12Aug
20May
New Trends in ICT Could Foster African Development
Addis Ababa, 04 May 2011 (ECA) – Experts attending a session on new ICT trends in relation to fostering industrialisation and socio-economic development expressed optimism on the benefits that African can derive from using ICT-enabled services, such as open data access, social media, FOSS applications, and mobile computing.
“Although Africa is not up to speed when it comes to internet connectivity, the continent has 110 million users,” said Dr. Tarek Cheniti of the Said Business School. “Africans are responsive to technology and we have to build on that.”
The session was held during the May 2-5 Second Session of the Committee on Development Information, Science and Technology – CODIST II. According to the Information and Communication Service of the Economic Commission for Africa – ECA, participants focused on the uptake of ICTs in Africa and emphasised that the continent has led the global shift as one of the fastest to turn from fixed to mobile telephony.
Participants were awash with examples of initiatives impacting on society –the village phone operators in Uganda; the optimal grain market information via SMS initiative in Niger; and the e-Care initiative in Ghana.
An alternative to the social networking tool Facebook has emerged: Asanja, boasts a quarter of a million subscribers. In addition, various imitations of youtube and increased use of professional networks, such as linkedafrica.com are thriving.
Mobile applications, such as Mpesa, the famous Kenyan mobile money transfer service launched by Safaricom, are changing the way ordinary Kenyans conduct business. In Ethiopia the ECA is supporting researchers in Addis Ababa University to develop a health communication systems and an Ethiopian (script) keyboard for smart phones.
On the education front, the one laptop per child project has placed 100,000 laptops in as many children in Rwanda, according to the participants, that number could double by the end of 2011. These laptops are not only networked and linked to the internet, they carry 100 books. The country aims to see all its children equipped with one laptop each by 2015.
It was indicated that tablets with the capacity to carry 1,000 books are now under production for distribution to children. Participants stressed, however, that although the laptops are very helpful for advancing children’s education, they should be manufactured in Africa.
On other discussions, the session learnt that African governments are yet to venture into open (government) data systems, which give free access to data sets or information sets produced or commissioned by government or government controlled entities.
José M. Alonso, from CTIC (Spain) said, moving to open data systems, “generates economic return on investments via the creation of innovative products and services by third parties. It also increases transparency, accountability and democratisation of public data, and increases government efficiency and effectiveness.”
In order to reap all the benefits of innovations in science and technology, though, African countries have been urged to first have sound policies for agriculture, education and all other sectors, which could then be complemented by Science and Technology Policies.
– ECA Press Release No. 61/2011
11Apr
Sixth Annual Internet Governance Forum Comes to East Africa
By Lillian Nalwoga
The Sixth Annual IGF Meeting will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 27-30 September 2011 at the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON). With the main theme of ‘Internet as a catalyst for change: access, development, freedoms and innovation’, it is hoped that the IGF will strengthen the Internet governance debate in East Africa.
Prior to the global forum, East African countries will once again – this time in the Rwandan capital Kigali – convene to deliberate internet governance issues pertinent to the region.
The East African-Internet Governance Forum (EA-IGF) was first convened in 2008 with participation from four East African countries (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda). The forum aims at creating a Community of Practice that will build a sustaining foundation for meaningful participation of East African stakeholders in Internet public policy debates at the national, regional and international level.
The EA-IGF model allows for the informed participation, contribution and engagement of community members through the sharing of experiences and skills, solving common problems and challenges, the creation of new knowledge and increasing local capacity and talent in Internet Governance issues. The EAIGF follows a bottom-up multi-stakeholder approach, which begins at the national level with mailing list discussions in the five East African countries moderated by national animators, followed by national face-to-face IGFs. The national IGFs then form the building block for the regional East African IGF.
CIPESA in collaboration with the Ugandan Ministry of ICT, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), I-Network Uganda and the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) hosted the 3rd East African Internet Governance Forum (EA-IGF) in 2010. The forum focused on “Strengthening East Africa’s Critical Internet Resources”.
The 2010 EA-IGF called for multi-stakeholder participation by redefining the term ‘internet governance’ and also recommended the formation of a working group to develop strategies that will strengthen ccTLDs in the region in light of competition for gTLDs.
More about the EAIGF: http://eaigf.or.ke/eaigf/eaigf.html
04Apr
Call for Workshop Proposals for the Sixth Annual IGF Meeting
Interested stakeholders are invited to submit workshops proposals from 27 March through the online form
. More information is available after this link.
03Apr
National Workshop Hosted By Cipesa Discusses EASSy
1.0 Introduction
The Collaboration for International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) is currently running national workshops about
increasing awareness and raising key issues on the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) – the proposed international fiber optic network that seeks to link the eastern and part of southern Africa to the international fiber optic system – in regional African countries to raise awareness and address major concerns about EASSy. The countries targeted include: Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Rwanda and Uganda. Malawi, Burundi, Lesotho and Zimbabwe are also targeted for similar workshops but with a focus on liberalisation of telecom monopolies in those countries that have signed up to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
This report highlights the major proceedings of the Uganda workshop held on May 2, 2006 in Kampala. It was held in conjunction with the
Association of Progressive Communications (APC) and Balancing Act. CIPESA also teamed up with two local partners namely; I-Network Uganda and Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET).
