On July 8, SatADSL took part in one of the most relevant events of the year regarding broadband technologies and connectivity in Africa: The Future of African Broadband, a one-day seminar hosted by The Telegraph and promoted by Avanti.
The seminar was held in the Lancaster House, London, and it featured an outstanding panel of speakers from both private and public areas, such as
- Justine Greening -secretary of State for International Development of the UK Government,
- Joseph Murcheru -Cabinet secretary, Kenyan Ministry of Information-
- or Magali Vaissière -head of ECSAT Centre, European Space Agency, one of SatADSL partners-.
All the panels and keynotes were introduced by Avanti founder, David Williams, who acted as the Chairman of the summit.
The ECO program: Every Community Online
During the event, SatADSL founders, Caroline De Vos and Thierry Eltges, subscribed the ECO program, a new challenging initiative targeted to provide wireless connectivity services for African schools.
De Vos and Eltges, along with their partner Jo De Loor, Newtec Market Director, signed the Pledge Book of the ECO project.
The ECO program and its Pledge Book was presented to all the attendants of the seminar by Avanti CTO, David Betswick.
ECO (standing for “Every Child Online”) is a promising project launched by Avanti, one of the key players of the satellite industry worldwide.
ECO aims to “provide every child in Sub Saharan African countries with access to the internet for educational purposes”.
It will also work to “provide wireless connectivity services for local communities and businesses near the schools”.
The importance of broadband access for both teachers and students, and its strategic role for the educational and economic development of Africa was actually one of the major topics addressed in the seminar.
The speakers and attendants at The Future of African Broadband also discussed other critical issues regarding:
- Regulations
- Government initiatives
- Private projects
All those discussion targeted to improve internet access in Africa and, therefore, its economic and social growth, like the urgency of boosting SME digital enablement or the most suitable models for rural communities.
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