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TRIP REPORT
Central African Regional Program for the Environment
October 11 to 18, 1996

Jeffrey A. Cochrane
Revised November 14, 1996

The AfricaLink Advisor visited Central Africa with the concurrence of American embassies in Yaoundé and Libreville in order to investigate Internet communications prospects for collaborators of the Central African Regional Program for the Environment, an initiative of USAID. In addition, the status of Internet connectivity in the region was reviewed as part of an ongoing AfricaLink effort to maintain this information for use by USAID and others.

Major Issues and Observations

Potential CARPE collaborators in Gabon may have local access to an Internet server by the end of the year, at a cost of perhaps $40 per month for electronic mail or $100 per month for full Internet, through the nation's parastatal international telecommunications provider. In the interim, Compuserve accounts are accessible via X.25 dialup to Paris at an estimated cost of $150 or $570 per month, for 10 or 50 pages of daily electronic mail, respectively.

Potential CARPE collaborators in Cameroon have a number of local options for access to the Internet for electronic mail. The Polytechnic is the home for several of these options. An electronic mail account can be obtained presently for a total cost of about $45 per month with no volume charge.

Regionally, the SDNP is setting up a network of electronic mail systems that may be appropriate for CARPE collaborators. Outside of Cameroon and the Central African Republic, access to local electronic mail services -- not requiring an international call, and with local technical support -- is problematic.

CARPE collaborators themselves must decide on the appropriate role for information technologies within their activities. AfricaLink seeks to keep them informed about options, and will provide technical support once collaborators have made specific decisions about what resources will be allocated.

Impeding further development of Internet services in Cameroon is the regulatory environment which grants Intelcam a statutory monopoly. It appears Intelcam itself wishes to furnish Internet services to consumers, though it is not clear when this will occur, nor is it clear what quality of service will be offered. While Intelcam does not prevent other companies from operating Internet services, it sets prices according to how much revenue it expects to lose from the competition, which is in effect a classic monopolistic pricing policy.

Access for CARPE Partners

Discussions were held in Yaoundé and Libreville with many potential collaborators of the Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) about Internet access for them and their local and regional partners. In particular, the CARPE collaboration with the World Bank's Regional Environmental Information Management Program (REIMP) and the UNDP's Sustainable Development Networking Program (SDNP) initiatives was discussed.

The SDNP initially planned electronic mail systems in Cameroon, Gabon, Libreville and perhaps other major cities in the region. Under one scenario, these are envisioned as national nodes, with Cameroon serving as a regional hub used for routing all electronic mail in the region to the primary SDNP system at UNDP offices in New York. The World Resources Institute (WRI) is coordinating CARPE participation in this regional endeavor. WRI employed Derek Asoh, who was at that time system operator and general manager of the CamFido electronic mail system in Cameroon, to undertake a tour of the region to assess connectivity prospects. Mr. Asoh is now fully employed by SDNP/Cameroon, which is housed in the same facility as CamFido, the Automation and Control Laboratory of the Polytechnic.

While Cameroon is already well served by a number of electronic mail providers (CamFido, HealthNet, Polynet, Compuserve, REFER -- see below in the next section), there are fewer options in most of the other countries in the region. SDNP-Cameroon is envisioned as a possible hub for the region. The hub would exchange mail with the region's national SDNP electronic mail nodes, passing mail to and from the Internet via the primary SDNP system at UNDP headquarters in New York.

Extending access to the desktops of CARPE partners in their national and project field offices is of course the immediate objective. In general the recommendation is that they consider whatever electronic mail or other type of system is available, according to the particular needs of their partners. AfricaLink can serve as a clearinghouse for information about access in particular countries. A database of Internet service providers is maintained by AfricaLink at www.info.usaid.gov/alnk/ispcosts, and can also be obtained in various formats via electronic mail from africalink@usaid.gov.

In discussions with potential CARPE collaborators, access was considered for a number of different types CARPE partners in different settings. It was stressed that the role of AfricaLink is the identification of technological possibilities with their associated costs. It is the role of the CARPE partners themselves to determine which technologies are appropriate and cost effective for their particular programmatic objectives. Funds are available within the region through CARPE. AfricaLink can assist CARPE partners in deciding how best to allocate those funds for communications purposes.

