IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

This is just a sampling of the exciting age of technological innovation that is opening up in Africa. But developing information and communication technology (ICT) is posing a huge challenge – in Nigeria, growth is so fast that networks can barely cope, and poor connectivity and congested lines are frequent problems. Across the continent, there is a huge backlog in the provision of broadband Internet.

Over 1500 delegates attended the first day of the Summit. Welcoming participants, Ambassador Valentine Rugwabiza, CEO of Rwanda's Development Board reflecting on the progress Africa has made in ICT. She called on participants to focus on what ICT could do to impact the lives of Africans. "It's not only about our resources, but our people. This has to be the future delivered for Africans."

The leaders' session began with a demonstration of the difference in speed between 4G LTE and a 3G network; the 4G reached 90mbps while the 3G was still at 0.5mpbs. The difference, according to Rwanda's Minister of Youth and ICT, would allow students to livestream classes therefore being directly beneficial to students education and countries' development.

A working group has proposed pilot projects to deliver information and communication technologies (ICT) to sub-Saharan Africa in order to improve healthcare systems.

At a meeting in Gaborone, Botswana earlier this month (1 March), the Telemedicine Task Force reviewed ICT for health in the region.

On Tuesday, up to 1000 delegates concluded the high-powered summit meant to set a faster tone to broadband infrastructure and strengthen connectivity for Africa. The Summit also sets out to meet the World Summit on the Information Society goals for capacity building, establishing an enabling environment for investment, and e-government services.

The Director made this observation at the end of a conference held on Thursday in Acrra. The conference had the theme: “International Development-African led Solutions”

Gosier said: “While the young show a lot of interest in ICT, with many of them being conversant with it, the elderly do not appear to be all that keen to learn ICT.”

Rwanda's government will use the money to establish the country's national capacity to provide broadband connectivity and access to low-cost international bandwidth.

One interesting theme took centre stage during panel discussions at the recently concluded World Economic Forum on Africa in Rwanda; that what the continent needs as much as roads, dams, power plants (although there is still more development required) is a way to embrace technology and infuse digital transformation in all sectors.

It was interesting because when questions such as "how can we diversify our economies" and "how can we improve efficiency" or "how do we prepare our young generations to have jobs" were asked, the answer from a lot of different players including politicians, think tanks, investment organisations and the private sector was the same; embrace the "3rd industrial revolution"; the digital transformation revolution.

The Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN body, Dr Hamadoun Toure, said ensuring adequate protection for the Eastern African Sub-Marine Cable System (EASSY), aimed at linking Africa, was key to its success.

Following from the release of the South African matriculation (matric) examination results yesterday, the organisers of the event said the current quality of education is questionable, and both teaching and learning methods need to be reassessed.

Leaders in ICT development in Africa today joined some 130 stakeholders in Maputo at the 4th annual e-Governance Africa Forum organised by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) in collaboration with Mozambique’s Ministry of Science and Technology, to propose solutions to the numerous challenges facing African governments in their efforts to develop and deploy information and communications technologies to improve government service delivery, build capacity and skill sets, and ensure citizen empowerment.

This came out of the ongoing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Africa conference in Harare this week.

African countries have seen decades of imposed structural adjustment policies that have failed to raise industrialisation levels on the continent.

With a first close of $145 million, it is one of the largest African based infrastructure funds, notwithstanding its single sector focus.

CPCIF, which has a targeted final close of $250 million, aims to invest in communications infrastructure and related services and technologies across sub-Saharan Africa. It expects to generate significant returns for investors, while also enabling ICT- driven socio-economic development.

The 5th annual e-Governance Africa Forum, attended by some 150 delegates from twenty countries spread across the world, especially Africa, ended today in Yaoundé, Cameroon, with both public and private sector stakeholders resolving to intensify all efforts to improve governance and service delivery through the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs). Organised by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), and hosted by the Government of Cameroon through its Ministry of Posts and Telecoms and the Telecommunications Regulatory Board (TRB), the conference was under the theme “Governance, Service Delivery and Democracy through the use of ICTs”.

A critical mass of countries are signing on to a plan for India to invest 1bn in the Pan-African e-Network satellite project, a joint initiative with the Africa Union aimed at developing the region’s ICT infrastructure.

The African Union last year entered into an agreement that calls for the Indian government to supply funds for the project. The Indian government will finance the project over a period of five years through a grant to the African Union. Ethiopia for example, has been given a grant of2,13m from India for the project.

The African Union last year entered into an agreement that calls for the Indian government to supply funds for the project. The Indian government will finance the project over a period of five years through a grant to the African Union. Ethiopia for example, has been given a grant of US$2.13 million from India for the project.

"The Africans are using their mobile phones in a very entrepreneurial way, because it's their lifeline, and small businesses depend on them," said Pertti Johansson, president Middle East and Africa region at Qualcomm.

The first service Johansson mentioned is mobile payments and transfers. M-PESA ("M" for "mobile" and "PESA," the Swahili word for "money") in Kenya is the most famous such system in Africa, with about 2 million users a year after its launch.