Could you please tell us the origins of the Pan-African e-Network and what its main tasks are?

Dr. Kaviraj Sharma Sukon: The Pan-African e-network (PAeN) is the brainchild of former Indian President, the Honorable Dr. A.P.J. Kalam. In his talk during the inaugural session of the PAN-African Parliament held in Johannesburg on 16 September 2004, he proposed a programme to connect all the African Union's 53 nations via a satellite and fibre-optic network that would provide effective communication and connectivity among the nations.


The network primarily strives to connect the countries and their heads of state in order to provide tele-medicine, tele-education, internet, and voice-over-IP services. It is scalable and supports e-governance, e-commerce, infotainment, resource mapping, and meteorological services. The European Institute of Creative Strategies and Innovation awarded the Hermes Prize for Innovation 2010 to PAeN.

Who are the participants and how is the exchange of information organized?

Dr. Kaviraj Sharma Sukon: The tele-education and tele-medicine project was piloted in Ethiopia in 2006/2007 for a total cost of US$ 2.12 million. After the successful completion of the pilot project, on 05 July 2007, the Union Cabinet of India approved the PAeN project to the tune of US$125 million, which covers the cost of supply, installation, testing, and commissioning of the hardware and software, end-to-end connectivity, satellite bandwidth, operations and management support, and providing the tele-education (TE) and tele-medicine (TM) services to the 53 countries.


During the pilot project, around 35 students of Addis Ababa University and Haramaya University enrolled in an MBA course from Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU) through tele-education. In addition, Black Lion Hospital of Addis Ababa and the remote Nekempte Hospital, 300 km west of Ethiopia's capital, received online medical consultation from medical specialists at Hyderabad's CARE Hospital.

What are the Pan-African e-Network's concrete goals?

Dr. Kaviraj Sharma Sukon: The Pan-African e-Network Project, which is a perfect example of south-south collaboration between India and African countries, aims at providing a universal platform for distance learning where Indian Universities can provide courses to students through videoconferencing, with live and interactive lectures transmitted from India to learning centres in Africa.

PAeN has been designed in such a way so as to help African countries minimize the effects of slow and erratic Internet bandwidth; high connectivity costs; intermittent power supply; and inadequate cooperation and coordination at regional levels. It promotes the regional collaborative education and research projects as well as global virtual research communities by overcoming ICT challenges, e.g. the Pan African e-Network project at Dar-es-Salaam Institute of Technology. PAeN also increases access to tertiary education using flexible modes of delivery while allowing African students to benefit from courses offered by prestigious Indian institutions of higher learning. It contributes to the vision of African governments in preparing their countries towards a knowledge economy.

Have you had any noteworthy successes?

Dr. Kaviraj Sharma Sukon: As of 30 November 2011, 47 African Union Member States had signed the agreement with TCIL. The regional participation is as follows

• West Africa: 15 out of 15
• East Africa: 13 out of 13
• Southern Africa: 8 out of 10 ( missing: S. Africa and Angola)
• Central Africa: 8 out of 9 (Missing -E. Guinea)
• Northern Africa: 3 out of 6 (Missing -Algeria and Tunisia)

The following 103 sites/centres have been commissioned or integrated into the e-Network

• Satellite Hub Earth Station in Dakar, Senegal;
• Data Centre at TCIL Bhawan, New Delhi;
• Tele-Education Set-up in 5 Indian Universities (selected by MEA);
• Tele-Medicine Set-up in 9 Super Specialty Hospitals of India;
• Tele-Education Set-up in 3 Regional Leading University Centres in Africa;
• Tele-Medicine Set-up in 1 Regional Super Specialty Hospital in Africa.
• Ibadan Super Specialty Hospital, Nigeria;
• 30 Learning centres;
• 28 Patient-End Hospitals; and
• 25 VVIP Nodes.

More than 2,000 students from Africa have been enrolled in various programmes such as MBA, Master's in Finance Control, PG Diploma in IT, M.Sc. in IT, Bachelor's in Finance and Investment Analysis, and many others. Regular live tele-education sessions are being conducted from India, and students have shown great interest in the courses.