|
Africa:
Nigeria
Senegal
South Africa
Morocco
Tunisia
Gabon
UNESCO--Africa
Better ICT connectivity would
unleash Africa's economic potential, UN officials say
20-09-2007
Better information and communication technology (ICT)
links would help Africa to unleash its economic potential, United Nations and
business leaders said today at a press briefing at UN Headquarters in New York.
African
countries have registered the world's highest mobile phone growth, ranging from
50 to 400 per cent in the last three years, said Dr Hamadoun Tour¨¦,
Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Africa's
goal should be to replicate that success in broadband capability, also
achieving "Internet access in every village, every school, every
university, every hospital."
Lack of Internet access is holding back growth,
according to ITU figures. Less than 4 per cent of Africans have Internet
access, broadband penetration is below 1 per cent and 70 per cent of all
continental traffic goes outside Africa, driving up costs for consumers. The
cost of Internet connectivity in Africa, says the World Bank, is the highest in
the world - some USD 250-300 per month.
Africa needed a competitive ICT infrastructure, Dr
Tour¨¦ said. "By bringing optical fibres in some of the networks, by just
closing the loops, you will avoid excessive Internet transit costs, bringing
down the cost by two-thirds," he said.
China and India had increased both public and
private investment in ICT in Africa, and other countries could do the same, he
said. "Once the infrastructure is there, once you have the proper capacity
building, you can have real growth, with exponential figures," he said.
Dr Tour¨¦ said that a Marshall Plan for ICT
connectivity was required to provide universal access by 2012. "ICT is a
catalyst, an enabler in all sectors of the economy," he said. "This
would be the accelerator to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by
2015." Pressing for aggressive action to build ICT infrastructure, Dr
Tour¨¦ said, "We don't need charity for the ICT field. We need pure
business sense."
Mobile telephony in Africa would undoubtedly follow
the general trends of other developing regions, said Craig Barrett, Chairman of
the UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development and Chairman of the Board of
Intel Corporation. In China, India and Latin America, "the private sector
has gone in and, with spectrum allocation, with competition, has been able to bring
inexpensive communications to all of the people. We expect to see that in
Africa," he said.
One challenge was connectivity, Mr Barrett said. The
average monthly cost for a 256Kbps connection was more than the total hardware
and software costs. Broadband connectivity costs should ideally fall by more
than two-thirds, he said, adding that the gate to Africa's development would be
"providing inexpensive connectivity over broad stretches of
territory".
Two factors, he said, had contributed to the success
of the telecom industry: technological innovation in the mobile area and the
adoption of liberal policies. What was now needed for broadband expansion were
regulations ensuring an even playing field, and public-private partnerships.
"When you give access to a human being, you
unleash the power of human innovation and entrepreneurship," he said.
"It is really so powerful - all they need is access."
The Connect Africa Summit in October in Kigali,
Rwanda, will focus on making ICT capability available for economic development
and connectivity. "We will try to push as hard as we can to get the public
and private sectors together to achieve this," Mr. Barrett said.
Walter Fust, Director-General of the Swiss Agency
for Development and Cooperation, said his Agency was supporting the Kigali
summit to keep ICT for development high on the political agenda, to broaden the
discussion to innovative financing mechanisms and local content, and to support
"the mobilizing of the doers, not only of the talkers".
The Connect Africa
Summit is organized by the International Telecommunication Union, the African
Union, the World Bank Group, and The Global Alliance for ICT and Development,
in partnership with the African Development Bank, the African Telecommunication
Union, the Global Digital Solidarity Fund and the United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa. It is the first landmark in ITU's Connect the World
initiative.
(Source: http://portal.unesco.org)
<<
Back to top
Nigeria
INET Africa Regional Conference
May 2007, Abuja, Nigeria
The Internet Society will hold its INET Africa Conference on 4 May 2007 in conjunction with the AfriNIC 6 and AfNOG 8 meetings in Abuja, Nigeria.
The morning session will focus on technical as well as policy aspects surrounding Internet standards development and applications, with special attention on security and efforts to fight unwanted traffic on the Internet. The afternoon session will include an open discussion on Internet governance issues of importance to the continent in preparation for the IGF Meeting in Rio de Janeiro later this year.
