tion, usually via short message service (SMS) text messages. There are also some reports of seed, fertilizer and other input companies using text messages to disseminate simple information on product use. Thus far, there has been little comprehensive analysis of the effect of ICTs on the dissemination of agricultural knowledge and the production of agricultural goods. In a study commissioned by Vodafone, anecdotal evidence was confirmed of fishers in Tanzania using SMS text messaging to obtain information about market prices offered at the landings. Based on the information they received, fishers landed their boats where they would receive the best price for their catch (Vodafone, 2005). The same study found maize farmers in the Democratic Republic of Congo reduced theft by equipping guards with cell phones (Vodafone, 2005).

Many people who are not cell phone subscribers have access to them through friends and neighbors. In Tanzania, for example, a study conducted by the UK mobile phone company Vodafone found that 97% of people surveyed had access to a mobile phone, compared with just 28% who had access to a landline phone (BBC, 2005). The same study
found that cell phone technology plays a key role in linking black-owned businesses in South Africa to their customers. Businesses in South Africa and Egypt reported higher earnings directly related to access to cell phone technology. Research conducted through a partnership among Vodafone, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and World Resources Institute (WRI) found that cell phone banking, or “m-banking,” piloted successfully in Kenya, makes banking more affordable for poor people in South Africa and has the potential to extend microfinance services to larger segments of non-banking poor populations. In addition, mobile banking through airtime transfers has increased women’s freedom and created commercial opportunities for microentrepreneurs reselling airtime (Vodafone, 2006).

Internet. Internet connectivity is central to the ability of African agricultural researchers to exchange, consume, adapt and apply agricultural knowledge generated with and by their regional and global colleagues, and contributes to regional and global agricultural knowledge in Africa. Some initiatives seek to extend Internet access to African agricultural researchers (USAID, 2003), while others create opportunities for collaboration between African farmers and related sectors such as those working with natural resources management (www.frameweb.org). Lack of access in some locales severely disadvantages African agricultural researchers, students and policy makers.

Constraints to Internet access and affordability include those related to cable infrastructure, connections within SSA countries and between SSA and the rest of the world. Underwater cable connections have been addressed differently in different parts of the continent, particularly regarding questions between closed vs. open access. Future comparisons of the two as their impacts unfold are needed.

The SAT3, or SAT3/WASC/SAFE Consortium, an undersea fiber cable running from Portugal to South Africa and across the Indian Ocean to Asia, has component segments measuring a total of 28,800 kilometers (Fibre for Africa, 2007a). The system is divided into two subsystems, SAT3/

WASC in the Atlantic Ocean and SAFE in the Indian Ocean (Figure 3-2). The consortium’s 36 members (12 of whom are African countries) have invested US$600 million to build and operate for the next 25 years. SAT3 has been controversial because its business model is such that members use it as a first-line business, making their profits from charging for communication access rather than using it to open up communication to facilitate the development and growth of second-line businesses. Moreover, there is no competing system. Thus, in consortium member countries, the incumbent telecoms operators have been granted a national monopoly and control the fees charged for international bandwidth. Consequently, prices remain high and there is little incentive to lower them.

The situation in East Africa is different, but also controversial because of donor involvement and debates over the extent to which the initiative will remain open access. The cable infrastructure in East Africa, the East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) plans to connect eight eastern and southern African coastal countries (Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa and Madagascar) to other global undersea cable systems, including SAFE in South Africa and SEA-ME-WE 4, and potentially others, in the North. Eleven other land-locked countries (Ethiopia, Lesotho, Uganda, Swaziland, Rwanda, Malawi, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo) will be connected to the system. The project cost is estimated to be US$200 million (Fibre for Africa, 2007b).

Meanwhile, NEPAD is working in coalition with NGOs, Internet service providers and regulators to maintain open access, which is defined as access for all operators having equal capacity, pricing and bandwidth. This coalition is seeking to block the development of monopolistic control of bandwidth as in the SAT3 project in West Africa, to prevent high prices. EASSy investors, comprised of 31 telecommunication companies, have proposed a model similar to SAT3 but that does not include equal access to capacity and prices (East African Business Week, 2007).

Once the undersea cables are in place and they link SSA to the rest of the world, the next step will be to establish Internet exchange points (IXPs) that connect in-country Internet service providers (ISPs) to the undersea cables. IXPs will allow Internet traffic to move within the region without transiting through Europe or North America. At issue is whether the new technologies will be accompanied by equitably designed licensing practices and attract both local and foreign investment. Progress on IXPs is being made, with national ones operational in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe (Fibre for Africa, 2007c).
Other issues. Once the basic infrastructure is in place, other factors affecting ICT access and use for development will need to be addressed, including availability, censorship, rights and freedom of expression, content and language, intellectual property, Internet governance, national ICT strategies and policies, and security and privacy (Hamilton et al., 2004).