By Wanjohi Kabukuru

ACCRA- New technologies such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) can help African countries achieve development targets.
South Africa has adopted a strategy to generate jobs by attracting international call centres to the country. These centres, already widespread in India, provide outsourced services using high bandwidth connections and VoIP platforms.
VoIP converts calls to data and transmits them in message packets on any data network (including the internet). This method considerably lowers phone costs, but threatens the earnings of conventional telecommunications providers. Call centres provide telephone support services to developed countries from their bases in developing countries where labour is relatively cheap. In this way VoIP is being used to generate revenue in local economies.
VoIP can also support socio-economic development more broadly by bringing the benefits of efficient data network usage and lowered call costs to individual consumers, small businesses, government agencies, and community organisations.
Algeria, Mali, Mauritius, Nigeria and Kenya have recently legalised both VoIP and WiFi.
Earlier this week, Telkom Kenya outlined a strategy, set to kick off next month that will provide VoIP technology, and enable Telkom users all over Kenya to use calling cards to access the service. This is not a surprise as it has come at a time when the new administration has sought to involve the private sector and civil society in the development of an all inclusive policy paper on ICTs for the country.
Going north, the Algerian government recently approved licences allowing several Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to use VoIP technology to compete in the market for international calls. Previously, Algerians had access to only one telecommunications operator and had to pay six times more than what they are currently paying.
With governments opening up markets, and allowing competition to flourish in the telecommunications sector, new technologies have made for lower tariffs and greater access to ICTs in less privileged areas.
Africa has much to gain from the adoption of both VoIP and WiFi technologies, as fixed line telephony penetration is still very low in large expanses of the continent.
By embracing these revolutionary technologies, Algeria, Mali, Mauritius, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa have shown the way. For this they have had to endure short-term losses of revenue, in order to reengineer their telecommunication services and boost their own economies and knowledge societies.