,All
Africa Online service
<<
Back to top
January 2003
The Nigerian Information Technology Professionals in
America (NITPA)
released a study entitled “The Future Generation
of ICT Experts: Can Africa Lead the Way”, revealing
Africa's serious lag in the global ICT race. According
to the President of NITPA, Manny Anjebonam, Africa has
to develop the necessary tools to allow for the right
use of local talent and resources and push for greater
education, policy realignment, knowledge content creation
among others in order not to be left behind in the digital
revolution. The study argues that given the rate at
which African universities are producing IT graduates,
the continent will need 45 years to catch up with its
North American counterpart. Furthermore, IT contributes
15% to economic growth in North America while it is
a meagre 0.2% in Africa. Mr. Anjebonam attributes all
these lags to poor IT infrastructure, scarcity in human
capital, inadequate governmental policies, lack of educational
tools, political and economic insecurity and institutions
that do not respond to the challenges of the day. Ironically,
Africa imports most of its IT skills and resources while
there is a Diaspora of well trained African experts
working in North America and Europe. Policies and appropriate
environments have to be set up in order to attract members
of the Diaspora. This requires relentless efforts by
governments, NGOs and industry to present Africa as
a place open for technology and business, address political,
security and regulatory issues, develop partnerships
between public and private sector institutions within
African countries and between countries members of the
African Union (AU) and focus on training and education
through various existing programs. The study proposes
that AU and NEPAD play a major role in bringing about
these challenging changes. (Source: The Vanguard (Lagos)
,All
Africa Online service)
<<
Back to top
Morocco
May 2002
APEBI, the Moroccan
association representing Information Technology professionals,
announced early this year a partnership with the University
of El Akhawayn, to develop New Technology initiatives
of mutual interest in the following areas: continuing
education and training for the executives of APEBI company
members, the joint organization of conferences and workshops
related to new technologies, the initiation of research
and development projects, the reappraisal and elaboration
of the current IT curriculum, the use of university
students in various IT projects and the possibility
of creating a technological Park around the University.
(Source : www.apebi.org.ma)
<< Back
to top
January 2002
This month the Moroccan multimedia
association (Apebi)
announced national initiatives that should give even
greater impetus to the role of ICT in education. The
Moroccan Ministry of Education and telecommunication
provider Morocco Telecom signed an agreement in early
January to install Internet in specified primary schools
and training centres as well. This agreement comes on
the heels of an older one whereby 590 teaching establishment
were wired and provided with PC equipments. This North
African country has implemented, since 1999, an ambitious
ICT plan in the field of e-learning by connecting more
than 1000 schools and colleges and by devising student
training programs for that effect.
<< Back
to top
Tunisia
October 2003
The Multilingual Internet names consortium (MINC) is
holding its annual conference on the 25-26 October,
in Carthage, Tunisia, taking advantage of ICANN’s
own meetings October 27-31 in the same city. MINC wants
to address major multilingual and Internet governance
issues such as IDNs, Language tables and standardisation,
Internet Protocol, UDRP and many others as well. In
house working language groups from all over the world
will be participating as well. Sessions of the October
25th are set for MINC board members only and will be
closed. October 26th sessions are open to all participants.
A full program is posted and updated on the MINC website
at www.minc.org.
The Multilingual Internet Names Consortium is a non-profit,
non-governmental, international organization. It focuses
on the promotion of multilingual Internet names, including
Internet domain names and keywords, internationalization
of Internet names standards and protocols, technical
coordination and liaison with other international bodies.
It has more than 40 organizational and individual members
from all continents of the world, from industry, academia,
research, government, investors and international organisations.
<< Back
to top
August 2003
Our Tunisian member association @TIM is s holding, August
14-17, in the El Kantaoui Port, the fourth edition of
its Internet festival focused this year on the employment
opportunities provided by the new Internet medium. This
event celebrates the dynamism of the Tunisian Web community
as well as showcasing and promoting Tunisian digital
content to the public at large. Various private and
public sector organizations are taking part in the festivities
among whom L'office National du Tourisme Tunisien, L'Agence
Tunisienne d'Internet, L'Office National Des Postes,
and the Association Basma pour la promotion de l'emploi
des handicapés. The program includes workshops
on distance learning, Wi-fi usage, Voice over IP, electronic
signature, national digital content production, development
of e-commerce, multimedia training and interactive games
for young children. Three subjects for debate have been
chosen: Internet and new employment opportunities, private
sector employment initiatives and youth development
and the World Summit on the Information Society whose
second leg will take place in Tunisia in 2005. Providing
an international flavour to this event, FIAM member
association SwissMedia will also be present in the festivities.
