África, aún en espera de Internet

WORLD BUSINESS INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER

África, aún en espera de Internet. Por RON NIXON Publicado: Julio 22, 2007 (Editado del original)

Riccardo Gangale para The New York Times Un cliente en la cafetería Bourbon en Kigali, la capital de Rwanda, utilizando Internet inalámbrico.

Un día bochornoso de 203 en Kigali, algunos de los funcionarios de mas alto nivel del gobierno Rwandés, entre ellos el presidente Paul Kagame, acompañaban a un hombre de negocios estadounidense, Greg Wyler, mientras este describía con entusiasmo como podía ayudar a convertir a su pequeño país en centro de actividad en Internet. Wyler, ejecutivo de Boston que hizo su fortuna durante el auge tecnológico indico que cubriría a Rwanda con cables de fibra óptica, para conectar escuelas, instituciones publicas y hogares con un servicio de Internet de bajo costo y alta velocidad, Era la primera vez que Wyler de 37 años ponía un pie en África - fue invitado por un funcionario gubernamental Rwandés al que conoció en una boda. Wyler nunca espero iniciar un negocio en Rwanda; simplemente quería ser útil al país azotado por la guerra. Aun así, Terracom, la compañía de Wyler, recibió un contrato para conectar 300 escuelas a la Internet. Mas tarde, la compañía adquiriría el 99 por ciento de las acciones de Rwandatel, operador Nacional de telecomunicaciones Rwandés por 20 millones de dólares. Pero tras casi cuatro años, la mayoría de los beneficios prometidos por Wyler y su compañía no se han concretado, de acuerdo con los funcionarios Rwandeses. "El asunto es que prometió muchas cosas y no dio resultados" , indico Albert Butare, ministro Rwandés de telecomunicaciones. Wyler indica que ve las cosas de forma muy distinta y que es probable que nunca coincida con los funcionarios Rwandeses en cuanto a los motivos por los que su inversión a sido tan lenta en arrancar. Pero la experiencia de Terracom es emblemática de lo que puede suceder cuando las buenas intenciones chocan con las realidades técnicas, políticas y corporativas de África.

Riccardo Gangale para The New York Times Jean Claude Rwagasore chequea un transmisor de microondas en Kigali para Terracom. La falta de infraestructura ha sido un problema en Rwanda.

Menos del 4 por ciento de la población africana tiene conexión a Internet, y la mayoría se encuentra en los países norafricanos y en la Republica de Sudáfrica. La falta de infraestructura es el problema principal. En numerosos países, las redes de comunicación quedaron destruidas durante los años de guerra civil y la continua inestabilidad política disuade a gobiernos y compañías de invertir en nuevos sistemas. Los mensajes de correo electrónico y las llamadas telefónicas enviados de algunos Países Africanos tienen que ser enrutados por Gran Bretaña, o incluso Estados Unidos, lo que incrementa sus costos y tiempos de entrega. La única conexión de África con la red de computadoras y de cables de fibra óptica que representa la columna vertebral de Internet es un cable submarino, de 600 millones de dólares, que corre desde Portugal por la costa occidental Africana. Tendido en 2002, se suponía que el cable brindaría acceso a Internet mas barato y rápido, algo que no ha ocurrido hasta ahora. "A menos de que puedas ofrecer un acceso a Internet equivalente al resto del mundo, África no puede formar parte de la economía global del entorno académico", expreso Lawrence H Landweber, profesor emérito de ciencias computacionales en la Universidad de Wisconsin, en Madison, quien también participó en una iniciativa temprana para llevar Internet a África, a mediados de los años 90. Los intentos de llevar conexiones económicas de Banda Ancha rápida a grandes masas de la población han sido infructuosas en todo el continente. Menos del 4 por ciento de la población africana está conectada a Internet; la mayoría de los subscriptores están en África del Norte y en la República de Suráfrica. A pesar que las tarifas de Internet de alta velocidad han rebajado, de cerca de U$ 1,000 al mes cuando Terracom legó en el 2003; para la mayoría de la gente las tarifas actuales están fuera de su alcance. El ingreso promedio per cápita de un Rwandés es de U$ 220 al año, y una conexion rápida vale en promedio U$ 63. Además, aquellos lo suficientemente ricos para poder conectarse estan constantemente quejándose del mal servicio. Los funcionarios Rwandeses, que consideran la tecnología de la información crucial para la modernización de la economía rural, estaban particularmente interesados en conectar las escuelas primarias y secundarias. Aproximadamente el 90 por ciento de los ocho millones de habitantes de Ruanda trabaja en el sector agrícola.

