What We Do

Rascom is a Pan-African organisation working to bridge the digital divide in Africa through satellite communications and infrastructure

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Telecommunications Development

Whatever the indicator considered (telephone density, penetration rate of telecommunications in rural areas, availability and efficiency of telecommunications services), Africa remains the continent with the greatest backwardness in the development of telecommunications.

High Cost

The virtual absence of direct links between African countries obliges them, in order to communicate with each other, to pass through Europe or the United States of America, causing costs amounting to several million American dollars per year.

Africa Unites

Fifty-four (54) African countires have signed unto the phenomenal initiative to bridge the digital divide through satellite technologies.

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frican leaders increasingly aware of the driving role of telecommunications in the process of economic development and recognizing that investments in telecommunications, on the one hand, make it possible to considerably raise the level of productivity and efficiency of all other sectors , and to improve the quality of life, and, on the other hand, constitute an element of motivation for any investor, have decided, after several consultations, to combine their efforts in order to provide the African continent with a telecommunications infrastructure capable of to support the sustainable development of telecommunications on the continent and in each African country, with particular emphasis on serving rural areas. To address this concern, they decided to undertake a feasibility study. This study, conducted from 1987 to 1990, involved 50 African countries and used 600 African experts in addition to international organizations such as the International Telecommunications Union, the United Nations Development Program and the African Development Bank. This study is, in fact, the most exhaustive ever undertaken in the field of telecommunications in Africa.

The conclusions of this study were adopted by African States in February 1991 in Abuja, Nigeria. The main results of this study are as follows:

A telecommunications satellite meeting well-defined specification is the best technological choice to satisfy the global and optimal telecommunications needs in Africa.

This system is economically and financially viable only if it is designed on a continental scale.

To implement the conclusions of this study, the African States meeting in Abidjan in May 1992 decided to create the African Regional Organization for Satellite Communications: RASCOM. RASCOM is an intergovernmental organization with commercial management whose capital is open to the private sector.