[governance] Africa, ICT and electricity

[David Goldstein]

Hi all,

I've just finished reading an article in The Economist -  Electricity in Africa: The dark continent. See http://economist.com/world/africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9660077.

This had me thinking back to a discussion here recently on ICT in Africa. The article notes "Africa accounts for over a sixth of the world's population, but
generates only 4% of global electricity. Three-quarters of that is used
by South Africa, Egypt and the other countries along the north African
littoral."

Other points made are "Only 6% of Congolese have access to electricity and more power will be needed to get at the country's trove of minerals. ... Aggreko, a company based in Scotland, is the world's biggest supplier
of temporary electricity in the shape of back-up generators. It meets
up to 50% of Uganda's power needs, and 10% of those of Kenya and
Tanzania. It believes that the global power shortfall in the next
decade will be much greater than predicted, perhaps over 500,000MW. The
ensuing competition for energy, it argues, will see the world split
between those countries whose economies grow faster than their power
consumption and those, including most of Africa, whose power
consumption grows faster than their economies."

There are obviously huge issues in just providing power to much of Africa before the vast majority of the population can even be connected to the internet. And then with a global shortfall of power, where does that leave the ongoing development of ICT?

For those interested in ICT in Africa, I was sent a link to an article on Ghana (thanks Kwasi) - Ghana’s internet growth slowed by high cost. See http://myjoyonline.com/features/200709/8441.asp.

The article starts, "Most Ghanaians do not have access to the internet, in spite of the
proliferation of ICT in the
country, due to cost. Many more Ghanaians have access to mobile telephony than they have access to the internet."

Reading this, it means the future of internet access in much of Africa could be via handheld devices (mobile phones, smart phones...), and so planning on governance issues probably should be done with this in mind. But then, a handheld device of any sort still needs electricity to work. Even if the device can be powered by some form of wind-up mechanism, for example, the infrastructure still needs to b developed, and powered.

Anyway, something to think about.

Cheers
David
 
--------- 
David Goldstein
 address: 4/3 Abbott Street
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           AUSTRALIA
 email: Goldstein_David @yahoo.com.au
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"Every time you use fossil fuels, you're adding to the problem. Every time you forgo fossil fuels, you're being part of the solution" - Dr Tim Flannery





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