Riccardo Gangale para The New York Times Muchos funcionarios del gobierno Rwandés dicen que el rendimiento de Terracom ha mejorado desde que Christopher Lundh asumió las riendas de la compañía.

Pero a mediados de Julio, solo 100 de las 300 escuelas cubiertas por el contrato de Terracom contaba con servicio de Internet de alta velocidad. Las 300 deberían haber quedado conectadas para 2006. En total menos del uno por ciento de la población Rwandesa tiene conexión a Internet. Los funcionarios Rwandeses indican que Terracom parece mas interesada en posicionarse en el mercado mas lucrativo de la telefonía celular que en servir como proveedor de Internet. En una entrevista vía telefónica desde su casa en Boston, Wyler, quien renuncio a su puesto de presidente ejecutivo de Terracom, en Noviembre, para dedicarle mas tiempo a su familia, pero permanece en el concejo directivo de la compañía, dijo que, a su parecer, esta tiene expectativas poco realistas "Terracom ha hecho todo lo posible. Debido a los desafíos técnicos, el servicio de Internet difícilmente va a poder ser mejor que ahora". Rwanda cuenta con poca industria y su infraestructura sigue en reconstrucción luego del caos provocado por el genocidio que mato a entre 800 mil y un millón de personas, en 1994. "Casi no tenemos recursos naturales y no hay puerto marítimo en Rwanda, por lo que solo nos resta tratar de convertirnos en una sociedad basada en el conocimiento", indico Romain Murenzi, Ministro de Ciencia, Tecnología, e Investigación Científica. Christopher Lundh, nuevo presidente de Terracom, indica que la compañía no ha abandonado sus planes de proporcionarle a Rwanda la infraestructura de Internet mas avanzada de toda África. Una conexión inalámbrica debe comenzar a operar a nivel nacional cerca de fines del 2007, indicó. Magnus K. Mazimpaka contribuyó con información desde Rwanda.

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DOCUMENTO ORIGINAL

Africa, Offline: Waiting for the Web By RON NIXON Published: July 22, 2007

Riccardo Gangale for The New York Times A customer in the Bourbon coffee shop in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, uses a wireless connection

ON a muggy day in Kigali in 2003, some of the highest-ranking officials in the Rwandan government, including President Paul Kagame, flanked an American businessman, Greg Wyler, as he boldly described how he could help turn their small country into a hub of Internet activity. Mr. Wyler, an executive based in Boston who made his fortune during the tech boom, said he would lace Rwanda with fiber optic cables, connecting schools, government institutions and homes with low-cost, high-speed Internet service. Until that point, Mr. Wyler, 37, had never set foot in Africa — he was invited by a Rwandan government official he had met at a wedding. Mr. Wyler never expected to start a business there; he simply wanted to try to help the war-torn country. Even so, Mr. Wyler's company, Terracom, was granted a contract to connect 300 schools to the Internet. Later, the company would buy 99 percent of the shares in Rwandatel, the country's national telecommunications company, for $20 million. But after nearly four years, most of the benefits hailed by him and his company have failed to materialize, Rwandan officials say. "The bottom line is that he promised many things and didn't deliver," said Albert Butare, the country's telecommunications minister. Mr. Wyler says he sees things quite differently, and he and Rwandan officials will probably never agree on why their joint venture has been so slow to get off the ground. But Terracom's tale is more than a story about a business dispute in Rwanda. It is also emblematic of what can happen when good intentions run into the technical, political and business realities of Africa. Attempts to bring affordable high-speed Internet service to the masses have made little headway on the continent. Less than 4 percent of Africa's population is connected to the Web; most subscribers are in North African countries and the republic of South Africa. A lack of infrastructure is the biggest problem. In many countries, communications networks were destroyed during years of civil conflict, and continuing political instability deters governments or companies from investing in new systems. E-mail messages and phone calls sent from some African countries have to be routed through Britain, or even the United States, increasing expenses and delivery times. About 75 percent of African Internet traffic is routed this way and costs African countries billions of extra dollars each year that they would not incur if their infrastructure was up to speed. "Most African governments haven't paid much attention to their infrastructure," said Vincent Oria, an associate professor of computer science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and a native of the Ivory Coast. "In places where hunger, AIDS and poverty are rampant, they didn't see it as critical until now."

