[governance] Africa, ICT and electricity - things are happening
Riaz K. Tayob
riazt at iafrica.com
Mon Sep 17 03:39:10 EDT 2007
Be good to know how the PRSPs (as opposed to the disastrous SAPs) of the
World Bank and IMF are going to perform...
SAPs were a disaster even by the Bank's own reckoning - are we in for
more of the same?
Anriette Esterhuysen wrote:
> 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
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>>
>> ---------------------------------
>> Moody friends. Drama queens. Your life? Nope! - their life, your
>> story.
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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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