[governance] Africa, ICT and electricity

[Bertrand de La Chapelle]

(Sorry, I hit the send button inadvertently on the previous post before it
was finished)

Hi David,

You mentionned this quote :
"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."

And said :

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.

This development of mobile telephony in africa and the relatively slower
penetration of other modes of Internet access is an important element
because the business models for both are very different.

At the moment, mobile telephony can be very profitable even in poor
countries because a brief phone call can save a day trip to another village
or town. Therefore, even if the cost per minute is high, the replacement
cost is even higher. But this will mean that the priority of business actors
will be on mobile phone networks rather than on general Internet access with
cheap monthly fees. Using market forces to develop connectivity is certainly
positive and is going to work, but one can wonder if it will be enough to
bring the normal Internet Access, and particularly broadband (the second
dimension of the digital divide).

If mobile telephony becomes the main communication channel, will that not
mean that Internet access will remain much rarer and more expensive in these
countries ?

I wonder if the Access session in the Rio IGF will address this point.

Best

Bertrand



On 9/12/07, David Goldstein <goldstein_david at yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>
> 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
>            COOGEE NSW 2034
>            AUSTRALIA
> email: Goldstein_David @yahoo.com.au
> phone: +61 418 228 605 (mobile); +61 2 9665 5773 (home)
>
> "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
>
>
>
-- 
____________________
Bertrand de La Chapelle

Tel : +33 (0)6 11 88 33 32

"Le plus beau métier des hommes, c'est d'unir les hommes" Antoine de Saint
Exupéry
("there is no better mission for humans than uniting humans")
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