For more information, please see www.atim.org.tn
<< Back
to top
December 2001
The Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI),
a public organization serving the promotion of Internet
and multimedia in Tunisia, is the driving force behind
Caravan, a country wide traveling Internet show, put
together for the third annual "national Internet
Week". The event which started November 21st seeks
to introduce IT and Internet to those residing in backward
rural areas and in particular the young cohorts. Tunisia
developed an ambitious digital program in the area of
online education and telemedicine and is on its way
to completing it. All the secondary educational school
system is connected and with its 400,000 internet users,
Tunisians are, comparatively speaking in Africa, are
well served by their Internet Service Providers. It
is maybe for that reason that the United Nations has
chosen this country as the second leg of its world summit
on the Information society to be held in December 2003
in Geneva and in 2005 in Tunis. Please check www.ati.tn
for more information.
<< Back
to top
South Africa
Government Technology World Africa
2 - 5 October 2006, Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa
Government Technology World Africa is the only dedicated event in Africa targeted exclusively at government, designed specifically to meet the individual needs of government buyers and decision-makers.
(www.terrapinn.com/2006/govtechza)
November 2001
The South African Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research (CSIR) has appointed a new President,
Dr. Sibusiso Sibisi, effective January 2002. Educated
in the U.K., Dr. Sibisi has worked in the field of telecommunication
technologies and as Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research
at the University of Cape Town. A strong believer in
the importance of establishing solid ties between industry
and academia, Dr. Sedisi would like to develop "a
smooth functioning of research enterprise as conventionally
understood in an academic setting, and knowledge transfer
from university to society, industry and commerce."
For more information on this appointment see www.csir.co.za.
<< Back
to top
Senegal
When the internationalization of service quality?
Observatoire des Systmes dInformations, des rseaux et des Inforoutes au Sngal (OSIRIS www.osiris.sn) issued on Jan. 31, 2007 a web editorial A quand la mondialisation de la qualit de service ? in which the author deplored the inferior service quality of telecommunication companies.
(Please read the text in www.osiris.sn).
<< Back
to top
January 2004
UNESCO should create 50 multimedia community
centres in Senegal. During the recent WSIS,
UNESCO and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
(Agence suisse pour le développement et la coopération-SDC)
have announced their intention to finance a multi-million
dollar aiming at providing access to ICT and Internet
to isolated communities of Mali, Mozambique and Senegal.
In that context, 50 Multimedia Community Centres including
radio, telephone, fax, and computers hooked to the Internet
should be created in Senegal. The project will be deployed
by UNESCO and a consortium gathering many national and
international partners among which international organisatioons,
governments, civil society, and a least one Development
Bank.
Taken from the BATIK Newsletter, no 53, December 2003
http://www.osiris.sn/article811.html
(in french only).
<< Back
to top
May 2003
OSIRIS president, Amadou Top,
discussed in a substantive interview with Ousseynou
Nar Guève from the weekly New Economist, his
outlook regarding the development of ICT in his country.
Major issues facing Senegal include setting up the newly
created telecommunications regulatory Agency ART, the
dire situation of state-owned telecommunications monopoly
Sonatel, President Abdullah Wade’s global digital
solidarity Foundation proposal, the development of e-commerce,
the government role in promoting ICT and the radical
changes brought about by media convergence. Throughout
the interview, Amadou Top emphasized the important role
of government in providing appropriate environments
and policy tools for the development of ICT at the national
level as well as more open markets for the enterprises
that seek to develop and offer technology products and
services. You can find the full text of the interview
here
(in french only).
<< Back
to top
April 2003
The United States have chosen Senegal
to launch the Digital Freedom Initiative (DFI).
