WORLDWIDE MARKET RESEARCH REPORT - CISE

EC/IST FP6 Project No 026920
Work Package: 6
Type of document: Report
Date: 20.12.2007
File name: OP_WP6_D37_V1.0.doc Version: 1.0
Title: Worldwide Market Research Report 210 / 356
national level. However competition in the building of new international fibre routes has been
slower to arrive. International fibre routes are in effect a form of shared infrastructure and
often shared between potential competitors. To build them requires considerable capital
sums and there has to be ways of managing the risk. Unusually the risk is long-term and
spread over the life of the cable, usually 25 years. Their subsequent management requires a
clear framework for co-operation between participants. Because of Africa’s political and
market risk, most projects of this sort combine public and private finance.
For Example, the SAT-3 submarine communications cable (which runs from Europe down
Africa's west coast) was monopolised, until June 2007, by a consortium of state-owned and
private telecommunications providers in different countries, whose pricing structures have
been the subject of criticism. Then, the Association of African Universities has called for
African leaders to use the end of a monopoly on a submarine communications cable to
provide cheaper Internet access for students (such as the university students of Ghana).
Additionaly, on 19 June 2007, parliament's portfolio committee on communications approved
the Nepad/Eassy protocol to build undersea and terrestrial links on Africa's eastern side.
Countries that have signed the protocol are SA, Rwanda, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Zambia,
Namibia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Mauritius, Uganda and Tanzania.
5.4.3 Technical Network Configuration and Equipment Supplier
In Africa there are relatively few projects concerning the use of PLC. Those that are there
however, see the share of some among the most important PLC equipment producers: DS2,
Ascom, Inovatech, Mitsubishi Electric, PLC International and Corinex.
5.4.3.1 DS2
[A39] Founded in 1998, Design of Systems on Silicon S.A. (DS2), is the leading supplier of
silicon and software for Power line Communications and the first company to develop and
market PLC chipsets delivering data rates of up to 200 Mbps. The company currently
employs over 100 highly qualified graduates and continues to invest in the innovation and
design of chips and in the development of strategic partnerships with manufacturers to