These are some of the major points covered in the discussions:

Many of the larger organizations already have access to electronic mail accounts. However, they may be paying more than is necessary for their accounts, or they may suffer from inadequate technical support. AfricaLink provides a central information resource about Internet access in the region. For example, in Cameroon, some potential CARPE partners were unaware of the various options, and some were spending hundreds of dollars monthly for services that can be obtained locally for as little as US$40 per month. One purpose of the discussions was to assure collaborators were aware of where they can turn for information.

CARPE's major international collaborators will in turn work in close partnership with smaller local organizations headquartered in major cities. These are much less likely to have electronic mail access, though many will have basic computers and telephones. These are the prime new targets for AfricaLink assistance. With a very modest capital investment -- typically only a modem -- significant cost savings and improvement in communications is possible. Electronic mail access can often lower present expenditures for telephone and fax, essentially paying for itself, in addition to assuring higher quality communications with partners and donors, not only locally but regionally and around the world.

Many organizations operate project offices and extension stations in smaller cities and towns. To the extent that telecommunications infrastructure in these cities and towns is of high quality, connections can easily and in many cases affordably be established with Internet service providers. The economics are generally the same as for headquarters in the major cities, with electronic mail costs lower than those previously paid for fax and telephone communications.

In towns and communities where telecommunications infrastructure is poor, the obvious solution is to improve the infrastructure. While this is generally beyond the scope of an essentially environmental program, there are some steps that may be taken by AfricaLink and its telecommunications service provider partners, provided the need is great and funds are available. This may include collaborative efforts to pool demand among CARPE collaborators and others to encourage service providers to open local offices that are better able to manage problematic infrastructure. AfricaLink might work with these service providers to introduce appropriate technologies to manage communications problems.

Small, local organizations tend to work most directly with community based organizations (CBOs). These CBOs have memberships that are often the ultimate targets of assistance by donors and NGOs. Traditionally, lines of communications accessible by these CBOs have been poor. NGOs and extension agents are often the means by which these communities communicate with their governments, with donors, and even with each other. To the extent that communications is improved for NGOs and extension agents that act as agents of communications for CBOs, communications is improved for the CBOs themselves.

The real challenge is the extension of communications infrastructure for direct access by communities presently not well served or not served at all. Lack of access is generally associated with poverty, and so by definition the people of greatest interest to USAID will have little or no accesss to communications infrastructure. While the ideal solution involves the alleviation of poverty and the extension of telephone infrastructure to impoverished areas -- major problems that are generally beyond the scope of an essentially environmental program -- there are interim measures that may be taken. A leading possibility for improving access is a communications kiosk. Such a kiosk might take the form of a 386 laptop computer linked to a solar panel or car battery, coupled with a radio modem, as has been used successfully by the World Food Program in Uganda. Equipment costs for such a station can be as low as $7000, not including the power supply.

Observations Concerning SDNP-Cameroon

The primary purpose of the visit to Cameroon was to examine matters of access for CARPE collaborators regionally. SDNP-Cameroon figures in that access. In the course of discussions with SDNP-Cameroon staff and others, there were a number of observations concerning SDNP- Cameroon more generally.

Early reports reaching AfricaLink suggested problems of technical capacity that might require the employment of consultants, particularly since SDNP decided not to take advantage of one of the existing systems in Cameroon, and instead decided to introduce a Linux operating system and UUCP server. It appears that Derek Asoh, with occasional remote technical assistance from SDNP-New York, has successfully configured the SDNP server. He did not receive technical assistance locally. Mr. Asoh now appears prepared to install clients for REIMP and CARPE partners that are to have access to the system.

Two major tasks are on the table for SDNP-Cameroon. One is its aspiration to serve as a catalyst for local networking among the various service providers, serving as a kind of impartial organizing institution, or perhaps even as a Cameroon Internet Society. The other is its entry into the business of providing direct Internet services to end users. Experience in other countries, and impressions gained in Cameroon, suggest that these two activities are not very compatible.

