In February, 2005, Internet connectivity improved for MALICO members. Four 3.7 metre VSATs were mounted at their sites from north to south of Malawi! This represented the culmination of two years of focussed effort to implement a solution that would permit the learning and development community in Malawi to exploit the electronic resources (e.g. journal articles and web sites) already existing through the INASP PERI and eIFL content projects.

Dr Busiso Chisala, Technical Advisor, demonstrates the VSAT on the roof of Chancellor College, at Launch, 6 May 2005

Access to electronic information is dependent on a level of connectivity that permits downloading of electronic articles in a reasonable time. Connectivity in many MALICO institutions did not make this practicable. This problem was presented to eIFL, one of the core partners for MALICO. In May 2003, Mr Ashraf Patel , the Head of ICT at OSISA (Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa) contacted Malawi with the good news that 4 countries including Malawi were to be Pilot Sites for a project to install VSATs (Very Small Aperture Terminals) to improve internet connectivity to some eIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries Project) consortium sites. Over time, given the large scale of the project, additional funding was sourced from OSI, World Bank EDRP Project and the DOSSANI Trust.

Technical issues and VSATs

VSATS are ground links to satellites which transmit internet data between sites. Radio links can then be used to transmit data on the ground to other sites. This does away with the need to use the telephone lines, which, in areas such as Bunda, are very limiting factors. VSATs provide uplinks to the satellite and downlinks from the satellite. Bandwidth demand by member sites has expanded steadily currently standing at about 4Mb downlink and 1 Mb uplink in total across the 4 sites.  The Director of ICT at College of Medicine coordinates the payments

MALICO Chair, Prof J J Uta , Secretary, Mrs M Ngwira and Unima representative Dr M Mbilizi sign VSAT MOA at Launch, 6 May 2005

Each link has a cost attached. VSATs are not a cheap technology. A multi million kwacha investment initially is involved, and now that the donor phase is over, we have to pay the satellite link charges ourselves –around US$3000per month per VSAT site. Our hope is that the improved connectivity will market itself to our management and they will be prepared to facilitate cost sharing among the users which in a large institution may include several externally funded projects. In addition it is hoped that other MALICO members will connect through radio links and contribute on a cost recovery basis to the sustainability of the project.

The University of Malawi Librarian asked Dr Busiso Chisala of Chancellor College to assist MALICO in dealing with the Technical issues of our preparation to receive the VSATS. He  put a great deal of energy into this on a purely voluntary basis and MALICO is most grateful to him.
Given the length of Malawi and the 4 main population centres of Mzuzu, Lilongwe, Zomba and Blantyre, OSISA agreed to consider 4 MALICO sites for VSAT installation in Malawi. These sites are Mzuzu University, Bunda College of Agriculture, University of Malawi CLS/Chancellor College, Zomba, and Malawi College of Medicine. This brings the issue of the relationship between the VSATS, the sites and MALICO. There is a Memorandum of Agreement between MALICO and the 4 sites.