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affordable bandwidth on both local and international scales - that is, the digital divide is holding

us back. A large investment is required to improve this situation! Progress has been frustratingly

slow, but encouraging signs are beginning to emerge, and the government is aware that

intervention is needed. A high-speed academic internet backbone is an urgent priority. Put

simply: without high-speed links, MeerKAT and the SKA bid are non-starters. In the short term,

SALT (as will probably also be the case for KAT) is using the Virtual Observatory method

described above. Users and other interested astronomers (locally and overseas) access only final

data-products (for example, the processed images) and not the (much more voluminous) raw data.

This approach can be extended to other astronomical observatories, both ground and space-based,

if the data archives are copied and moved to a central South African site (a `mirror'), from which

the data can be accessed. The broad support that exists for the recently passed AGA Bill and KAT

(as well as other developments) is being used as a lever to change the face of research networks.

Furthermore, our international partners (in SALT and MeerKAT) are providing external support,

since South Africa has so clearly shown that it wants to participate in science on the global stage -

as a `real' partner, and not just as a third-world provider of first-class research locations. In time,

the cost and speed of commercial bandwidth in South Africa will both improve - driven (it is to

be hoped) by increased telecoms competition but when?

Developments in eastern and southern Africa:

Optical fibre (for data transmission) is being deployed throughout Africa at an accelerating rate,

as a result of developments by national and cellphone operators, electrical power expansion, and

various international consortia.As is the case in Europe, national research and education networks

(NRENs) are emerging in African countries to provide the academic backbone to link their major

institutions by procuring Internet bandwidth In South Africa, to begin this process SANREN is

being funded by the Department of Science and Technology through the Meraka Institute, as well

as TENET (Tertiary Education Network), the broadband system that serves South Africa's higher

education and research institutions. Together with six other African NRENs, they have formed

UbuntuNet, aiming eventually to become the `Geant' of Africa - inspired by the European Geant2

network, which currently provides a staggering 10-gigabits per second academic backbone

throughout Europe and is at least 1 000 times faster than that currently available within South

African academia! Providing the linkage between southern Africa and the rest of the world means

developing intercontinental connectivity. Many groups of professional people in all walks of life

recognize the urgency of providing affordable, international bandwidth. But achieving it requires

political intervention on a heroic scale.

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