The move kicks off a two-year planning and procurement phase for the AfricaConnect project, which is funded by the European Commission.
As part of the project, AfricaConnect will be complemented by the UbuntuNet network, a high-capacity network for research and education in Sub-Saharan Africa, to create a regional gateway for global research collaboration.
The development of the internet backbone is designed to improve the lives of millions of Africans through accelerated research and education, and the connectivity will benefit collaborative scientific research globally, for areas including climate change, malaria, biodiversity and medicine.
A procurement process for the project began in October 2011, with ten organisations from Africa and Europe submitting tenders. The final shortlist comprised of five potential suppliers.
“We selected WIOCC for its excellent track record in delivering high-performance, end-to-end managed international connectivity services,” said Cathrin Stöver, chief international relations and communication officer at DANTE. “The winning solution offered carefully tailored performance, reach, resilience and management, which matched the strict requirements set out in the invitation to tender for AfricaConnect.”
AfricaConnect is a collaborative partnership between Africa and Europe, supported by 14 and five institutions in the regions respectively.
