Editing History of the Internet (section)

====Africa====
At the beginning of the 1990s, African countries relied upon X.25 [[International Packet Switched Service|IPSS]] and 2400 baud modem UUCP links for international and internetwork computer communications.

In August 1995, InfoMail Uganda, Ltd., a privately held firm in Kampala now known as InfoCom, and NSN Network Services of Avon, Colorado, sold in 1997 and now known as Clear Channel Satellite, established Africa's first native TCP/IP high-speed satellite Internet services. The data connection was originally carried by a C-Band RSCC Russian satellite which connected InfoMail's Kampala offices directly to NSN's MAE-West point of presence using a private network from NSN's leased ground station in New Jersey. InfoCom's first satellite connection was just 64&nbsp;kbit/s, serving a Sun host computer and twelve US Robotics dial-up modems.

In 1996, a [[USAID]] funded project, the [[Leland Initiative]], started work on developing full Internet connectivity for the continent. [[Guinea]], Mozambique, [[Madagascar]] and [[Rwanda]] gained [[satellite earth station]]s in 1997, followed by [[Ivory Coast]] and [[Benin]] in 1998.

Africa is building an Internet infrastructure. [[AFRINIC]], headquartered in [[Mauritius]], manages IP address allocation for the continent. As with other Internet regions, there is an operational forum, the Internet Community of Operational Networking Specialists.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://icons.afrinic.net/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070509143416/http://icons.afrinic.net/  |archive-date=May 9, 2007 |title=ICONS webpage |publisher=Icons.afrinic.net |access-date=May 28, 2009 }}</ref>

There are many programs to provide high-performance transmission plant, and the western and southern coasts have undersea optical cable. High-speed cables join North Africa and the Horn of Africa to intercontinental cable systems. Undersea cable development is slower for East Africa; the original joint effort between [[NEPAD|New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)]] and the East Africa Submarine System (Eassy) has broken off and may become two efforts.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.fmtech.co.za/?p=209 | title = Nepad, Eassy partnership ends in divorce | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423094056/http://www.fmtech.co.za/?p=209 | archive-date=April 23, 2012 | website=South African Financial Times }}</ref>