<<Feburuary 14, 2008>>

<<Feburuary 14, 2008>>
Archived distributions can be retrieved at;
<http://preview.tinyurl.com/35zedj>
This archive includes a html version of this list distribution and its MS/WORD version with its filename as “month-date-year.doc.” You can also access all of its attachments, if any.

Dr. Thomas Mensah <gaaerosp55@aol.com>

Steve Song <ssong@idrc.ca>

Akilagpa Sawyerr <secgen@aau.org>

Margaret E Ngwira <mengwira@kcn.unima.mw>

Philipp Schmidt <schmidt@merit.unu.edu>

Mr. Jonathan SIMWAMI <j.simwami@afdb.org>

Asenath MPATWA <asenath.mpatwa@itu.int>

Eng. James Rege <jamesrege@africaonline.co.ke>

Prof. Cleopas 0. Angaye <cangaye@nitda.gov.ng>

Nega Alemayehu (PhD) <nega_alemayehu@telecom.net.et>

Ms. Dorothy K. Gordon <jhdorothyg2003@yahoo.com>

Mr. Adedoyin Ademilola <aademilola@iwtgc.com>

Mr. Robert D.Woog <rwoog@iwtge.com>

Kate Wild <katewild@usa.net>

Bjorn Pehrson <bjorn@it.kth.se>

Nicholas Gouede <nicholas.gouede@undp.org>

Dear Tom Mensah:

(1) It has been sometime since our last phone conversation. Hope everything is going well and fine with you.

(2) As you may know, the Japanese government and the UNDP will hold the following conference;

The Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV)
From 28 to 30 May, 2008, Yokohama, Japan
<http://www.undp.org/ticad2/news-20080126.shtml>

(3) According to some Japanese newspapers, the Japanese government will propose the followings among many others;

(a) Triple their Official Development Assistance (ODA) fund to African countries — they want to emulate in Africa what they succeeded as bringing economic development in Southeastern Asian countries with their aids,

(b) Noguchi Africa Prize with US$1.5 million -- which is to be an equivalent to Nobel Prize,

(c) Construction of trans-Africa modern highway to promote the commerce among African countries, etc.

This is because the Japanese government want to have African votes for their plan to become one of the permanent members of the Security Council of the United Nations.

(4) I believe that this constructing the trans-African highway would provide the best opportunity for deploying ultra-high speed optical fiber networks — say, almost 2 Tera bps (= 960 Gbps x 2, as each of them on both sides of the highway with one as redundancy in the case when the other is down). Such a broadband Internet network would be a vital necessity for the economic development of African countries, not only by the increased transportation of tangible commodities but also for the interchanges of intangible commodities, i.e., information, knowledge and know-how, etc. in the new Knowledge Economic society of the 21st century, as accelerating (a) e-learning, (b) e-healthcare/telemedicine, (c) community development, and (d) collaborative research and development, etc., on which our GUS has been working on for many years. In a sense, our GUS projects are to increase the Return On Investment (ROI) of such a huge project.

BTW, this idea is similar to the Japanese laying down 2 of 640 Gbps submarine cables between Japan and Siberia — see Item (2) of the the following list distribution;

(a) (08/05/07) NYTimes.com: "Africa, Offline: Waiting for the Web"
http://preview.tinyurl.com/2dfz8e

This idea is also similar to the one we propose;

(b) (09/19/07) Possible GUS/Romania with Black Sea Ring
http://preview.tinyurl.com/2oawpy

This idea is also similar to the one we plan to propose to the Asian Development Bank along with the following project;

(c) $18 Billion Plan to Build New 'Silk Roads' through Central Asia
http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2007/12241-central-asian-roads-transports/default.asp

(d) (11/22/07) Possible broadband Internet with optical fiber network around Central Asian countries
http://preview.tinyurl.com/3c4tab

(5) I would then suggest you that you might form a team to propose the Japanese government at the TICAD-IV to deploy ultra-high speed optical fiber lines along the both side of the highway at 960 Gbps, -- which makes 960 Gbps x 2 = 1.920 Tera bps (almost 2 Tbps).

I am taking the liberty of attaching your brief bio in ATTACHMENT I.