1.2 Major discussions of the workshop
The workshop focussed on ICT infrastructure with special emphasis on the opportunities that EASSy would provide. The role of the NEPAD e-Africa commission and the cost implications of EASSy and satellite connectivity were also discussed.
1.2.1 ICT Infrastructure in Uganda
The state of the ICT infrastructure in Uganda is no different from that of other African countries. The cost of bandwidth is still high
rendering computer use and Internet access only a preserve for a few, often urban elites. Yet bandwidth is key to development and its
availability depends on the size of the pipe, cost and ownership of the pipe, among other factors. From a private sector perspective, the
management and ownership of EASSy should be left in the hands of the private sector as it is the only that can now stand up to the challenges posed by globalisation and liberalisation. Given
that computing and Internet connectivity is only available to 0.5% – 7% of Africans and Asians compared to 50% – 60% Asians and North Americans, the private sector is in a better position to
provide and manage bandwidth in a way that would lead to better connection in the globalised economy.
1.2.2 The role of NEPAD in EASSy project
NEPAD’s involvement in EASSy is through its e-Africa Commission that is responsible for developing policies, strategies and projects at
the continental level. The commission also manages the structured development of the ICT sector to ensure that all African countries get
connected to the fibre-optic cable system.
Presently, NEPAD is the main continental body spearheading EASSy. It is striving to enable landlocked countries access submarine cable heads and is also involved in the creation of a legal policy and regulatory framework of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that can own, develop, operate and maintain the network, including the EASSy cable.
In NEPAD’s view, the ‘Club’ model as fronted by the consortium presents the following disadvantages for EASSy stakeholders:
– The incentive scheme means that small investors subsidise large investors.
– Smaller investors could be forced out of the international telecom business in their countries when markets are fully liberalised.
– It also presents inherent inequalities among EASSy consortium parties i.e. some are wealthy, some have large customer bases and some
have extensive submarine expertise.
At the end of May 2006, regional ministers will meet to discuss, among other things, the shape of the proposed SPV. Once endorsed, it would be in charge of setting EASSy off the ground and seeing it to fruition. The envisaged SPV would adopt an open access model to ensure that EASSy bandwidth is affordable and accessible to all stakeholders.
1.2.3 Rural connectivity
The past eight years have seen a rise in the range of technologies available to rural communities in Uganda. These include; radio,
mobile phone and fax machines. Today, it is estimated that 2% of households in Uganda use mobile phones. But even if rural connectivity
would certainly generate employment and other opportunities for rural communities, it is beset by a number of challenges. These include:
– Lack of electricity
– Limited private sector interest in rural areas
– Inadequate ICT infrastructure
With these challenges therefore, it is prudent for government to extend connectivity to rural areas especially when EASSy becomes a reality. Uganda should also consider a public-private partnership in laying a national infrastructure backbone that will include fibre optics. The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) is spearheading the process while the private sector is set to play the practical role of installing the backbone.
1.2.4 Comparative analysis of cost connectivity
Opinion is sharply divided as to whether EASSy is the panacea to Uganda’s bandwidth problems. Like many other African countries, Uganda lacks adequate ICT infrastructure to support EASSy. It therefore leaves doubt in some people’s minds as whether the cable would meet the expectations of all the stakeholders (especially the mass
market).
Consequently, many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other private sector operators believe that the Open Access model, as
advocated for by NEPAD, cannot work in an African context. Unlike in parts of Europe where it has succeed largely because of infrastructure built by providers as part of their universal service obligations, Africa has no such system in place. One way of circumventing this bottleneck is perhaps devising a hybrid between an SPV that is
favoured by NEPAD and that of the consortium.
1.3 Issues raised during the discussion
– Representatives of UCC believe that Ugandan operators should be ready to accept an open access model. In this way, they should be
ready to compete not on selling EASSy bandwidth but providing services that will be enabled by the cable.
– Given that prices for connectivity through VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminals) and satellite are falling progressively, EASSy must offer bandwidth at lower prices than either of the two alternatives. The market, rather than the EASSy cartel should therefore be the key determinant of the prices at which EASSy bandwidth would be sold.
– The benefits of EASSy would only be realised by ordinary Internet users when fibre optic cables are extended beyond the country’s handful of major towns. The fact that local calls are expensive for the majority of rural mobile phone owners is in itself a disincentive to the extension of fibre beyond Uganda’s major towns.
– Although opinion is still sharply divided over which model would best suit EASSy, those in favour of closed access believe that government should never return to doing business in national interest as it has proved a failure in other ventures in the past. Government’s intervention should stop at creating a conducive policy regulation environment. In a way, EASSy should be a public good run by the private sector with the aim of making profit.
– Government should set up a Ministry of ICT to monitor and support ICT innovations in the country since ICT has become part and parcel of all sectors of the economy.
– Government should also urgently address the issue of corruption that has led to the failure of similar infrastructure projects like Bujagali power project and the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and malaria.
– Government and private sector also need to harmonise efforts to address the challenges of rural connectivity especially through the management of the Rural Connectivity Development Fund (RCDF).
Report prepared by CIPESA