Access to the Internet in Central Africa

In Libreville a meeting was held with a senior official of Télécommunications Internationales Gabonaises (TIG) concerning Internet access in Gabon. An agreement has been signed with MCI to furnish a 128kbps link, with TIG selling local full-Internet accounts within two or three months. A Sun Ultra server is to be installed. Prices have not yet been established, but are expected to be about CFA 20,000 per month for five hours access to a POP3 electronic mailbox, CFA 30,000 per month for 10 hours of access to electronic mail and the World Wide Web, or CFA 50,000 per month for up to 50 hours of full Internet access including Usenet news and FTP.

The access to the Internet planned by TIG in Gabon is somewhat different from that available through SOCATEL in the Central African Republic. While TIG intends to install a direct TCP/IP link with MCI, SOCATEL's connection is TCP/IP via X.25 with France Cable. The solution of "tunneling" full Internet access via existing X.25 links was rejected as inefficient by TIG. The cost of access in the CAR is reported to be CFA 15,000 for setup, CFA 10,000 per month, and CFA 60 CFA per minute. If used solely for electronic mail, the cost to an organization sending and receiving even as much as 50 pages of mail daily should be around $25 per month.

Local observers point out that TIG has promised full Internet access in the past. When asked about this, TIG officials respond that the signed agreement with MCI is proof that new services will be available soon.

While awaiting access to the new Internet service in Gabon, there is presently access to Compuserve services, including electronic mail, via a TIG X.25 data link to a Paris server. Compuserve charges US$9.95 per month for up to five hours, plus US$2.95 for additional hours. For the TIG X.25 service, there is a CFA 20,000 setup charge, plus CFA 13,000 per month, CFA 7,000 per hour, and CFA 8,000 per "kilosegment" (64 kilobytes). For a small organization sending and receiving about 10 pages of electronic mail per day, this might cost US$150 per month. A larger organization sending and receiving 50 pages per day might pay as much as $570 per month. See /alnk/ispcosts for an explanation.

Officials of TIG say they expect to install X.25 data links to their new full-Internet service in several major towns, including Oyem, Franceville, and Moanda. The X.25 data links within Gabon will presumably be lower in price than those between Gabon and France. A telephone dialup node may be established in Port-Gentil. TIG also intends to permit limited competition in the Internet services industry, leasing lines capable of 28.8kbps data flows for about US$2,000 per month to firms that can establish and resell access to their own World Wide Web servers, though TIG expects it will be more cost effective for these firms simply to rent space on the TIG server.

A series of meetings was held at the University of Yaoundé's Polytechnic School (Ecole Nationale Superieure Polytechnique) and at the offices of the UNDP in Cameroon. The UNDP's Sustainable Development Networking Program (SDNP) has recently initiated a new electronic mail system at the Polytechnic, bringing to four the number of electronic mail options there, operating on three separate computers:

CamFido, username@camfido.gn.apc.org, mail routed via GreenNet in London. Users pay an annual subscription of CFA 125,000 plus about CFA 12,500 per month for unlimited volume (CFA 500 = US$ 1). Polling costs have been paid in the past by the UN-ECA's CABECA project, which recently ended. It is expected that GreenNet will soon begin recovering telephone line charges from CamFido. CamFido is expected to pay that expense, plus the salary of a system operator, from subscription fees, and is intended to be fiscally self-sustaining.

HealthNet, username@hnetcam.healthnet.org, mail routed via HealthNet's Boston node. HealthNet is a project of Satelife, and receives support from USAID and others. Healthnet operates on the same computer as CamFido. HealthNet polling costs are paid from Boston. Local users pay a nominal fee. Access is reportedly limited to persons in the health sector.

Polynet, username@lets.ensp.cm, mail routed via RIO's node in Montpelier. Polling is five times daily. Users pay a CFA 200,000 annual subscription plus CFA 130 per kilobyte (about US$0.50 per 2000 kilobyte page) with no other monthly charge. Polynet is reportedly financially self-sustaining.

SDNP/Cameroon, username@sdncmr.undp.org, mail routed via SNDP's node in New York. SDNP is a program of the UNDP. No prices have as yet been established. SDNP/UNDP is presently paying all polling costs, plus the salaries of two staff, and has donated all equipment (two high-capacity PC servers with related hardware and software). A budget for running costs and facilities improvements has been submitted to New York, where approval is pending.