(a) Thanks to your invention of speedy extrusion technology of fiber optic cable, the cost of deploying broadband Internet has been drastically reduced;

<http://preview.tinyurl.com/39aacf>

(b) I think that this will accelerate the trend of switching from the Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) antenna to optical fiber;

<http://preview.tinyurl.com/2l3ywx>

<http://preview.tinyurl.com/35wu9c>

(d) This trans-Africa optical fiber network may then be hooked to EASSy submarine optical fiber cable along the east coast of Africa to communicate with the outside world, which inauguration is now eminent with the fund from the World Bank;

<http://preview.tinyurl.com/2mw22v>

(e) The trans-Africa optical fiber network may also be hooked with the Infinity-1 at tera bps speed along the western coast of Africa;

<http://preview.tinyurl.com/2unc9f>

Dear Steve Song:

(6) You once requested me to get US$1 million from the Japanese government to the Association of African Universities (AAU) so that they could get some equity in the EASSy for their obtaining some discount to subscribe to it by the AAU member universities around African countries.

I then asked you to have the Secretary General of AAU to approach to the President of the Africa Union (AU) to write his endorsement letter which I can bring to an appropriate official of the Japanese government.

I think that such money may be tackled into to this trans-Africa optical fiber network project. As having this trans-African optical fiber network, the activities of the AAU’s National Research and Education Network (NREN) member activities will be significantly increased.

Dear Tom Mensah:
You once told me that the president of the AU is your friend. You may then be able to help on this matter.

Dear Margaret E Ngwira:

(7) Pls solicit interest among the NREN members of the AU to this project.

Dear Philipp Schmidt:

(8) Pls do the same. Thanks in advance.

Best, Tak

ATTACHMENT I

Brief Bio of Dr. Thomas Mensah

Dr. Thomas Mensah, a world renowned inventor with seven US and worldwide patents in
Fiber Optics, was born in 1950 in Kumasi, Ghana, and currently advises the African Union (AU)
and the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) leadership in the analysis and best
planning for ICT systems which will have impact across all sectors.

Dr. Mensah’s achievements are a source of great pride in his country of birth and across Africa.
As a world expert in the field of advanced materials, Dr. Mensah has worked on specialized
projects for NASA (Superconductors for space communications), the US Army (Smart munitions
Picatinny Arsenal) and US Department of Energy, (Fiber optics sensors for Highway Traffic
monitoring). Dr. Mensah has additional patents pending in some of these areas.

He has held high level engineering positions in US industry first at Air Products and Chemicals
(1980-83), then Corning Glass Works, in Fiber Optics research Sullivan Park, New York 1983-
1986, where he built the fastest Fiber Optics draw and coating process, 50 meters per second. He
holds 4 patents for this effort. He joined AT&T Bell laboratories in 1986 and led the program to
develop fiber optic reels used in the guided missile program. This effort led to the development of
a system that was successfully deployed at missile speeds up to Mach 1 (The Speed of Sound).
He received 3 US patents on this technology. Dr. Mensah also founded the high tech firm
Supercond Technology in Norcross, GA, specializing in Aerospace and Communication products.

List of Distribution

Dr. Thomas Mensah <gaaerosp55@aol.com>

Steve Song
Manager of IDRC's Information and Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) programs in Africa
International Development Research Center (IDRC)
250 Albert Street/rue Albert
PO Box 8500
Ottawa, ON, Canada K1G 3H9
Phone: (613) 236-6163 ext. 2268
Mobile: +1 613 799 1152
Cel: idrc.ca/crdi.ca
Fax: 613-567-7749
ssong@idrc.ca
16137991152@pcs.rogers.com
http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2005/september/bandwidth.htm
http://www.connectivityafrica.org
http://www.idrc.ca/acacia

Akilagpa Sawyerr
Secretary General
Association of African Universities (AAU)
Aviation Road Extension
Airport Residential Area
P.O. Box AN 5744
Accra-North, Ghana
Tel: +233-21-774495/761588
Mobile: +233-24-432-1957
Fax: +233-21-774821
secgen@aau.org
http://www.aau.org

Margaret E Ngwira
College Librarian and Secretary, MALICO
Kamuzu College of Nursing
University of Malawi
Private Bag 1, LILONGWE
Malawi
Tel: +265 (0)1 757 456
Cel: 09-955-856
Fax +265 (0)1 756 090
mengwira@kcn.unima.mw
tnmngwira@globemw.net
mgtngwira@hotmail.com
http://www.kcn.unima.mw
and
Interim Secretariat
UbuntuNet Alliance
http://www.ubuntunet.net/

