Thursday, May 06, 2004
Nepad finding its feelers in the ICT worldBy Haru Mutasa
Here is a true story Samer Halawi, the Middle East and Africa director of Inmarsat, told delegates at the sixth International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom Africa conference in Cairo Egypt.
"For a long time two remote schools in Lebanon were not exposed to the benefits of the Internet," he began, "This had negative effects on learning. Many of them left high schools without ever being introduced to the benefits of the Internet.
"Then through an initiative organized by Inmarsat, and created to promote development in impoverished areas, computers and Internet facilities were donated to the schools and opened up a whole new world for them.
"After just a few months teachers began to notice remarkable improvements in their children's' reading, writing and grasp of the English language."
As in Lebanon, Inmarsat has come to Africa and is one of many projects working with the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) to accelerate development in Africa.
"About 70 per cent of the world's poor live in rural areas and suffer from what is known as Information poverty - the lack of knowledge because of a lack of ICT infrastructure," said Hawali.
But Nepad is not just about forming partnerships with donor agencies - African states, like Egypt, have also taken the initiative to improve development in their respective countries.
"Nepad is not just about ICTs, but development," said Raafat Radwan of the UN ICT Task Force, "That is what the Information and Decision Support Centre for Cabinet Ministers (IDSC) is all about. It uses ICTs to achieve Nepad's objectives."
Established in 1985 the IDSC is a think tank working under the Egyptian Prime Minister to accelerate socio-political development in Egypt. An area of particular concern is ensuring democratic conditions during elections. This has not been easy due to ghosts who periodically pay unexpected visits from the after life.
"The dead usually come to life when it is voting time," said Radwan, "It is a problem we have always had. We need to effectively use ICTs to sort out our national ID process using effective databases."
Discussing ways on how to use ICTs to achieve Nepad objectives delegates at Telecom Africa 2004 agreed to place more emphasis on the technologies present to reach Nepad's objectives.
"Africa is a frontrunner in wireless expansion so let's build on this to reach Nepad's objectives," said Rami Majzoubi Lebanese ICT specialist, "The ball is in Africa's camp - it is now up to Africa to return it."
It is not all smooth sailing and Nepad leaders were reminded that well thought out implementation policies need to be put in place for anything to work.
"Without implementation Africa will lose a glass opportunity for repartnership of African states," said Effat El-Shooky, Vice President of Regional Information Technology and Software Engineering Centre in Egypt.
Wise words which hopefully Nepad leaders will take to task.
==========================
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Here is a true story Samer Halawi, the Middle East and Africa director of Inmarsat, told delegates at the sixth International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom Africa conference in Cairo Egypt.
"For a long time two remote schools in Lebanon were not exposed to the benefits of the Internet," he began, "This had negative effects on learning. Many of them left high schools without ever being introduced to the benefits of the Internet.
"Then through an initiative organized by Inmarsat, and created to promote development in impoverished areas, computers and Internet facilities were donated to the schools and opened up a whole new world for them.
"After just a few months teachers began to notice remarkable improvements in their children's' reading, writing and grasp of the English language."
As in Lebanon, Inmarsat has come to Africa and is one of many projects working with the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) to accelerate development in Africa.
"About 70 per cent of the world's poor live in rural areas and suffer from what is known as Information poverty - the lack of knowledge because of a lack of ICT infrastructure," said Hawali.
But Nepad is not just about forming partnerships with donor agencies - African states, like Egypt, have also taken the initiative to improve development in their respective countries.
"Nepad is not just about ICTs, but development," said Raafat Radwan of the UN ICT Task Force, "That is what the Information and Decision Support Centre for Cabinet Ministers (IDSC) is all about. It uses ICTs to achieve Nepad's objectives."
Established in 1985 the IDSC is a think tank working under the Egyptian Prime Minister to accelerate socio-political development in Egypt. An area of particular concern is ensuring democratic conditions during elections. This has not been easy due to ghosts who periodically pay unexpected visits from the after life.
"The dead usually come to life when it is voting time," said Radwan, "It is a problem we have always had. We need to effectively use ICTs to sort out our national ID process using effective databases."
Discussing ways on how to use ICTs to achieve Nepad objectives delegates at Telecom Africa 2004 agreed to place more emphasis on the technologies present to reach Nepad's objectives.
"Africa is a frontrunner in wireless expansion so let's build on this to reach Nepad's objectives," said Rami Majzoubi Lebanese ICT specialist, "The ball is in Africa's camp - it is now up to Africa to return it."
It is not all smooth sailing and Nepad leaders were reminded that well thought out implementation policies need to be put in place for anything to work.
"Without implementation Africa will lose a glass opportunity for repartnership of African states," said Effat El-Shooky, Vice President of Regional Information Technology and Software Engineering Centre in Egypt.
Wise words which hopefully Nepad leaders will take to task.
==========================
French multi-national commits to Africa
Steven Lang, Cairo
French telephone network company, Alcatel, has one of the largest exhibitions at the Telecom Africa 2004 conference in Cairo. The stand is plastered with its continental slogan "Let's connect Africa" and the company made a special effort to court the press and convince reporters that it is truly committed to Africa.
Alcatel's commitment is not at all surprising, and it is not the first multi-national at the Telecom Africa conference to declare allegiance to the development of information technology in Africa – the continent currently boasts the highest telephony growth rate in the world.
As most business people know, the best time to carve out market share is when that very market is experiencing a growth spurt. Alcatel, Nortel, Vodafone, Orascom, Samsung and Ericssons are among the many multi-nationals competing for a chunk of the burgeoning African markets. One third of the participants at Telecom Africa are not from Africa.
At a news conference, Vincenzo Nesci, chairman of Alcatel Egypt declared unequivocally, “For Alacatel, Africa is strategic territory” he then outlined several projects involving his company on the continent.
He cited Alcatel as a partner in the new generation of the Sea-Me-We submarine cable network. The project will deliver a new terabit cable linking 14 countries from France to Singapore via Italy, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia.
The new, 20 000km cable is expected to support 32 times the capacity of the previous Sea-Me-We 3 cable.
Souheil Marine, Alcatel's business development manager for Africa, Middle East and South Asia said, "ICT must be a tool for social and economic development – this is the only way to bridge the digital divide."
Marine also stressed the importance of the profit motive in development, saying that all attempts at universal access to ICTs have failed unless they have a sound business model.
He said, “Universal service will only become a reality if it is profitable.
We need a valid business model to make it profitable"
He cited a case study in Senegal where a team of people visit the fruit and vegetable markets every morning. They note the latest prices for each product and then post the quotes on a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) platform. Farmers in the remotest parts of the country use their cell phones to access the latest prices and can then take an informed business decision on whether to take their crops to market or not.
In this particular case everyone profits from the innovative use of ICTs. The farmer is better equipped to make critical decisions, and the cell phone service provider is happy because more farmers are now using their phones for different reasons.
Marine also mentioned an excellent example of how mobile technology can be used for social development. In this case, also in Senegal, in a huge area where 30 000 children have access to only one paediatrician, helpers collect the weight of babies twice a week. The helpers use cell phones to send the results to a central hospital where the paediatrician works and where the weight of each child can be closely monitored.
