JC Broadband, a fast growing Internet service provider headquartered in Midrand, South Africa, is proud to sponsor ICT Africa 2007. JC Broadband will provide free web hosting, website development and other Internet services for ICT Africa 2007.
ICT Africa 2007 is convened by NEPAD Council in collaboration with the NEPAD Kenya secretariat and organized by Global Conferences, Cape Town, South Africa. The 2007 event will be held at the Kenyatta International Conference Center, Nairobi, Kenya from October 1-5.
ICT Africa is a Pan African information and communication event that addresses many aspects of ICT for the entire African continent. The conference brings together ICT investors, policy makers, business leaders and representatives from academia. The event will consist of a plenary session which is expected to be hosted by the Kenyan Ministry of Information and Communications, a policy and business track, a technical/academic track, technical tutorials in VoIP, fibre optics and next generation broadband networks and an Industry exhibition.
ICT Africa 2007 is the second annual ICT conference to be hosted by NEPAD council. ICT Africa 2006 was held in May at the same venue. The 2006 key note speakers included Dr. Mutahi Kagwe, Kenyan Minister of Information and Communications and Dr. Don Keck, retired vice president of research and development at Corning Incorporated and the inventor of low loss optical fibre used in telecommunication. According to Dr. Dhliwayo, ICT Africa general conference chair, "ICT Africa 2006 initiated vigorous debate on very important ICT issues, including the slow pace of the East Africa Submarine System (EASSy) and other infrastructure projects. Such debates are very important to put pressure on those holding back the progress of these initiatives to move forward". At ICT Africa 2006, Dr. Bitange Ndemo, permanent secretary in the Kenyan Ministry of Information and Communication announced a new under sea fibre optic cable initiative, The East African Marine Systems (TEAMS) that will connect Mombasa to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. Attendees at ICT Africa 2007 are expected to get a report card on the progress of TEAMS and other African regional projects.
According to Dr. Dhliwayo, "Until you have all African countries connected to one another and to the rest of the world by a fibre optic network, the cost of data and voice communications between African countries and the rest of the world will remain beyond reach of most Africans. Furthermore, until we have a competing submarine cable system to SAT-3, International bandwidth cost will remain unbearable. ICT Africa provides a perfect platform to impress on our leadership the urgent need for such infrastructure."
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