The African Union Commission will now invite all African countries to accede to the Kigali Protocol, confirmed Edmund Katiti, policy and regulatory advisor for the New Partnership for Africa's Development's (NEPAD's) e-Africa Commission.

The move effectively allows involvement by all countries in the establishment of the NEPAD ICT Broadband Infrastructure Network. Formerly, only countries along Africa's eastern seaboard were to have direct access to the broadband cable, while other countries were expected to buy bandwidth from these coastal nations.

The ministerial Intergovernmental Authority, a group of ICT ministers from across the continent, requested that all African countries be allowed to accede to the protocol -- and, therefore, have equal access to the cable -- on Oct. 15 last year in South Africa.

The charges for wholesale bandwidth should be independent of a country's distance from the cable's landing points on the East Coast, Katiti agreed.

The initial meeting to ratify the broadband protocol was held in 2006 in Kigali, but only a few countries -- including Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe -- acceded.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.