If the weight of any individual child appears to deviate from the acceptable norms, then the mother of that child can be asked to bring the child in for a full check up.
Nesci responded to suggestions that the newly found interest in Africa could be seen as an opportunistic new form of imperialism. He said that his company had adopted a "pro-active approach to attract local partners". Nesci said that Alcatel has teamed up with a number of local partners to develop the "Alcatel Digital Bridge" initiative to, "act as incubators to help local people design solutions for the local populations."
==========================
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Steven Lang, Cairo
French telephone network company, Alcatel, has one of the largest exhibitions at the Telecom Africa 2004 conference in Cairo. The stand is plastered with its continental slogan "Let's connect Africa" and the company made a special effort to court the press and convince reporters that it is truly committed to Africa.
Alcatel's commitment is not at all surprising, and it is not the first multi-national at the Telecom Africa conference to declare allegiance to the development of information technology in Africa – the continent currently boasts the highest telephony growth rate in the world.
As most business people know, the best time to carve out market share is when that very market is experiencing a growth spurt. Alcatel, Nortel, Vodafone, Orascom, Samsung and Ericssons are among the many multi-nationals competing for a chunk of the burgeoning African markets. One third of the participants at Telecom Africa are not from Africa.
At a news conference, Vincenzo Nesci, chairman of Alcatel Egypt declared unequivocally, “For Alacatel, Africa is strategic territory” he then outlined several projects involving his company on the continent.
He cited Alcatel as a partner in the new generation of the Sea-Me-We submarine cable network. The project will deliver a new terabit cable linking 14 countries from France to Singapore via Italy, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia.
The new, 20 000km cable is expected to support 32 times the capacity of the previous Sea-Me-We 3 cable.
Souheil Marine, Alcatel's business development manager for Africa, Middle East and South Asia said, "ICT must be a tool for social and economic development – this is the only way to bridge the digital divide."
Marine also stressed the importance of the profit motive in development, saying that all attempts at universal access to ICTs have failed unless they have a sound business model.
He said, “Universal service will only become a reality if it is profitable.
We need a valid business model to make it profitable"
He cited a case study in Senegal where a team of people visit the fruit and vegetable markets every morning. They note the latest prices for each product and then post the quotes on a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) platform. Farmers in the remotest parts of the country use their cell phones to access the latest prices and can then take an informed business decision on whether to take their crops to market or not.
In this particular case everyone profits from the innovative use of ICTs. The farmer is better equipped to make critical decisions, and the cell phone service provider is happy because more farmers are now using their phones for different reasons.
Marine also mentioned an excellent example of how mobile technology can be used for social development. In this case, also in Senegal, in a huge area where 30 000 children have access to only one paediatrician, helpers collect the weight of babies twice a week. The helpers use cell phones to send the results to a central hospital where the paediatrician works and where the weight of each child can be closely monitored.
If the weight of any individual child appears to deviate from the acceptable norms, then the mother of that child can be asked to bring the child in for a full check up.
Nesci responded to suggestions that the newly found interest in Africa could be seen as an opportunistic new form of imperialism. He said that his company had adopted a "pro-active approach to attract local partners". Nesci said that Alcatel has teamed up with a number of local partners to develop the "Alcatel Digital Bridge" initiative to, "act as incubators to help local people design solutions for the local populations."
==========================
Keeping local traffic local
By Haru Mutasa
Somewhere on the African continent someone has just sent an email to a friend. The message embarks on a long journey out of Africa to the United States and back again to Africa where it finally reaches his friend – who is only just next door!
Not only is this process time consuming, it comes at a hefty price.
"Africa pays around $US500 million a year to send traffic out of the continent," said Russell Southwood, CEO of Balancing Act in the United Kingdom, "and the whole point of Internet exchange points are that they help keep local traffic local."
Desire Karyabwite, an IP coordinator for the E-strategy Unit gave one potential solution to Africa's dilemma, "We need to establish institutions at national and regional levels to keep traffic local and reduce international traffic and related costs. What we need is Interconnectivity."
He said the challenges of interconnectivity include, amongst others, cost of maintenance, administration and equipment.
"There are two types of interconnectivity African countries can opt for to keep local traffic local. These are peering and transit," said Karyabwite, "In peering Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide interconnectivity to each others customers," he explained, "but in transit, one ISP sells access to all destinations in its routings.
"The best option is peering because it is more cost effective on ISPs when they share equipment and bandwidth amongst themselves. Therefore one saves money, time and the quality is even better."
For all this to work Karyabwite said African states need to develop clear interconnectivity policies. "We have to change our mentality to make his a reality," he said, "We have to outline issues such as payment of fees, connection agreements and termination contracts. Other issues that have to be considered include security as well as hardware and soft ware requirements."
With already nine (Internet Exchange Points) IXPs on the continent Brian Longwe, general manager of African ISP Association said the winds of change have begun blowing across Africa.
"IXPs are a revolution that will hopefully sweep across this continent and unite Africa," he said optimistically, "If we think of the Internet as a physical structure then IXPs are the building blocks for the Internet."
The whole process is not as expensive as some people might think.
"It is not that expensive to set up an exchange point, in fact the socio-political cost is where the hidden costs lie," he explained, "It is all too often about the people behind these processes. They have to start trusting each other to cooperate. It is a step in maturity and leaving competitive issues at the door."
Six of the nine IXPs were set up in the last two years, a situation Longwe said he was not too happy about. "This is really a deplorable state of affairs in Africa. We have a lot of work to do and our work is cut out for us," he encouraged delegates at the sixth International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom Africa conference in Cairo Egypt, "Already an African Internet Exchange Task Force has been set up to establish up to 30 IXPs over the next three years."
The success of the task force could mean an exciting beginning for African Internet users and give a new meaning to keeping local traffic local.
==========================
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By Haru Mutasa
Somewhere on the African continent someone has just sent an email to a friend. The message embarks on a long journey out of Africa to the United States and back again to Africa where it finally reaches his friend – who is only just next door!
Not only is this process time consuming, it comes at a hefty price.
"Africa pays around $US500 million a year to send traffic out of the continent," said Russell Southwood, CEO of Balancing Act in the United Kingdom, "and the whole point of Internet exchange points are that they help keep local traffic local."
Desire Karyabwite, an IP coordinator for the E-strategy Unit gave one potential solution to Africa's dilemma, "We need to establish institutions at national and regional levels to keep traffic local and reduce international traffic and related costs. What we need is Interconnectivity."
He said the challenges of interconnectivity include, amongst others, cost of maintenance, administration and equipment.
"There are two types of interconnectivity African countries can opt for to keep local traffic local. These are peering and transit," said Karyabwite, "In peering Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide interconnectivity to each others customers," he explained, "but in transit, one ISP sells access to all destinations in its routings.
"The best option is peering because it is more cost effective on ISPs when they share equipment and bandwidth amongst themselves. Therefore one saves money, time and the quality is even better."
