Retrieved from Allafrica News
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Business Day (Johannesburg)

Opinion
By Yvonne Muthien
May 17, 2002 
Posted to the web May 17, 2002 

Johannesburg 

TODAY is World Telecommunication Day, an event to commemorate the founding of the United Nations' International Telecommunications Union in Paris in 1865. This year's theme Information and communication technologies for all: empowering people to cross the digital divide gives us an opportunity to reflect on the situation in Africa.

Developed countries and developed regions of our country are organised around communication processes, where almost all realms of human activity depend on information communication technologies. However, there are disparities regarding access to and use of this technology. This is the well-known discourse of the digital divide. Countries or regions without access to this technology are at a considerable disadvantage. Bridging the digital divide is imperative to ensuring that the marginalised benefit from the knowledge-based economy.

According to The New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), integration of this technology constitutes one of the six sectoral priorities identified as crucial to "eradicating poverty in Africa and placing African countries on a path to sustainable growth and development". The technology can have a positive effect on achieving social and economic development goals as well as play a key role in national development strategies. The real benefits lie not in the provision of technology per se, but rather in its application to create powerful social and economic networks. To have a real effect, the introduction of such facilities and services must be done as an integral part of a crosssectoral, multidisciplinary effort of community development.

On-the-ground initiatives to bridge the digital divide include:

Infrastructure providers projects that involve the positioning of wires, mobile receivers, satellites, and the hardware required for telecoms.
Physical access providers projects that connect people to the internet (and provide the associated tools) once the infrastructure is in place.

Telecentres shared facilities usually providing a focal point for community use of basic telephony and other information services.

Mobile communications have undoubtedly become the most effective means of ensuring universal access to telecommunications. This has decreased the pressure on fixed-line operators to meet societal demands for access. In developing countries where fixed-line access is traditionally concentrated in urban areas, mobile networks have made significant inroads in increasing coverage in rural and underdeveloped areas. This has resulted in increased teledensity in these locations. Not only are mobile networks easier and faster to build, mobile telecoms allow for prepaid billing, which is better suited to lowincome subscribers.

According to the union, growth of mobile networks has gone from serving less than 1% of the world's population in 1991 to 15% last year, largely in part to consumer demand for access. The next step for mobile operators, particularly in developing countries, is to replicate the success of voice services with data services.

Let us use the technology appropriately as a powerful tool to improve the quality of life in Africa.