6 / 104
4
The International Magazine
for the Wire and Cable Industries
US copies only
:
EuroWire
(ISSN No: 1463-2438)
is published bi-monthly by INTRAS Ltd and distributed
in the US by DSW, 75 Aberdeen Road, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437.
Periodicals postage paid at Emigsville, PA.
Postmaster
: send address changes to EuroWire, PO Box 437, Emigsville PA 17318-0437
www.read-eurowire.com© 2010 Intras Ltd, UK
ISSN 1463-2438
* US$33 purchase only
Front cover: PAVE Automation Ltd
See page 100 for further details
E
DITOR
: .......................................
Gill Watson
F
EATURES
E
DITOR
(USA)
:
.........Dorothy Fabian
E
DITORIAL ASSISTANT
:
.................Christian Bradley
D
ESIGN
/P
RODUCTION
:
................Julie Tomlin
P
RODUCTION
:
..............................Lisa Benjamin
S
ALES
M
ANAGER
:
.......................Paul Browne
S
ALES
& M
ARKETING
:
................Giuliana Benedetto
(
I
NTERNATIONAL
)
Italian speaking sales
Hendrike Morriss
German speaking sales
Linda Li
Chinese speaking sales
Jeroo Vandrevala
Indian sales
A
DVERTISEMENT
C
OORDINATOR
:
............................Liz Hughes
A
CCOUNTS
M
ANAGER
:
................Richard Babbedge
S
UBSCRIPTIONS
:
..........................Liz Hughes
P
UBLISHER
:
..................................Caroline Sullens
F
OUNDER
:
....................................John C Hogg
INTRAS OFFICES
E
UROPE
:
46 Holly Walk, Leamington Spa
Warwickshire CV32 4HY, UK
Tel
: +44 1926 334137
Fax
: +44 1926 314755
:
intras@intras.co.ukWebsite
:
www.intras.co.ukWebsite
:
www.read-eurowire.comUSA
:
E
DITORIAL
Dorothy Fabian
272 First Avenue, Apt 12G
New York, NY 10009, USA
Tel
: +1 212 614 9266
Fax
: +1 212 614 9266
:
dfabian@rcn.comI
NDIA
:
Jintras Ltd
,
Jeroo Vandrevala
Subarna (Ground Floor)
P21/N, Block A, New Alipore
Kolkata 700 053, India
Tel
: +91 33 2407 07 01
Fax
: +91 33 2407 07 00
:
jeroov@vsnl.comWhenyouhave finishedwith
thismagazineplease recycle it
Rwanda’s Internet –
banking on youth
News stories about extended bre optic
networks and ever higher-speed Internet
connections are frequent, but one network
project has captured my imagination.
Sixteen years after the Genocide, the
government of Rwanda is determined
that its low-income country will be a
middle-income country by 2020. Part of
this initiative is the commitment to invest
$50 million in a high-speed bre optic
backbone to serve the entire country, and
to access this connection every child in the
country will be given a laptop computer.
It’s not simply the commitment to the net-
work that engaged me; it’s that, largely,
childrenwill lead theway to thepossibilities
of the Internet. In Rwanda, over 40% of the
population is under 14 years old, and the
most common habitation is a fairly isolated
family settlement. The laptops will deliver
general education, and advice on every-
thing from health to animal husbandry,
and it’s the children who will form the
conduit for ICT to many of their elders.
But the plan of the Rwandan government
is not just education, vital though that is.
High-speed Internet will link suppliers,
producers, distributors and customers in
a way previously unheard of in the region,
opening up essential communication
routes for business and commerce. There
are other, less obvious ways (to me) that
the economy of Rwanda will bene t. For
example, banks and ATMs are scarce in
Rwanda, making a rather limited cash-
based business model the only one
available. Internet banking, that most of
us take for granted, will become accessible
for the rst time. Hence, money will stay in
the banks for longer, and be available for
banks to lend to further aid development.
The Rwandan project attracted my atten-
tion because, unlike the usual network
announcements, it suggests somuch about
optimism, cooperation and reconciliation
amid
circumstances
and
di culties
that most of us cannot even begin to
comprehend.
It
demonstrates
a real faith in the
future, and reminds
me that, wherever
we are, our children
are inevitably one
step ahead of us
where technology is
concerned.
Gill Watson