For all this to work Karyabwite said African states need to develop clear interconnectivity policies. "We have to change our mentality to make his a reality," he said, "We have to outline issues such as payment of fees, connection agreements and termination contracts. Other issues that have to be considered include security as well as hardware and soft ware requirements."
With already nine (Internet Exchange Points) IXPs on the continent Brian Longwe, general manager of African ISP Association said the winds of change have begun blowing across Africa.
"IXPs are a revolution that will hopefully sweep across this continent and unite Africa," he said optimistically, "If we think of the Internet as a physical structure then IXPs are the building blocks for the Internet."
The whole process is not as expensive as some people might think.
"It is not that expensive to set up an exchange point, in fact the socio-political cost is where the hidden costs lie," he explained, "It is all too often about the people behind these processes. They have to start trusting each other to cooperate. It is a step in maturity and leaving competitive issues at the door."
Six of the nine IXPs were set up in the last two years, a situation Longwe said he was not too happy about. "This is really a deplorable state of affairs in Africa. We have a lot of work to do and our work is cut out for us," he encouraged delegates at the sixth International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom Africa conference in Cairo Egypt, "Already an African Internet Exchange Task Force has been set up to establish up to 30 IXPs over the next three years."
The success of the task force could mean an exciting beginning for African Internet users and give a new meaning to keeping local traffic local.
==========================
Fixed line phones will be a fixture of the future – via the airwaves
By Guy Berger
Highway Africa News Agency
Fixed line telecoms services are far from dead, says Telkom’s Reuben September, responding to a report released by the International Telecommunications Union at the Africa Telecoms conference in Cairo.
September’s message is what the South African would say. After all, he is Chief Technical Officer of the continent’s biggest fixed line operator.
But September also approaches the subject from a wider point of view. “We shouldn’t talk about separate worlds of fixed and mobile, but about how they complement and connect with each other,” he told Highway Africa News Agency in an interview in Cairo.
“We need to merge these two worlds.”
The ITU report released at the conference hails the revolution in cellular telephony which at the end of 2003 saw almost 52 million African subscribers – double the number of fixed line phone connections.
“For most Africans mobile is the only form of telephone communications they know and may ever know,” says the report.
Reflecting on this, a headline in the document asks whether this development signals “the death of the fixed line?”. The likely future scenario, the report argues, is wireless.
For Telkom’s September, as for Mark Twain, this is a case of a death notice being somewhat exaggerated.
Firstly, September observes that the significant mobile growth requires a huge demand in network backbone infrastructure – which, he argues, is best provided via a fixed network. “This underlines the complementary nature of mobile and fixed networks.”
Secondly, “if you see GSM mobile as the only way forward, you are limiting Africans to connection rates at narrow bandwidth only,” says the Telkom executive. That rate does not give a user internet-access.
The Telkom CTO concedes, however, that cellular has forged ahead in part because many fixed line services have lagged behind in competing:
* An example is in being slow to offer the kind of pre-paid models that have been so successful in expanding the mobile market (although September excepts his own company from this criticism).
* Fixed line foot-dragging has been evident in weak promotion of applications like sms sending from fixed line phones.
* A third instance is how fixed liners have failed to offer users electronic address directories on handsets that could give users the same convenience they get from this facility when they use a cell phone.
But even if fixed line operators filled in these gaps, is there still life in their lines? Especially, noting that the ITU report says that fixed advantages like lower charges and faster data speeds are fast disappearing?
“People wrote off copper lines,” recalls September, “until ADSL gave us broadband scope through copper.” He also points out that there is huge investment in undersea trans-continental cables, which will continue to play a major role in a global patchwork of interconnecting technologies.
In short, he states, cables will be important for a long time yet.
September also puts his finger on an important distinction that could be clearer in the ITU report. This is that the term “fixed line” should not be counterposed to “wireless” as if the two were mutually exclusive. The point is that fixed lines can run on wireless systems. This means that matters “mobile” are not synonymous with matters “wireless”.
An example of “fixed wireless” is Telkom’s wireless DECT technology, which it has used to provide fixed line phone connections in many of South Africa’s informal settlements.
September acknowledges that DECT, with its low speeds, does not allow migration to the faster connections needed for anything beyond voice services. But the DECT version of fixed wireless is now being superceded by a new generation of fixed wireless links that are carried on the airwaves through systems like Wifi and Wimax.
As the ITU report notes, these technologies are cheaper to install than cable. Wifi reaches an area of a 100 metres, while WiMax has a span of about 30 km.
In future, much of Telkom’s DECT infrastructure such as poles erected for transmitters could be recycled as infrastructure for new “overlay” technologies like these, says September.
He recognises that Wifi and Wimax are limited in that they allow only restricted mobility - that is, within the area of their particular cells internal connectivity. But the Telkom executive believes this is not a major problem as he sees people as mainly utilising high bandwidth when they are stationary.
In the long term, says September, there could be interconnections between different fixed wireless cells - which would allow for a seamless flow on their Internet Protocol technologies across, for example, a whole country.
Till then, he says, the critical challenge is how to ensure that fixed wireless systems interconnect well with other systems.
September foresees fixed wireless connections, for example such as those within a small town, connecting on its edges to a global network through a range of other technologies and switches.
These other technologies could be through fixed line cable, mobile GSM, satellite or other methods. Some of these like GSM are limited to carrying mainly voice; the others are capable of multimedia.
The challenge for fixed line operators is to promote a world of interconnection and applications, says September.
Parts of the ITU report he disagrees with do in fact echo some of September’s points. For example, it says that fixed wireless systems now account for approximately a third of fixed phone lines installed in Nigeria.
Concluding the interview, September underlines his view of complementarities between fixed and mobile technologies. Whilst mobile provides good narrow-band access, fixed networks are better suited for broadband requirements, he states.
And, he adds, over time the distinction between the two will blur.
The significance of all this? There’s still a future for fixed lines that run through wires, and there’s especially a future for fixed lines that start doing the fancy footwork of wireless systems.
Until the next new technology comes along …
==========================
Highway Africa reports from Cairo are made possible with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Editorial decisions are solely the responsibility of Highway Africa.
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By Guy Berger
Highway Africa News Agency
Fixed line telecoms services are far from dead, says Telkom’s Reuben September, responding to a report released by the International Telecommunications Union at the Africa Telecoms conference in Cairo.
September’s message is what the South African would say. After all, he is Chief Technical Officer of the continent’s biggest fixed line operator.
But September also approaches the subject from a wider point of view. “We shouldn’t talk about separate worlds of fixed and mobile, but about how they complement and connect with each other,” he told Highway Africa News Agency in an interview in Cairo.
“We need to merge these two worlds.”
The ITU report released at the conference hails the revolution in cellular telephony which at the end of 2003 saw almost 52 million African subscribers – double the number of fixed line phone connections.
“For most Africans mobile is the only form of telephone communications they know and may ever know,” says the report.
Reflecting on this, a headline in the document asks whether this development signals “the death of the fixed line?”. The likely future scenario, the report argues, is wireless.
For Telkom’s September, as for Mark Twain, this is a case of a death notice being somewhat exaggerated.
Firstly, September observes that the significant mobile growth requires a huge demand in network backbone infrastructure – which, he argues, is best provided via a fixed network. “This underlines the complementary nature of mobile and fixed networks.”
