looks at the participation of developing countries and civil society, and the impact of WSIS on international ICT decision-making in general. Download Whose Summit? Whose Information Society?
	What's new in the APC Monitor Mouse clique that roars Work starts on EASSy World Links Arab Region in Syria (WLAR) National Workshop on Community Radio in Bangladesh Community Radio is going to be the Voice of Rural people National workshop on Community Radio Awarness in Bangladesh English | Español | Français News South Africa: FOSS activists take on electoral commission South Africa: Court rules on free networks South Africa: Space for WiMax on the cards Broadband "glut" predicted in Africa APC: Another take on piracy needed Policy-related Information Kenya: Innovating the future Fibre: 'Arteries of the modern world' Copyright and government information

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News

 South Africa: Court rules on free networks
02/09/2008 (The Weekender) -- A landmark ruling set to shake up the telecommunications sector has been issued by a South African high court. The ruling effectively ends the incumbent Telkom’s lingering monopoly by decreeing that technology company Altech has the right to build its own network. South Africa | Access, Telecommunications

 South Africa: FOSS activists take on electoral commission
02/09/2008 (Tectonic) -- The head of South Africa’s government open source working group, the chief technical officer of the State IT Agency and the Shuttleworth Foundation have laid a complaint with the Human Rights Commission against the Independent Electoral Commission for excluding non-Internet Explorer users from it website. South Africa | Access

 South Africa: Space for WiMax on the cards
18/08/2008 (mybroadband.co.za) -- The South African government wants some of the scarce radio frequency spectrum that will be freed up through the country's impending move from analogue to digital terrestrial television to be made available to telecommunications operators wanting to provide wireless broadband services. South Africa | Access

 Broadband "glut" predicted in Africa
15/08/2008 -- Industry pundits argue that it's unlikely that all the fibre-optic cables planned for Africa are going to succeed. And, perhaps for the first time, projections of a "capacity glut" are being made. Dem. Rep. of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe | Access

Information

 Kenya: Innovating the future
21/08/2008 -- In the republic of innovation, life is unfair. A relatively small number of places — all in wealthy countries or in China and India — create nearly every important technological advance. Consider Wilfred Mworia, a 22-year-old engineering student and freelance code writer in Nairobi, Kenya. In the four weeks leading up to Apple’s much-anticipated release of a new iPhone on July 11, Mworia created an application for the phone that shows where events in Nairobi are happening and allows people to add details about them. Kenya | Access, Software

 Copyright and government information
18/08/2008 -- This paper, by Denise Nicholson and Dick Kawooya, looks at the impact of copyright on access to public information in Uganda and South Africa. South Africa, Uganda | Intellectual Property

 Fibre: 'Arteries of the modern world'
18/08/2008 -- They are the arteries of the modern world. Stretching for tens of thousands of miles over the ocean beds, the vast web of intercontinental submarine cables have brought the possibility of cheap high-speed internet and clear long-distance telephone calls to all major parts of the globe. Except one. Dem. Rep. of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe | Access

 Satellite still king in Africa
12/08/2008 -- Africa still relies heavily on expensive satellite connections to gain access to the internet, according to a report just released by the South Africa-based telecommunications analysts BMI-TechKnowledge. It says over 80% of African internet use is routed through satellite connections. Dem. Rep. of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe | Access