Operating expenses for each of these four options are managed separately. Administration of CamFido, HealthNet, and SDNP/Cameroon is within the Automation and Control Laboratory of the Polytechnic. Polynet is operated within the Mathematics Department of the Polytechnic.

In addition to these systems at the Polytechnic, there are two services at the Centre SYFED, which is supported by France:

REFER encourages research and education in the francophone world, and operates a small library in Yaoundé. In the library are terminals where visitors can in principle browse the Internet, though access is limited to three hours per day to contain costs. The REFER web site can be viewed from any international Internet site during those same three hours. Access is provided via X.25 lines to the AUPELF server in Paris, where a mirror copy of the Yaoundé site is maintained for viewing when Cameroon is offline. The cost of the line is roughly CFA 100 per minute and CFA 4.2 per kilobyte. (Hence time charges for the three hours daily are about US$35 per day or about $1000 per month.) Because of cost, Web browsing is discouraged. The hope is that an inexpensive link to the Internet will become available locally so that the Centre SYFED web services can be expanded. In the meantime, the Centre SYFED offers an ideal place for demonstration of Internet tecnologies.

The Centre SYFED does offer electronic mailboxes to researchers, educators, and others locally, with access to these mailboxes provided through a Minitel account. Minitel is a text data system popular in France that operates at Centre SYFED via X.25 lines. There are four Minitel ports, permitting up to four simultaneous users of the system. Two terminals are available in the Centre SYFED library. Messages can be printed, but the terminals do not permit messages to be saved to diskette. Terminals are inexpensive, costing about $200. Mailboxes for educators and researchers in the francophone world (e.g. doing work with or about the French language) are free. There is a nominal CFA8000 per month for mailboxes for others on an experimental basis. Terminals at the Centre SYFED can be accessed free of charge by all.

HealthNet and CamFido clients can exchange mail locally. Mail between all other pairs of systems within Cameroon must be exchanged via their respective international gateways. Thus for example, an electronic mail message from a user of Polynet sent to a user of SDNP-Cameroon must pass from Yaoundé to Montpelier via X.25 lines, are then passed through an Internet gateway and transmitted to New York to the SDNP-New York computer. The message again passes through a gateway and is transmitted by telephone lines back to Yaoundé to SDNP- Cameroon.

SDNP systems are reportedly to be established in several of the other CARPE countries -- some equipment has already been shipped. These other national SDNP systems may be polled directly from New York, just as in the case of SDNP/Cameroon. However, there is under consideration the possibility of having these other SDNP systems route their mail destined for New York and beyond via the SDNP/Cameroon system.

All of the service providers in Cameroon with whom discussions were held have expressed an interest in accessing the Internet using TCP/IP locally. It is reportedly possible to lease high- bandwidth TCP/IP lines from Intelcam, Cameroon's parastatal monopoly international telecommunications company. Intelcam reports they are presently in discussions with several major international telecommunications companies concerning a TCP/IP Internet link. In contrast to many national parastatal telecommunications monopolies, Intelcam appears to have adopted a quite liberal policy toward third-party resellers of telecommunications services, provided these resellers, including Internet service providers, pay fees to Intelcam.

Prices for leased 64kbps TCP/IP circuits have not been established by Intelcam, though one senior official of Intelcam expects them to be between $10,000 and $14,000 per month for resellers. A lower rate ("soft terms") is expected for leased lines to enterprises that will not be reselling services. In other words, prices to be imposed by Intelcam are not expected to reflect Intelcam's costs, but rather are to be fixed at a level that reflects uses and potential revenues. In this sense, the prices are more like taxes. The observation was made to Intelcam representatives that such a pricing policy, with high prices/taxes for leased lines to be levied on retailers of Internet services, creates a barrier to entry by any firm with limited access to capital. $10,000 per month for a leased 64kbps line in Cameroon may be compared to the $2,000 per month suggested for a 28.8kbps leased line in Gabon.