Secondly, “if you see GSM mobile as the only way forward, you are limiting Africans to connection rates at narrow bandwidth only,” says the Telkom executive. That rate does not give a user internet-access.
The Telkom CTO concedes, however, that cellular has forged ahead in part because many fixed line services have lagged behind in competing:
* An example is in being slow to offer the kind of pre-paid models that have been so successful in expanding the mobile market (although September excepts his own company from this criticism).
* Fixed line foot-dragging has been evident in weak promotion of applications like sms sending from fixed line phones.
* A third instance is how fixed liners have failed to offer users electronic address directories on handsets that could give users the same convenience they get from this facility when they use a cell phone.
But even if fixed line operators filled in these gaps, is there still life in their lines? Especially, noting that the ITU report says that fixed advantages like lower charges and faster data speeds are fast disappearing?
“People wrote off copper lines,” recalls September, “until ADSL gave us broadband scope through copper.” He also points out that there is huge investment in undersea trans-continental cables, which will continue to play a major role in a global patchwork of interconnecting technologies.
In short, he states, cables will be important for a long time yet.
September also puts his finger on an important distinction that could be clearer in the ITU report. This is that the term “fixed line” should not be counterposed to “wireless” as if the two were mutually exclusive. The point is that fixed lines can run on wireless systems. This means that matters “mobile” are not synonymous with matters “wireless”.
An example of “fixed wireless” is Telkom’s wireless DECT technology, which it has used to provide fixed line phone connections in many of South Africa’s informal settlements.
September acknowledges that DECT, with its low speeds, does not allow migration to the faster connections needed for anything beyond voice services. But the DECT version of fixed wireless is now being superceded by a new generation of fixed wireless links that are carried on the airwaves through systems like Wifi and Wimax.
As the ITU report notes, these technologies are cheaper to install than cable. Wifi reaches an area of a 100 metres, while WiMax has a span of about 30 km.
In future, much of Telkom’s DECT infrastructure such as poles erected for transmitters could be recycled as infrastructure for new “overlay” technologies like these, says September.
He recognises that Wifi and Wimax are limited in that they allow only restricted mobility - that is, within the area of their particular cells internal connectivity. But the Telkom executive believes this is not a major problem as he sees people as mainly utilising high bandwidth when they are stationary.
In the long term, says September, there could be interconnections between different fixed wireless cells - which would allow for a seamless flow on their Internet Protocol technologies across, for example, a whole country.
Till then, he says, the critical challenge is how to ensure that fixed wireless systems interconnect well with other systems.
September foresees fixed wireless connections, for example such as those within a small town, connecting on its edges to a global network through a range of other technologies and switches.
These other technologies could be through fixed line cable, mobile GSM, satellite or other methods. Some of these like GSM are limited to carrying mainly voice; the others are capable of multimedia.
The challenge for fixed line operators is to promote a world of interconnection and applications, says September.
Parts of the ITU report he disagrees with do in fact echo some of September’s points. For example, it says that fixed wireless systems now account for approximately a third of fixed phone lines installed in Nigeria.
Concluding the interview, September underlines his view of complementarities between fixed and mobile technologies. Whilst mobile provides good narrow-band access, fixed networks are better suited for broadband requirements, he states.
And, he adds, over time the distinction between the two will blur.
The significance of all this? There’s still a future for fixed lines that run through wires, and there’s especially a future for fixed lines that start doing the fancy footwork of wireless systems.
Until the next new technology comes along …
==========================
Highway Africa reports from Cairo are made possible with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Editorial decisions are solely the responsibility of Highway Africa.
Rwanda to Slash Public Sector
By Thrishni Subramoney
Rwandan Energy and Communications Minister, Sam Nkusi says his country's
government aims to slash sixty percent of its public service.
"I have 350 people working at in my department right now, when I go home, I
will have eighteen," said Rwandan Energy and Communications Minister, Sam
Nkusi, speaking at the Telecom Africa 2004 conference in Cairo, Egypt.
Addressing a plenary session on information technology development case
studies, Nkusi described Rwanda's public sector as being "bloated". He
mentioned the move as part Rwanda's plans to streamline it's services so
that it provide new services like ICTs.
"You guys probably don't even know about it," he said gesturing towards a
group of fellow Rwandans in the audience, "We don't just want to get rid of
people. We're going to de-centralize and in that way, make them work."
Nkusi says the aim is to create autonomous institutions, and put people into
those, in the effort to take a burden away from government.
The minister from the central African country says the ICTs have been
prioritized as "an engine" for the country's economic growth. However, he
lamented the fact that investment was hard to come by.
"When you have an ugly past of genocide, we are trying to transform our
society from being agri-based to knowledge-based, and we have to work really
hard to sweet talk investors," he said, provoking laughter from the
audience.
He laughingly recalls when South African based mobile network, MTN
considered investing in the country and wanted to know the GDP per capita.
"Right after the war, our people weren't even using banks," he says shaking
his head, "You could tell if someone was wealthy or not by the way they got
up in the morning, if they shook their heads like this (he shakes his head
from side to side), you knew they were rich because they had a lot of money
under their pillow!"
Seemingly a lone voice at this conference, on the subject, Nkusi adds that
his government is not prepared to rely too much on the public sector because
there was little point in introducing services that Rwandans couldn't
afford.
Despite a long term plan of being competently connected by 2020, the Rwandan
minister says government is being "realistic". He says they are aiming for
"universal access" and not "universal service".
"We're just trying to reduce the distances people have to travel top get to
phones. Our people are still looking for places to sleep. We can't offer
services that they can't afford."
==========================
(0) comments
By Thrishni Subramoney
Rwandan Energy and Communications Minister, Sam Nkusi says his country's
government aims to slash sixty percent of its public service.
"I have 350 people working at in my department right now, when I go home, I
will have eighteen," said Rwandan Energy and Communications Minister, Sam
Nkusi, speaking at the Telecom Africa 2004 conference in Cairo, Egypt.
Addressing a plenary session on information technology development case
studies, Nkusi described Rwanda's public sector as being "bloated". He
mentioned the move as part Rwanda's plans to streamline it's services so
that it provide new services like ICTs.
"You guys probably don't even know about it," he said gesturing towards a
group of fellow Rwandans in the audience, "We don't just want to get rid of
people. We're going to de-centralize and in that way, make them work."
Nkusi says the aim is to create autonomous institutions, and put people into
those, in the effort to take a burden away from government.
The minister from the central African country says the ICTs have been
prioritized as "an engine" for the country's economic growth. However, he
lamented the fact that investment was hard to come by.
"When you have an ugly past of genocide, we are trying to transform our
society from being agri-based to knowledge-based, and we have to work really
hard to sweet talk investors," he said, provoking laughter from the
audience.
He laughingly recalls when South African based mobile network, MTN
considered investing in the country and wanted to know the GDP per capita.
"Right after the war, our people weren't even using banks," he says shaking
his head, "You could tell if someone was wealthy or not by the way they got
up in the morning, if they shook their heads like this (he shakes his head
from side to side), you knew they were rich because they had a lot of money
under their pillow!"