Riccardo Gangale for The New York Times Jean Claude Rwagasore checks a microwave transmitter in Kigali for Terracom. A lack of infrastructure has been a problem in Rwanda.

Africa's only connection to the network of computers and fiber optic cables that are the Internet's backbone is a $600 million undersea cable running from Portugal down the west coast of Africa. Built in 2002, the cable was supposed to provide cheaper and faster Web access, but so far that has not happened. Prices remain high because the national telecommunications linked to the cable maintain a monopoly over access, squeezing out potential competitors. And plans for a fiber optic cable along the East African coast have stalled over similar access issues. Most countries in Eastern Africa, like Rwanda, depend on slower satellite technology for Internet service. The result is that Africa remains the least connected region in the world, and the digital gap between it and the developed world is widening rapidly. "Unless you can offer Internet access that is the same as the rest of the world, Africa can't be part of the global economy or academic environment," said Lawrence H. Landweber, professor emeritus of computer science at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, who was also part of an early effort to bring the Web to Africa in the mid-1990s. "The benefits of the Internet age will bypass the continent." RWANDAN officials were especially interested in wiring primary and secondary schools, seeing information technology as crucial to modernizing the country's rural economy. Some 90 percent of the country's eight million people work in agriculture. But as of mid-July, only one-third of the 300 schools covered in Terracom's contract had high-speed Internet service. All 300 were supposed to have been connected by 2006. Over all, less than 1 percent of the population is connected to the Internet. Rwandan officials say the company seems more interested in tapping the more lucrative cellphone market than in being an Internet service provider. (In November, Mr. Wyler stepped down as chief executive of Terracom, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family; he still serves on the board.) In a telephone interview from his home in Boston, Mr. Wyler said he would not address the government's criticism, saying he did not want to be quoted as saying anything negative. But he said there were some things he had not anticipated, particularly the technical challenges of linking Rwanda's Internet network to the rest of the world. The only way to do it is to buy bandwidth capacity on satellites, but there are not enough satellites to meet demand. Mr. Wyler also says he believes that Terracom suffers from unrealistic expectations. "Terracom has done everything it can, " he said. "Because of the technical challenges, the Internet service is as good as it's going to get. But given what we started from, I still think we have accomplished a lot. In the beginning there were a few people with Internet service; now there are thousands." The Rwandan government had hoped that the number of Web surfers would be much higher by now. Rwanda, which is about the size of Maryland, has little industry, and its infrastructure is still being rebuilt after being left in shambles by a 1994 genocide in which 800,000 to a million people were killed. "We have almost no natural resources and no seaports in Rwanda, which leaves us only with trying to become a knowledge-based society," said Romain Murenzi, the minister of science, technology and scientific research. Officials saw Terracom's investment as crucial to its transformation. Unlike many African governments, Rwanda's was eager to privatize the national telecommunications company, which had outdated equipment, high prices and few subscribers. But from the start, government officials say, there were problems with Terracom. Mr. Butare, the telecommunications minister, said the government had trouble getting basic information from the company. Complicating the situation, Mr. Butare said, was that Mr. Wyler tried to run Terracom from the United States, visiting Rwanda just a few weeks at a time. He left day-to-day management to a poorly trained staff, Mr. Butare said. "There were spots where they did some things here and there," Mr. Butare said. "But over all they have failed to do what they promised." Internet rates have been lowered, from about $1,000 a month when Terracom arrived in 2003, but most people still can't afford it. The average Rwandan makes about $220 a year, and a fixed-line Internet hookup costs about $90 a month. Basic wireless Internet is about $63 a month. Those rich enough to pay the fees complain about poor service.

