Can Africa Bridge the Digital Divide?

"Africa is [the] least served [continent] by Telecommunications and Information Technology services," says the draft report of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) summit held last week in Kampala. The summit was held to decide what Africa wants the G8 summit to do for her. The figures are disheartening. The main landlines are 18 per 1,000 people compared to the world average of 146 per 1,000. Developed countries average 567 per 1,000. For each phone line in Africa, there are 55 five people queuing to call. Africa has made a headway in the information technology but not fast enough to bridge the digital divide. "The absorption of resources by internal and continental conflicts, [has] in effect [caused] transfer of our limited resources to the countries that produce arms," said Dr. F.F Tusubira, the Director, Information Communications Technology (ICT), Makerere University while presenting a paper at the conference. Compounding the problem, he said, is a "lack of appreciation by Africa's leaders of the benefits of ICT and the income disparities from Africa's trade imbalances. Dr Tusubira said that the digital divide brings to mind two worlds. In one, there is the immediate access to information-based commercial opportunities and transactions. In the other, there is very limited or no access to information. But there might be hope, he said. The Rural Communications Development Fund will provide an Internet point in every district. The project, funded by a contribution of one percent of earnings by Uganda Telecom, MTN Uganda and Celtel will also support schools and communication kiosks in rural areas. This money will be used to subsidise those who want to extend services into rural areas. "This is a project that will succeed. It is not based on hope and idealistic thinking but hard facts and commercial reality," Dr. Tusubira said. When Uganda enacted the Communications Act in 1996, the target was to increase tele-density from 0.28 lines per 100 people in 1996 to two phone lines per 100 persons this year. Six years later, that target has almost been achieved. "Tele-density, for example, is currently about 1.8 lines per 100 people," he said. That is, including mobile phones. According to figures from Uganda Communications Commission, last January, Uganda Telecom had 61,000 fixed lines, while MTN had 5,995. The three firms had 322,739 mobile lines. For 23 million people, this still means that there is one phone line for each 55 Ugandans. In any case, even where there has been improvement in phone access, the prices have remained high. In 1999, said Sammy Kyungu, Kenya's Transport and Communications Permanent Secretary, the telephone average cost (land lines) was $0.2 (Shs360) per three minutes in Uganda, while it was the equivalent of Shs180 per three minutes in Kenya and Tanzania. Kenya's rates are the same as the world average. Information technology in Uganda was by early 2000, the most expensive in East Africa. The poor infrastructure, weak regulatory framework and limited human resources, has resulted in inadequate access to affordable telephones, broadcasting services, computers and the internet all over Africa.

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