Seemingly a lone voice at this conference, on the subject, Nkusi adds that
his government is not prepared to rely too much on the public sector because
there was little point in introducing services that Rwandans couldn't
afford.
Despite a long term plan of being competently connected by 2020, the Rwandan
minister says government is being "realistic". He says they are aiming for
"universal access" and not "universal service".
"We're just trying to reduce the distances people have to travel top get to
phones. Our people are still looking for places to sleep. We can't offer
services that they can't afford."
==========================
Uganda Launches Guide to ICT Development
By Thrishni Subramoney
Proud of its information technology development success stories, the Ugandan
government has launched a special guidebook at the Africa Telecom 2004
conference in Cairo, Egypt that details its experiences and achievements.
The document was presented by Ugandan Minister of Works, Housing and
Communications, John Nasasira, to International Telecommunications Union
(ITU) Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi at a plenary session on ICT
Development Case Studies on the continent. The gathering of African
telecommunication business and government leaders is in its third day at the
Egyptian capital.
The guidebook – compiled by the Uganda government – looks at the country's
approach to bringing about universal access to the new technologies. Uganda
was singled by a top ITU official yesterday as being one of the countries
making headway in telecommunications development. Nasasira launched the book
after speaking about the gains Uganda has made in including ICTs in their
education, commerce and health spheres.
According to the Nasasira, Uganda has connected 20 secondary schools in the
country; and ten technical colleges have been linked up to exchange training
and vocational IT skills. The east African country is also using ICTs to
help keep body and soul together, by linking hospitals in Kampala - allowing
practitioners to share pictures and case information.
Utsumi – who apparently attended the session especially for the launch -
said the book was "comprehensive and helpful". "The ITU will help distribute
electronic copies of this book," he said, joining Nasasira onstage.
Speaking in French, Mali's Minister of Communication and Information
Technology, Gaoussou Drabo, said his country has made ICT progress, but
noted that most of the development was focused on urban areas. While the
country has more than three phones per hundred urban inhabitants, the rural
situation is even more desperate, with not even one phone between a thousand
people.
He noted, alarmingly, that while there was a global north-south divide that
needed to be dealt with, there was also another gap opening up on the
continent between rural and urban dwellers. Despite this, he said that urban
progress, at least, has been swift, with an increasing number of hospitals
and schools getting access to IT.
NGO Digital Opportunity Trust's Janet Longmore – another speaker at the
session – says a stumbling block in ICT growth in the region is that ICT
skills training often lacks proper context. She says her organization's ICT
4 Development venture is dealing with this by seeking out bright young
people in developing countries and arming them with technological skills.
The youth then work with SMEs (Small to Medium Enterprises) in their own
countries and show them how ICTs can streamline their businesses. She added
that ICT 4 Development projects had been run in Canada, Jordan, Lebanon and
Egypt.
"The important thing is that after their training, these young people go and
work with the business owners. So it's the owners who understand, who get
the 'Ah-ha', and then they see the relevance of the technological skills,"
Longmore said.
==========================
(0) comments
By Thrishni Subramoney
Proud of its information technology development success stories, the Ugandan
government has launched a special guidebook at the Africa Telecom 2004
conference in Cairo, Egypt that details its experiences and achievements.
The document was presented by Ugandan Minister of Works, Housing and
Communications, John Nasasira, to International Telecommunications Union
(ITU) Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi at a plenary session on ICT
Development Case Studies on the continent. The gathering of African
telecommunication business and government leaders is in its third day at the
Egyptian capital.
The guidebook – compiled by the Uganda government – looks at the country's
approach to bringing about universal access to the new technologies. Uganda
was singled by a top ITU official yesterday as being one of the countries
making headway in telecommunications development. Nasasira launched the book
after speaking about the gains Uganda has made in including ICTs in their
education, commerce and health spheres.
According to the Nasasira, Uganda has connected 20 secondary schools in the
country; and ten technical colleges have been linked up to exchange training
and vocational IT skills. The east African country is also using ICTs to
help keep body and soul together, by linking hospitals in Kampala - allowing
practitioners to share pictures and case information.
Utsumi – who apparently attended the session especially for the launch -
said the book was "comprehensive and helpful". "The ITU will help distribute
electronic copies of this book," he said, joining Nasasira onstage.
Speaking in French, Mali's Minister of Communication and Information
Technology, Gaoussou Drabo, said his country has made ICT progress, but
noted that most of the development was focused on urban areas. While the
country has more than three phones per hundred urban inhabitants, the rural
situation is even more desperate, with not even one phone between a thousand
people.
He noted, alarmingly, that while there was a global north-south divide that
needed to be dealt with, there was also another gap opening up on the
continent between rural and urban dwellers. Despite this, he said that urban
progress, at least, has been swift, with an increasing number of hospitals
and schools getting access to IT.
NGO Digital Opportunity Trust's Janet Longmore – another speaker at the
session – says a stumbling block in ICT growth in the region is that ICT
skills training often lacks proper context. She says her organization's ICT
4 Development venture is dealing with this by seeking out bright young
people in developing countries and arming them with technological skills.
The youth then work with SMEs (Small to Medium Enterprises) in their own
countries and show them how ICTs can streamline their businesses. She added
that ICT 4 Development projects had been run in Canada, Jordan, Lebanon and
Egypt.
"The important thing is that after their training, these young people go and
work with the business owners. So it's the owners who understand, who get
the 'Ah-ha', and then they see the relevance of the technological skills,"
Longmore said.
==========================
If you can’t beat ‘em, licence ‘em
Steven Lang in Cairo
A workshop at Africa Telecom 2004 in Cairo decided that the best way of dealing with operators who used the Internet to make cheap phone calls is to licence them.
A four man panel was convened to lead a debate on Voice Over Internet Protocol (Voip), a simple technology that allows people to use the Internet to make phone calls, local or international, at almost no cost.
Voip uses the basic infrastructure of the incumbent national telephone operator to make an Internet connection and then uses that same connection to avoid paying the incumbent much higher telephone rates. Clearly this is one technology that national telephone companies (telcos) don’t like.
Voip was not even on the horizon when most countries drafted their telecommunications legislation, therefore it was not specifically outlawed. In South Africa, Voip is illegal because the current law says that only Telkom make offer a fixed line telephone service. This is sure to change significantly when the Second National Operator (SNO) is eventually licenced.
John Stowe, MD of Africa, Net2phone explained the three concerns of incumbent telcos:
Revenue is lost when people make much cheaper phone calls
Bi-lateral relationships with other national operators are damaged. In most cases national operators around the world have built up cosy relationships with each other for the settlement of costs and for technical reasons.
A fear of competition is a very real concern as the telcos have operated as monopolies for decades. They have never had to experience competition.
African countries have had two very different methods of dealing with Voip operators: ban them or legalise them. Michael Young, MD sales and operations of ITXC in the United Kingdom said, “In some countries you can be shot for using Voip.” He said that "if you have a licence to run a train service, you should not be allowed to fly planes".
Some participants argued that if the telecommunications legislation did not specifically provide for the legalization of Voip, then it must be illegal.