DFI is a government and industry sponsored project that
promotes ‘free market based regulatory and legal
structures and placing volunteers in businesses and
community centres to provide small businesses and entrepreneurs
with the information and communications technology skills
and knowledge to operate more efficiently while competing
in the global economy’. DFI Senegal will cost
$US 6,5 millions and will be set up over a three-year
period. If successful, the pilot project will be rolled
out to a total of 20 countries in the next five years
to ‘increase business activity, develop more efficient
markets, create more jobs in the U.S. and DFI beneficiary
countries, and help establish a business friendly regulatory
framework conducive to U.S. investment and partnerships.
In Senegal, DFI will use the national network of Cyber-cafes
(200) and Tele-centres (over 10,000) in order to spread
information regarding business opportunities in the
technology field. Even the Peace Corps will be put to
contribution as the organization will train 130 laptop-equipped
volunteers. DFI is expect to help finance mostly small
business initiatives in the ICT sector. Source: Osiris
<< Back
to top
August 2002
Africa-Monde, an NGO working in the field of development,
is creating a multimedia centre in the capital city,
Dakar (Senegal) with the financial support of UNESCO's
African regional office (BREDA).
This initiative seeks to strengthen the technical capabilities,
the know-how and the means of expression of citizens
by offering adequate training and multimedia tools.
Africa-Monde is planning the creation of four additional
multimedia centres in the African continent by next
year.
<< Back
to top
May 2002
Not to be outdone, Senegal witnessed
also a similar birth with the recent creation of the
National Union of Tele-centers and Tele-services (NUTT),
an organization representing Senegalese cyber-cafés
and Internet centers. In countries where individuals
alone can hardly afford or even acquire private telephone
and Internet connections, these centers have played
a crucial role in allowing users greater access to Internet
and multimedia tools. These centers have also become
teaching schools for those interested in learning Internet
and software applications. NUTT has vowed to continue
its fight against the sole Senegalese telecommunications
provider, SONATEL, for the various financial and technological
roadblocks they continue to encounter with them. (Source
: www.osiris.sn)
<< Back
to top
March 2002
The French NGO, FISSA (Force d'intervention
sanitaire et satellitaire autoportée), in cooperation
with several public sector organizations, among which,
the French Centre national d'études spatiales
(CNES), the University of Tours (Loire Region), the
Senegalese Ministry of Health and the Senegalese Education-Health
Association, have launched a unique experiment in the
field of Tele-health, using satellites as means of communications
for the transfer of medical data and diagnosis. The
purpose of the experiment was to examine high-risk patients
living in isolated and hard to reach areas and void
of a medical clinics or hospitals. Data was transferred
using a Tele-health portable station, beamed through
satellites, to regional hospitals in the cities of Tambacounda
and Dakar. The information was then analyzed by specialists
who would establish a diagnosis and relay their findings
to the local medical technician or nurse for treatment.
The experiment is ongoing and should take on greater
scope by the end of the year as more portable stations
will be added in a larger number of isolated regions
of Senegal. For more information on this experiment
see www.cnes.fr/actualites/Les_Dossiers/telemedecine.htm.
<< Back
to top
October 2001
OSIRIS, the Senegalese Observatoire
sur les systèmes d'information, des réseaux
et les inforoutes (Africa), has launched, in early August,
a project entitled Caravan-Multimedia in partnership
with Worldspace and local governmental and business
organizations.
Objective number one : familiarize the local populations
of rural areas and smaller urban centres with Internet
and multimedia tools of all sorts. Click on
www.osiris.sn
for more details on the project.
<< Back
to top
Gabon
March 2004
An Internet Fair in Gabon. The Gabon
will host its own Internet fair from the 15th to the
21st of March. This event, which promises to bring together
all the actors of the multimedia sector in Gabon, is
organized by a non-governmental organization, The Forum
of the Friends of the Net. The originality of the project
resides in its will to meet the general public. Various
animations will be staged in different cities and target
different audiences.
The Gender and ITC section of the event, for example,
will breach the issue of women’s acces to the
Internet. The goal is to encourage women to adapt to
this tool, and to persuade them to create Web sites
dealing with subjects that concern them. Another section,
Internet and Education, aims at showing teachers how
the Internet can help them to fulfill their educational
mission.
Information: http://www.coopgabon.net/fan
<< Back
to top
|