In general, smaller Cameroonian firms may find themselves at a disadvantage, leaving the market solely in the hands of larger multinational Internet service providers. One option for smaller local service providers to reduce the cost of entry into TCP/IP services is the sharing of a single line to a common router until such time as the size of the customer base warrants separate lines to each provider. A better solution might be for Intelcam to consider charging prices to all resellers of Internet services that more closely reflect Intelcam's costs of providing lines.

There was insufficient time to interview potential Internet retailers apart from those alreadyoperating at the Polytechnic. However, should Intelcam decide to rationalize its prices with respect to costs, and if it makes known its liberal position with respect to third-party reselling of Internet services, one may expect many small computer services firms, as well some of the larger multinational firms already operating in the region, to enter the market.

On the other hand, given its monopoly position in the telecommunications market, Intelcam may instead choose to pursue a pricing policy that effectively bars competition. Intelcam staff suggest an interest in having Intelcam itself offer retail Internet services. So long as Intelcam delivers high quality service with effective technical support at a reasonable price to consumers, then any pressure on Intelcam to liberalize the Cameroon Internet services market will presumably abate.

Persons Contacted

CARPE Coordination

Rob Solem, Biodiversity Support Program, WWF-Gabon office, +241 730028

Potential CARPE Collaborators

WWF Gabon, Acting Representative (Tom), +241 730028
NGUELA Patrice DA INC, BP 157 Yaound�, 222921
Wonkna Djonna SCI INC, BP 157 Yaound�, 222921
Oben Mercy, A2N, BP 836 Yaound�, 226672
Makan Celine, GEF/SGP, BP 836 Yaound�, 228622
BINDZI Tsala D/A IRA, BP 2123 Yaound�, 223362
NGOME Manasseh, WWF BP 6776 Yaound� 209171, wwf-cameroon@cgnet.com
NZOUANGO David, WCS/CBP, BP 817 Yaound�, 202645, 103106.2217@compuserve.com
YOH F�lix, MINEF, BP 4697 Yaound�, 229790
Enyegue Therese Chantal, Enviro-Project, BP 13623 Yaound�, 214609
MONO J�r�me, ONADEF-CETELCAF, 237494, BP 1341 Yaound�
THE Charles, IRA BP 2067 Yaound�, 223022, BP 2067 Yaound�
Medjo Frederic Roger, CETELCAF-ONADEF, BP 1341 Yaound�, 237494
Dwight Lawson, WCS, 103106.2217@compuserve.com

Internet Service Industry

Jean Charles Onanga-Makosso, T�l�communications Internationales Gabonaises, BP 2261, Libreville, +241 747018
Dominic Sam, UNDP Assistant Resident Representative, dominic.sam@undp.org (possibly sam@undp.org or dominic_sam@undp.org)
Lot TCHEEKO, Lecturer and Unix Administrator, University of Yaound� (Polytechnique), ltcheeko@lets.ensp.cm
Derek Asoh, SDNP-Cameroon, 230113, BP 8390 Yaound�, adasoh@sdncmr.undp.org
Wawa A. Ngenge, UNDP/SDNP-Cameroon, 230113/230103, wangenge@sdncmr.undp.org
S. Yunkap Kwankam, ACL, BP 8390 Yaound�, 230113/230103, ykwankam@cam.healthnet.org
Ndeh NINGO, ENSET, BP 1872 Douala, 237-230113, nningo@camfido.gn.apc.org
Enoh TANYI-TANG, INTELCAM, BP 1571 Yaound�, 231109/228744
Jean-Claude TCHOULACK, Charg� d'Etudes, INTELCAM, BP 1571 Yaound�, 222263/230303, jctchoul@lets.ensp.cm
Rapha�l TIENTCHEV, INTELCAM BP 1571 Yaound�, 221878
Isabelle Turmaine, Directeur, Centre SYFED, BP 8114 Yaound�, 239745/228555

American Embassies

Michael Meigs, Deputy Chief of Mission, Libreville
Mary Johnson, Environmental section, Yaound�
Ambassador Charles Twining, Yaound�
Lee Smith, Economics Section, Yaound�
Peter O'Donoghue, Political Section, Yaound�

Note: There are no USAID Bilateral Missions in Cameroon and Gabon, which therefore required all activities to be coordinated with the respective American Embassies.