At the opposite end of the scale, a representative from Mauritius noted that in his island state they also experienced problems with small private operators who operated Voip cafes. The problem was the same, but the Mauritian solution was very different – government simply licenced any business that wished to operate on Voip. In this way, some of the more efficient operators became successful and offered consumers good service and cheap rates, while the fly-by-nights simply disappeared from the market because they could not face the competition.
In Mauritius there are two types of licences for operators – a fixed line operator and a Voip operator. The operators are allowed to charge different rates for the connection and users are often willing to pay premium rates for fixed line calls which are perceived to offer better audio quality.
The argument around whether to licence or not, drew attention to the exhorbitant rates charged by most incumbent telcos. They made their profits from high rates, whereas the new business model, that includes Voip, taps its profits from high volumes.
==========================
(0) comments
Steven Lang in Cairo
A workshop at Africa Telecom 2004 in Cairo decided that the best way of dealing with operators who used the Internet to make cheap phone calls is to licence them.
A four man panel was convened to lead a debate on Voice Over Internet Protocol (Voip), a simple technology that allows people to use the Internet to make phone calls, local or international, at almost no cost.
Voip uses the basic infrastructure of the incumbent national telephone operator to make an Internet connection and then uses that same connection to avoid paying the incumbent much higher telephone rates. Clearly this is one technology that national telephone companies (telcos) don’t like.
Voip was not even on the horizon when most countries drafted their telecommunications legislation, therefore it was not specifically outlawed. In South Africa, Voip is illegal because the current law says that only Telkom make offer a fixed line telephone service. This is sure to change significantly when the Second National Operator (SNO) is eventually licenced.
John Stowe, MD of Africa, Net2phone explained the three concerns of incumbent telcos:
Revenue is lost when people make much cheaper phone calls
Bi-lateral relationships with other national operators are damaged. In most cases national operators around the world have built up cosy relationships with each other for the settlement of costs and for technical reasons.
A fear of competition is a very real concern as the telcos have operated as monopolies for decades. They have never had to experience competition.
African countries have had two very different methods of dealing with Voip operators: ban them or legalise them. Michael Young, MD sales and operations of ITXC in the United Kingdom said, “In some countries you can be shot for using Voip.” He said that "if you have a licence to run a train service, you should not be allowed to fly planes".
Some participants argued that if the telecommunications legislation did not specifically provide for the legalization of Voip, then it must be illegal.
At the opposite end of the scale, a representative from Mauritius noted that in his island state they also experienced problems with small private operators who operated Voip cafes. The problem was the same, but the Mauritian solution was very different – government simply licenced any business that wished to operate on Voip. In this way, some of the more efficient operators became successful and offered consumers good service and cheap rates, while the fly-by-nights simply disappeared from the market because they could not face the competition.
In Mauritius there are two types of licences for operators – a fixed line operator and a Voip operator. The operators are allowed to charge different rates for the connection and users are often willing to pay premium rates for fixed line calls which are perceived to offer better audio quality.
The argument around whether to licence or not, drew attention to the exhorbitant rates charged by most incumbent telcos. They made their profits from high rates, whereas the new business model, that includes Voip, taps its profits from high volumes.
==========================
ITU official praises African countries for innovation
By Guy Berger
Highway Africa News Agency
CAIRO: South Africa, Uganda and Nigeria were singled out for praise in
promoting telecommunications development by an official of the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU), during the African Telecoms 2004 conference
yesterday.
The remarks were made by Michael Minges, head of the Market, Economics and
Finance Unit at the ITU. The ITU is the convenor of the conference.
He argued that barriers to further growth in mobile telephony were less a
question of income, than of the geography of signal coverage. South Africa,
he said, should be commended for providing 97% of its population with
coverage. “South Africa now has better coverage for mobile than for
terrestrial TV.”
The country was also noted for having led the way in subsidizing growth
through exchanging the 1800 frequency, sought after by cellular operators,
for four million free sim cards to be given to poor people. “This will
dramatically expand the South African market,” he said.
Minges hailed Uganda for its experiment in adapting India’s Grameen
financing experience. “Many villages in Uganda can receive cellphone
signals, but residents can’t afford the service.” MTN had a system that put
them in touch with micro-finance possibilities, which along with
solar-powered or battery-charged phones, allowed individuals to acquire a
phone and start a business selling access.
Nigeria also received a mention for having encouraged fixed wireless
technologies, which had now grown to serving a quarter of the market for
high-speed internet access.
Minges said there was still room for lower prices and for more operators in
Africa. “If you have two players, why not three? The countries with
competition are growing much faster than those without.”
Assessing the prospects for mobile access to Internet, he said that the
current “second generation” GSM allowed people to use SMS as a substitute
for e-mail.
There was a “2.5 generation” service such as GPRS operating in Egypt and
South Africa, but most other countries had not yet “switched this on”. One
reason was because it was becoming almost as cheap to go to “third
generation” such as CDMA 2000.
The first “third generation” service in Africa seemed likely to be licensed
in Angola.
==========================
(0) comments
By Guy Berger
Highway Africa News Agency
CAIRO: South Africa, Uganda and Nigeria were singled out for praise in
promoting telecommunications development by an official of the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU), during the African Telecoms 2004 conference
yesterday.
The remarks were made by Michael Minges, head of the Market, Economics and
Finance Unit at the ITU. The ITU is the convenor of the conference.
He argued that barriers to further growth in mobile telephony were less a
question of income, than of the geography of signal coverage. South Africa,
he said, should be commended for providing 97% of its population with
coverage. “South Africa now has better coverage for mobile than for
terrestrial TV.”
The country was also noted for having led the way in subsidizing growth
through exchanging the 1800 frequency, sought after by cellular operators,
for four million free sim cards to be given to poor people. “This will
dramatically expand the South African market,” he said.
Minges hailed Uganda for its experiment in adapting India’s Grameen
financing experience. “Many villages in Uganda can receive cellphone
signals, but residents can’t afford the service.” MTN had a system that put
them in touch with micro-finance possibilities, which along with
solar-powered or battery-charged phones, allowed individuals to acquire a
phone and start a business selling access.
Nigeria also received a mention for having encouraged fixed wireless
technologies, which had now grown to serving a quarter of the market for
high-speed internet access.
Minges said there was still room for lower prices and for more operators in
Africa. “If you have two players, why not three? The countries with
competition are growing much faster than those without.”
Assessing the prospects for mobile access to Internet, he said that the
current “second generation” GSM allowed people to use SMS as a substitute
for e-mail.
There was a “2.5 generation” service such as GPRS operating in Egypt and
South Africa, but most other countries had not yet “switched this on”. One
reason was because it was becoming almost as cheap to go to “third
generation” such as CDMA 2000.
The first “third generation” service in Africa seemed likely to be licensed
in Angola.
==========================
Youth put ICT business proposals forward
CAIRO:
By Haru Mutasa
Highway Africa News Agency
We all remember the childhood mantra, 'practice makes perfect no matter what you do, with practice you'll find that you can do it too'. There is no better way to become good at anything than doing this and getting good constructive feedback from experts who have lived to tell their success stories.
