What is ICT?
Information and
Communications Technology or (ICT), is often used as an extended synonym for
information technology (IT), but is a more specific term that stresses the role of
unified communications and the integration of
telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), computers as well as
necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audio-visual systems,
which enable users to access, store, transmit, and manipulate information.
The term ICT is now also
used to refer to the convergence of audio-visual and telephone networks with
computer networks through a single cabling or link system. There are large
economic incentives (huge cost savings due to elimination of the telephone
network) to merge the audio-visual, building management and telephone network
with the computer network system using a single unified system of cabling,
signal distribution and management.
ICT and Internet Usage in Africa
The ICT sector has been the
major economic driver in Sub-Saharan Africa over the past decade, witnessing an
annual compounded growth rate of 40%.
Never before in the history of the continent has the population been as connected
as it is today, yet this strong ICT growth trajectory is expected to continue,
as penetration rates are still relatively low.
A key indicator in
determining access and usage is the price of service, such as for voice and
data. Pricing of voice services
in many African countries has become competitive and in line
with the rest of the world,
while broadband costs continue to be a mixed bag. However, when differences in GDP are taken
into account as compared to global benchmarks, we in Africa still pay more on a
GDP basis due to the lower GDP base.
Notably, the story of mobile
penetration across the continent is far better than the Internet. Overall, 45% of
African residents have a mobile subscription; this is more than four times the
penetration of the Internet.
Internet penetration is dominated by the traditional economic
successes in Africa. Countries like Egypt and South Africa have a very high proportion
of internet users. Kenya has also
invested heavily in an usable infrastructure. However the largest by far is that of Nigeria
where at least a proportion of the massive oil revenues has been utilized to
improve internet availability.
These countries alone have well over 50% of the internet users in
Africa, while places like the Congo or Ethiopia have a depressingly small
amount of internet users.
The potential for outsourcing
In the world economy at the
moment, one of the few growth areas is the ICT sector. It is estimated that in
the USA over the next 20 years there will be a shortfall of millions to fill
vacancies in the IT and ITC sectors. It is thus essential that other countries
take up the slack.
India and China have been
very successful in attracting ICT contracts from Europe and America. It is now
the time for Africa to seize these new business opportunities.
Africa is well positioned to
gain a growing income from Business Process Outsourcing. Not only does it have
the internet infrastructure in place but it also has the language abilities.
There is a vast pool of Africans who claim English, French and Portuguese as
their second language. There is also a sizeable community of Mandarin speakers
in Africa. These language skills will prove to be decisive in the future for
African BPO prospects.
Undersea cable projects like
SEACOM (Kenya) and Main One (Nigeria) are building more fiber optic lines to
connect Africa to the rest of the world. At the same time there has been an upsurge in
mobile phone and mobile device use in Africa. There are now in place several
companies providing e-banking, e-commerce, e-learning, e-democracy and
e-agriculture.
Another encouraging sign for
the African ICT scene is the growing number of computer manufacturers in
Africa. An increasing number of African countries make computers, software and
other applications for mobiles. The image of a hopelessly poor and lagging
continent will change as Africa begins to grab more of the global ICT business
opportunities.
In terms of education,
ambitious plans are underway to provide all school children with a laptop. This
can be achieved by cloud technology that allows computers to be built cheaply
that still perform complex and memory heavy tasks by using the ability to store
data on the cloud. It is certain that future generations of Africans will be
even more computer literate.
The rise of censorship
In Malawi, the EBill is the piece of legislation that enables the
goverment to control access to the internet by individuals. In true Big Brother
style, the state is appointing cyber- inspectors to monitor and inspect online
activities. Move over to Zambia and it’s a similar story, again using the pretext of blocking
hate speech, although this is normally considered to be restricted to that
speech directed at the rulers of the country. It is a very big job especially
now with the introduction of cheaper smart mobile phones with internet
capability. Africans love their phones and for many it’s their first experience of the internet in their
daily lives.
Where there has been censorship, there has been a huge increase in
the amount of security-enabled programs being used in these countries to bypass
and protect the monitoring. However it’s
also entertainment that is encouraging the use of proxies and VPNs to be used.
For example a UK based VPN or proxy server can allow the user to watch British
TV from a phone, laptop or mobile device. The cost is fairly low for these
services although still expensive for most Africans.
The Internet Gives Hope to African Entrepreneurs
It is not easy starting up a business in Africa, but hopefully the
internet will start to make that easier. One of the biggest problems in Africa
is the lack of infrastructure both physical and intellectual.
In brief, some of the key
benefits of ICT in Africa over the years include:
·
New job opportunities
·
Improved communication systems
·
Increased market connectivity,
particularly with mobile technologies
Some of the major
challenges in ICT’s development in Africa are:
·
Inadequate electric power
·
Unevenly distributed internet access, including last-mile issues
·
Shortage of skilled, qualified ICT personnel
-
Weak or backward university curriculum
·
Funding/sponsorship gaps requiring urgent attention
Finally, some key actions that
would develop ICT in Africa include:
·
Reducing the cost of access for mobile and broadband
-
Improving the regulatory and competitive environments for
operators
-
Better coordination in developing the infrastructure
-
Resolve spectrum constraints to free up access for additional
players
-
Government commitment to increasing ICT access
-
Lower taxation of ICT equipment
·
Collaboration by key stakeholders, including government,
private-sector and universities
·
Training and capacity-building
Based on the February 2012 ICT Competitiveness in Africa report by Javier
Ewing, Nicolas Chevrollier, Maryanna Quigless, Thomas Verghese, and Matthijs
Leenderste.
The three authors are
students in Telecommunications Engineering at Bells University of Technology,
Ogun State. They prepared this paper
under my supervision for the course CEN 302: Introduction to ICT.
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