Riccardo Gangale for The New York Times Many Rwandan government officials say Terracom's performance has improved since Christopher Lundh took over as chief executive.

Government officials say the company has spent more time marketing and signing up cellphone customers than on expanding Internet service. According to government figures, Terracom has 30,000 to 40,000 mobile phone subscribers and about 20,000 Internet customers. The situation came to a head late last year, when government officials contended that Terracom secretly tried to trade its shares in the Rwandan telecom to GV Telecom, a regional African telecommunications company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. Rwandan officials were furious, saying this was a violation of the contract signed by the two parties. The plan was scrapped and Mr. Wyler was widely criticized. In June, the government fined Terracom nearly $400,000 for failing to comply with its licensing obligations, failing to provide information about its operations and failing to pay several fees. "We decided to penalize Terracom after they failed to fulfill their obligations for a long time," said Beatha Mukangabo, legal officer for the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency. Terracom said it has paid the fines and is working with the government to meet all of its obligations. Mr. Wyler said he has not been involved in Terracom for nearly 10 months and could not comment on its current operations. Christopher Lundh, Terracom's new chief executive and a former executive of Gateway Communications in London, has worked in several African countries. He now lives and works full time in Rwanda, and many government officials say Terracom's performance has improved under his leadership. Mr. Lundh acknowledged that there were problems with the company's operations in the past. "The former management did make some promises that they were not able to keep," he said. "That's why I was brought in to professionalize things." He also said that the company could have better handled the matter with GV Telecom but that he thinks the government overreacted. He said the Rwandan government is to blame for some of the delays. "We would get to schools that don't even have electricity or computers," he said. "That is not our fault." In addition, he said that many of the complaints about the company concerned things beyond its ability to control. Getting adequate bandwidth remains a constant challenge. Like most telecommunications companies in eastern Africa, Terracom depends on satellites for Internet service. Satellite service is much slower than cable because of delays in the signals. Satellites also provide less bandwidth than cable. Adding to the problem is that most of the satellites serving Africa were launched nearly 20 years ago and are aging or going out of commission. A satellite set to go into service last year blew up on the launching pad. Power is also an issue, as intermittent power failures in Rwanda hamper efforts to provide a steady electricity source. DESPITE these limitations and earlier setbacks, Mr. Lundh says Terracom is moving ahead with plans to give Rwanda the most advanced Internet infrastructure in Africa. A nationwide wireless connection should begin operating near year-end, he said, about the time a nonprofit group, One Laptop Per Child, based in Boston, is to introduce a $100 laptop in the country. And Terracom is continuing to lay fiber optic cables to connect Rwanda to several other African countries, eliminating a need for phone calls and Internet traffic to be routed via European or American networks. The government, meanwhile, is moving forward with its own plans to build a fiber optic network. It also has granted Internet service licenses to South African companies and plans to issue several more. "We think we are going to have a healthier market pretty soon," said Nkubito Bakuramutsa, director general of the Rwanda Information Technology Authority. "We have learned from past experience." Mr. Bakuramutsa said he hopes to bring the price of Internet service down to about $10 a month. Mr. Lundh said his company welcomes the competition. But, he added, getting necessary bandwidth remains an issue and no matter what company supplies Internet service, speed will be a problem. "Eventually you reach a point of diminishing returns," he said. "Unless there is a new undersea fiber optic cable built or a new satellite launched, it's going to be difficult." Magnus K. Mazimpaka contributed reporting from Rwanda.

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Copyright by the New York Times 2007