That’s exactly what participants at the Africa Telecom Youth Forum got when they presented their business proposals for ICT development to telecoms and business experts at the sixth International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom Africa conference in Cairo Egypt.
The would-be entrepreneurs had one mission to accomplish – outline what business project they would create to improve ICT development in their respective countries.
"My business proposal involves starting a website for African youth in their own native languages," said a confident young woman from Madagascar. "I want to know how I can go about raising the money needed to fund such a project."
She sits down quickly as her colleague hogs the microphone and presents his idea.
"I want to utilize the post office system we have in Malawi," he said. "I want to have internet facilities for people to come and use. How do I fund such a scheme?"
Responding, ICT and economics expert Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, said:"The key to creating a successful business project is to come up with an intelligent and original strategy."
He said: "Solutions lie in your own countries. You have to go out there and find them and not always think that asking for donor money is the only solution. Narrow your ideas to one simple thing. If they are too broad, no one will be willing to listen, let alone fund any of them."
In less than three hours, Spio-Garbrah taught the participants the fundamentals of a good business plan.
"Be original. Identify the problem. Find the people you need and come up with a solution to the problem," he said, "that's all you need.”
He added: “Remember, you must see ICTs as more than just mobile phones, computers or just broadcasting – they are enablers which allow people to do more and develop."
One by one several more young people presented their ideas hoping they were on the right track and that their proposals had some merit. Many ideas were politely shot down, but all accepted that this was a learning experience.
Perhaps it was the words of Lyndall Shope-Mafole, Chairperson of the South African Presidential National Commission on Information Society and Development, who inspired the participants to come up with their ideas.
She told the workshop: "You can do anything you set your minds to do. The road to success is long and hard but with hard work and determination you too can make it."
==========================
(0) comments
CAIRO:
By Haru Mutasa
Highway Africa News Agency
We all remember the childhood mantra, 'practice makes perfect no matter what you do, with practice you'll find that you can do it too'. There is no better way to become good at anything than doing this and getting good constructive feedback from experts who have lived to tell their success stories.
That’s exactly what participants at the Africa Telecom Youth Forum got when they presented their business proposals for ICT development to telecoms and business experts at the sixth International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom Africa conference in Cairo Egypt.
The would-be entrepreneurs had one mission to accomplish – outline what business project they would create to improve ICT development in their respective countries.
"My business proposal involves starting a website for African youth in their own native languages," said a confident young woman from Madagascar. "I want to know how I can go about raising the money needed to fund such a project."
She sits down quickly as her colleague hogs the microphone and presents his idea.
"I want to utilize the post office system we have in Malawi," he said. "I want to have internet facilities for people to come and use. How do I fund such a scheme?"
Responding, ICT and economics expert Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, said:"The key to creating a successful business project is to come up with an intelligent and original strategy."
He said: "Solutions lie in your own countries. You have to go out there and find them and not always think that asking for donor money is the only solution. Narrow your ideas to one simple thing. If they are too broad, no one will be willing to listen, let alone fund any of them."
In less than three hours, Spio-Garbrah taught the participants the fundamentals of a good business plan.
"Be original. Identify the problem. Find the people you need and come up with a solution to the problem," he said, "that's all you need.”
He added: “Remember, you must see ICTs as more than just mobile phones, computers or just broadcasting – they are enablers which allow people to do more and develop."
One by one several more young people presented their ideas hoping they were on the right track and that their proposals had some merit. Many ideas were politely shot down, but all accepted that this was a learning experience.
Perhaps it was the words of Lyndall Shope-Mafole, Chairperson of the South African Presidential National Commission on Information Society and Development, who inspired the participants to come up with their ideas.
She told the workshop: "You can do anything you set your minds to do. The road to success is long and hard but with hard work and determination you too can make it."
==========================
Kenya gets on with Internet addresses
CAIRO: Wednesday 5 May. 2004
By Haru Mutasa
Highway Africa News Agency
CAIRO: Africa is still lagging behind the rest of the world in Internet connections, but at least one country is tackling the issue of who controls their internet addresses.
This is part of the much contested and highly controversial issue of Internet Governance an issue not yet clearly defined as stakeholders prepare for the World Summit on the Information Society to be held in Tunisia in 2005.
Amidst the heated debate and endless panel discussions, Kenya has managed to plough ahead with its plan of managing its own national Internet domain system through a recently established organization, the Kenya Networking Commission Centre.
Addressing ICT stakeholders at the sixth International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom Africa conference in Egypt today, Sammy Kirui, Vice Chairman of the ITU council 2003, gave testimony to the numerous problems his country still faces and will continue to face for years to come.
"There are many challenges to the African context domain name management," he said, "Some people believe governments should ultimately delegate domain names. The challenges outlined by Kirui are as follows:
• Policy and regulatory limitations.
"Regulations outlined by most African states are too limiting and hamper progress," said Kirui. "The Kenya Networking Commission Centre want government to play more of a facilitory role, working closely with public/private sectors and civil organizations."
• A lack of awareness of the whole process by all stakeholders.
"The area is still not understood as a debate," he added. "Africans need to look at the issue of the Internet and domain name management in ways which we can understand. In other words, we still need to sensitise our people more."
• A lack of adequate technical capacity
• High domain name pricing
"A country code domain name costs between US$15 and US$50 a year to have," said Kirui. "The more common ones, i.e. dot.com domain names cost between US$10 and US$35 a year to have. This makes it cheaper for African Internet users to have an overseas domain name than a local one."
• A lack of stable and reliable internet connectivity on the continent
• A lack of local stakeholder support
He added however that some ISPs in Kenya have been supportive of the initiative and have encouraged more stakeholders to join the bandwagon.
• A lack of an local internet exchange point (IXP) for local traffic
"Of course there are the ever existing problems of funding," he continued, "and the fact that governments need to play a more clearly defined role in the whole process. These issues have to be addressed for Africa to move forward."
Markus Kummer, head of the United Nations Secretariat Working Group on Internet Governance summarised the sentiments of most delegates at the conference.
"The task ahead for us is daunting," he said, "therefore management of the Internet, and the issues around it, should be multilateral, transparent and democratic."
Recommendations on this issue and other Internet concerns are what the United Nations Working Group on Internet Governance hopes to take to the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia next year.
Highway Africa reports from Cairo are made possible with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Editorial decisions are solely the responsibility of Highway Africa.
(0) comments
CAIRO: Wednesday 5 May. 2004
By Haru Mutasa
Highway Africa News Agency
CAIRO: Africa is still lagging behind the rest of the world in Internet connections, but at least one country is tackling the issue of who controls their internet addresses.
This is part of the much contested and highly controversial issue of Internet Governance an issue not yet clearly defined as stakeholders prepare for the World Summit on the Information Society to be held in Tunisia in 2005.
Amidst the heated debate and endless panel discussions, Kenya has managed to plough ahead with its plan of managing its own national Internet domain system through a recently established organization, the Kenya Networking Commission Centre.