Philipp Schmidt
University of the Western Cape / United Nations University - MERIT
Skype: iphilipp
Mobile: +27 83 460 3777
schmidt@merit.unu.edu

Mr. Jonathan SIMWAMI
Principal System Analyst
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT FUND
Information Management and Methods
B.P.323 1002
Tunis Belvedere Tunisia
Tel. (216) 71 10 2337
Fax: (216) 71 83 0506
j.simwami@afdb.org
www.afdb.org

Asenath MPATWA
Coordinator, Africa Unit
Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT)
International Telecommunication Union
Place des Nations
CH‑1211 Geneva 20
Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 730 54 30
Mobile: +41 792 49 48 48
Fax: +41 22 730 54 84
asenath.mpatwa@itu.int
www.itu.int

Eng. James Rege
Permanent Secretary
Ministry of Information & Communication
Teleposta Towers
P.O. Box 30025
Nairobi, Kenya
+254-722-200-717
Tel: 250926 / 315127
Fax: 315147
jamesrege@africaonline.co.ke

Prof. Cleopas 0. Angaye
Director GeneraI/CEO
NATIONAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (NITDA)
Federal MlnIstiy of Science & Technology
No 28 Pod‑Harcourt Crescent
Off Gimblya Street
Area 11, Garki,
Abuja‑Nlgeia.
Tel: 09‑3142925
D/L: 09‑3142926
Fax: 09‑3142924
cangaye@nitda.gov.ng

Nega Alemayehu (PhD)
Director, Graduate School of Telecommunications and Information Technology
Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation
P.O. Box: 1047
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Tel: [251-9] 25 48 15
Fax: [251-1] 65 51 29
nega_alemayehu@telecom.net.et
nega.alemayehu@gstit.edu.et
n_alemayehu@hotmail.com
n_lakew@yahoo.com

Ms. Dorothy K. Gordon
Director-General
Advanced Information Technology Institute (AITI)
Ghana-India Kofi Annan Center of Excellence in ICT
2nd Avenue, Opp. Council of State
PMB, State house
Accra, Ghana
Tel: 233-21-679-542 to 5
233-21-683-579 (direct)
Cel: 23-244-311-348
Fax: 233-21-679-549
jhdorothyg2003@yahoo.com
dorothyg@aiti-kace.com.gh
director-general@aiti-kace.com.gh
dorothyg@aiti-kace.com.gh
www.aiti-kace.com.gh
www.aiti-kace.com
http://www.aiti kace.com.gh/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=106&Itemid=93

Mr. Adedoyin Ademilola
Chairman and CEO
West Africa Fibre Optic Project
Infinity Worldwide Telecommunications Group of Companies (IWTGC)
305 Madison Avenue
Suite 449
New York, New York 10165
+1 212 807 5549
Fax: 1-212-957-1912
aademilola@iwtgc.com
http://www.iwtgc.com/

Mr. Robert D.Woog
Managing Director and COO
West Africa Fibre Optic Project
Infinity Worldwide Telecommunications Group of Companies (IWTGC)
305 Madison Avenue
Suite 449
New York, New York 10165
+1 212 807 5549
Fax: 1-212-957-1912
rwoog@iwtge.com
http://www.iwtgc.com/

Kate Wild
Information for Development
A1, 142 Pears Ave, Toronto
ON M5R 1T2, Canada
phone 416 323 5976
mobile phone 416 857 6188
fax 416 323 0272
katewild@usa.net

Bjorn Pehrson <bjorn@it.kth.se>

Nicholas Gouede
Programme Specialist
TICAD/UNDP Africa Bureau
United Nations Development Programme
tel: + 1 212 906 5954
fax: +1 212 906 6958
nicholas.gouede@undp.org

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* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA                           *
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.)          *
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education           *
* Founder and V.P. for Technology and Coordination of                         *
*   Global University System (GUS)                                            *
* 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-5913, U.S.A.                        *
* Tel: 718-939-0928; Email: utsumi@columbia.edu                               *
* http://www.itu.int/wsis/goldenbook/search/display.asp?Quest=8032562&lang=en *
* http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/                                     *
* Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676                                                   *
*******************************************************************************