[governance] Africa, ICT and electricity - things are happening

Mon Sep 17 03:15:04 EDT 2007

Hallo all

Yes... and Nnenna and Lee have pointed out.
Alternatives are availble and people use them.

I am not suggesting we ignore the importance of
sustainable and accessible energy sources, but let us not
forget the millions of Africans who do have access to
electricity, but not to the internet (because of lack of
infrastructure, and high costs of access and of hardware).

African institutions such as schools, universities,
businesses, hospitals, research centres, local governmen
officest, libraries where they exist, etc. struggle to get
access to, or if they have access, to afford the bandwidth
they need to perform every day actions (like downloading
software, books, etc.) that users in other parts of the
world take for granted.

Anriette

> Hi Folks
>
>   I am reading through the thread here and I am smiling.  The issues
>   being raised here, we have raised them a million times.  But I
>   still believe that experience is the best teacher.  Analysts can
>   say what they want, but living in the situation is worth a million
>   analyses.
>
>   Two weeks ago, I was in 5 town in Burkina Faso to do an evaluation
>   of  the pilot projects that the Digital Solidarity Fund is
>   supporting.
>
>   In truth, electricity alone is not the only problem.  But problems
>   are not the only things that I saw.  I also saw hope, optimism and
>   a strong will power to rise beyond problems.
>
>   There are options - Satelite is one of them.  Solar power is one  of
>   them.  Community access points too.  In a far away village  called
>   Ouahigouya -  the DSF has provided a Satellite Internet  connection.
>    In that center alone, the Internet is being offered  to the public.
>    They have video conferencing equipment and  telemedicine is a
>   reality.  I was surprised that the cybercafé ran  on Open Source
>   Software and that local people are well adapted to it.
>
>   In that same town, I slept in a hotel that was using solar panels
>   for power.
>
>   I am not speaking about what can happen.  I am saying what has
>   already happened.
>
>   Cheers
>
>   Nnenna
>
> Lee McKnight <LMcKnigh at syr.edu> wrote:  Bertrand, David,
>
> Not  to be a naive utopian, but there are a wide variety of
> technological  and business model alternatives being explored within
> Africa and  elsewhere, and yeah by the usual suspect major
> multinationals, as well  as start-ups and non-profits like One Laptop
> Per Child.
>
> So  assuming cel phones/mobile Internet devices will have the same
> constraints for Internet access for long in Africa or anywhere else is
>  probably not safe; paying for and powering infrastructure, ah there's
>  the rub. But still alternatives are emegring.
>
> Lee
>
> Prof. Lee W. McKnight
> School of Information Studies
> Syracuse University
> +1-315-443-6891office
> +1-315-278-4392 mobile
>
> >>> bdelachapelle at gmail.com 9/12/2007 4:11 AM >>>
> (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  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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> ---------------------------------
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------------------------------------------------------
Anriette Esterhuysen, Executive Director
Association for Progressive Communications
anriette at apc.org
http://www.apc.org
PO Box 29755, Melville, South Africa. 2109
Tel. 27 11 726 1692
Fax 27 11 726 1692

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