Addressing ICT stakeholders at the sixth International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom Africa conference in Egypt today, Sammy Kirui, Vice Chairman of the ITU council 2003, gave testimony to the numerous problems his country still faces and will continue to face for years to come.
"There are many challenges to the African context domain name management," he said, "Some people believe governments should ultimately delegate domain names. The challenges outlined by Kirui are as follows:
• Policy and regulatory limitations.
"Regulations outlined by most African states are too limiting and hamper progress," said Kirui. "The Kenya Networking Commission Centre want government to play more of a facilitory role, working closely with public/private sectors and civil organizations."
• A lack of awareness of the whole process by all stakeholders.
"The area is still not understood as a debate," he added. "Africans need to look at the issue of the Internet and domain name management in ways which we can understand. In other words, we still need to sensitise our people more."
• A lack of adequate technical capacity
• High domain name pricing
"A country code domain name costs between US$15 and US$50 a year to have," said Kirui. "The more common ones, i.e. dot.com domain names cost between US$10 and US$35 a year to have. This makes it cheaper for African Internet users to have an overseas domain name than a local one."
• A lack of stable and reliable internet connectivity on the continent
• A lack of local stakeholder support
He added however that some ISPs in Kenya have been supportive of the initiative and have encouraged more stakeholders to join the bandwagon.
• A lack of an local internet exchange point (IXP) for local traffic
"Of course there are the ever existing problems of funding," he continued, "and the fact that governments need to play a more clearly defined role in the whole process. These issues have to be addressed for Africa to move forward."
Markus Kummer, head of the United Nations Secretariat Working Group on Internet Governance summarised the sentiments of most delegates at the conference.
"The task ahead for us is daunting," he said, "therefore management of the Internet, and the issues around it, should be multilateral, transparent and democratic."
Recommendations on this issue and other Internet concerns are what the United Nations Working Group on Internet Governance hopes to take to the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia next year.
Highway Africa reports from Cairo are made possible with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Editorial decisions are solely the responsibility of Highway Africa.
How to Drive a Business on the African Information Highway
By Thrishni Subramoney
Highway Africa News Agency
CAIRO: "Managing a business is like driving a four-by-four. If you're on a road in Europe, you cruise along – you hardly put your vehicle into four-by-four mode. But in Africa, you have to be ready for surprises, the environment is constantly changing, you have to adapt moment by moment. You're always in four-by-four mode."
That was the analogy that Marc Mesle, Vice President (Africa) of French mobile phone company Orange, had for delegates at a forum on successful business models at the Africa Telecom 2004 conference.
With a power-point presentation featuring engaging photographs of rural scenes used as metaphors for good business practice, Mesle illustrated how it was possible to run a successful African telecommunications business.
He said that the key to making the most of the African market lies in tailoring products according to the needs of the market. He gave the example of his company not yet introducing “third generation” (internet access) technology to their cellular service Africa yet, because enabling voice communication is their first priority.
"Don't forget that 95 percent of African people have yet to be introduced to mobile communication," he pointed out. He urged businesses entering the African market to be "realistic".
"There are challenges that you have to solve creatively. For instance, the power supply in some areas is unreasonable, and most of all you have to difficult economic conditions."
Fola Odufudwa, the Executive Director of eShekels Limited in Nigeria, took a more high-flying view. In his vision of the future of African communications, Odufuwa painted a picture of "ubiquity".
"Access points will be mobile. The primary means by which to reach consumers will be mobile. There will be no let-up to mobile demand," he said.
Odufudwa says the mobile phone is an important step in bringing ICTs to Africa.
"The mobile phone is the first PC that many Africans will see," he added, pointing to much publicized ITU statistics which show the exploding mobile industry on the continent.
He says the mobile industry will continue to flourish in Africa because Africans are "entrepreneurial" and "mobile" in nature. He predicts that "ubiquity" – total access and spread of telephony - will collapse traditional business models, because there will no longer be a need for traditional delivery mechanisms.
Gordon Graylish, Intel's Director of Marketing said his own company looked at the problem of creating a successful business model differently.
"We see 'accelerated convergence' as the key," he said, "Because, the way we see it, any device, anywhere, at any time, computes."
He defined "micro-convergence " (when two simple devices – like a computer and telecommunications networks combine to form a device that is completely different – like the Internet) and "macro-convergence" (when a complex device like the Internet gives rise to new services and changes the norms and behavior in society).
Graylish says that as telecoms technology takes further root on the continent, affecting every sphere of life, broadband and wireless technology becomes essential. He says Intel predicts that by 2009, there will be 100 million public hotspots – allowing wireless internet access - and 200 million other access points in Africa.
==========================
(0) comments
By Thrishni Subramoney
Highway Africa News Agency
CAIRO: "Managing a business is like driving a four-by-four. If you're on a road in Europe, you cruise along – you hardly put your vehicle into four-by-four mode. But in Africa, you have to be ready for surprises, the environment is constantly changing, you have to adapt moment by moment. You're always in four-by-four mode."
That was the analogy that Marc Mesle, Vice President (Africa) of French mobile phone company Orange, had for delegates at a forum on successful business models at the Africa Telecom 2004 conference.
With a power-point presentation featuring engaging photographs of rural scenes used as metaphors for good business practice, Mesle illustrated how it was possible to run a successful African telecommunications business.
He said that the key to making the most of the African market lies in tailoring products according to the needs of the market. He gave the example of his company not yet introducing “third generation” (internet access) technology to their cellular service Africa yet, because enabling voice communication is their first priority.
"Don't forget that 95 percent of African people have yet to be introduced to mobile communication," he pointed out. He urged businesses entering the African market to be "realistic".
"There are challenges that you have to solve creatively. For instance, the power supply in some areas is unreasonable, and most of all you have to difficult economic conditions."
Fola Odufudwa, the Executive Director of eShekels Limited in Nigeria, took a more high-flying view. In his vision of the future of African communications, Odufuwa painted a picture of "ubiquity".
"Access points will be mobile. The primary means by which to reach consumers will be mobile. There will be no let-up to mobile demand," he said.
Odufudwa says the mobile phone is an important step in bringing ICTs to Africa.
"The mobile phone is the first PC that many Africans will see," he added, pointing to much publicized ITU statistics which show the exploding mobile industry on the continent.
He says the mobile industry will continue to flourish in Africa because Africans are "entrepreneurial" and "mobile" in nature. He predicts that "ubiquity" – total access and spread of telephony - will collapse traditional business models, because there will no longer be a need for traditional delivery mechanisms.
Gordon Graylish, Intel's Director of Marketing said his own company looked at the problem of creating a successful business model differently.
"We see 'accelerated convergence' as the key," he said, "Because, the way we see it, any device, anywhere, at any time, computes."
He defined "micro-convergence " (when two simple devices – like a computer and telecommunications networks combine to form a device that is completely different – like the Internet) and "macro-convergence" (when a complex device like the Internet gives rise to new services and changes the norms and behavior in society).
Graylish says that as telecoms technology takes further root on the continent, affecting every sphere of life, broadband and wireless technology becomes essential. He says Intel predicts that by 2009, there will be 100 million public hotspots – allowing wireless internet access - and 200 million other access points in Africa.
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