IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The occasion: Inauguration of the second phase of the Pan-African e-Network Project.

The tentacles of the project have now been spread to 12 African countries, and Zambia is among the beneficiaries.

It is early morning in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital. The traffic jam along Ngong Road, one of the city’s main feeder roads, stretches for kilometres as matatus (taxis), buses and cars try to make their way into the central business district. At the top floor of Bishop Magua Centre complex, sitting just off Ngong Road, Antony Njoroge is already at work, typing away at his computer, a mug of freshly brewed coffee beside him. He is the founder of RevWeb, a local software development company.

According to Bekele, thanks to social media, women now surpass men in the use of ICT and have firmly moved away from seeing technology as that of a man's domain.

The internet, she said is being utilized more by women, where women are increasing their rights, representation, and participation.

The 17200km marine cable, which is to be managed by a consortium of 12 companies, stretches from South Africa to the UK linking 14 countries: South Africa, Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cape Verde, the Canary Islands, Portugal and the UK.

The consortium said in a statement the operation offered the highest capacity sub-marine cable system through sub-Saharan Africa and would be the first direct access to global communication networks for Namibia, DRC, Togo and Republic of Congo.

The biggest tech trend in Africa, and the one that is making the biggest impact on the everyday lives of people, is the rise of smartphones and feature phones. Africa has seen the fastest uptake of mobiles in the world and mobile subscribers are set to hit half a billion in the next five years, according to the GSMA, says Ahmed Simjee, executive smarter Planet, IBM, South Africa.

This statistic supports the fact that mobile technology is and will continue to be the most powerful communications platform in Africa. Driven by cheaper mobile devices and continued innovation in the mobile space, mobile technology has the power to and will transform the delivery of healthcare service into Africa.

Leadership, ICT infrastructure for development, ICT infrastructure, M-Applications and ICT in business were some of the issues that were discussed at the conference.

It was also observed that the translation of policy to meet the demands of ICT and leadership is often problematic due to obstacles that can be attributed to human capacity, financial resources, institutional arrangements, political will and appropriate leadership.

In the past, citizens in many countries have only had access to information through their elected representatives. But with the growth of the internet and other informational tools, this is rapidly changing.

This was particularly true for Africa, where most citizens did not have access to the formal banking sector, Ernst & Young global deputy telecommunications leader Jonathan Dharmapalan said.

Addressing the ICT Indaba in Cape Town, he said ICTs could be used to transform the African economy into a knowledge-based one.

“... We must remain aware that the biggest commodity in the world today is knowledge, and the ability to generate, access, and distribute knowledge have become key determinants for a higher developmental trajectory for any nation.”

The recommendation that ICTs be harnessed to increase health awareness and empower individuals and communities was part of the Brazzaville Declaration on NCDs, which the ministers have signed.

The declaration includes other recommendations, calling for the strengthening health systems, and support for partnerships and networks that bring together national, regional and global players including academic and research institutions, public and private sectors, and civil society to tackle the rising problem.

Meeting under the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee, the leaders took stock of the current progress.

This is just a sampling of the exciting age of technological innovation that is opening up in Africa. But developing information and communication technology (ICT) is posing a huge challenge – in Nigeria, growth is so fast that networks can barely cope, and poor connectivity and congested lines are frequent problems. Across the continent, there is a huge backlog in the provision of broadband Internet.

Over 1500 delegates attended the first day of the Summit. Welcoming participants, Ambassador Valentine Rugwabiza, CEO of Rwanda's Development Board reflecting on the progress Africa has made in ICT. She called on participants to focus on what ICT could do to impact the lives of Africans. "It's not only about our resources, but our people. This has to be the future delivered for Africans."

Public sector institutions in Africa need to redefine how they operate by creating digital transformation plans, according to ICT sector executives, who say this will drive effective modernisation of civil service.

They say public sector institutions in Africa are characterised by legacy ICT infrastructure that needs urgent upgrading to match global trends in response to the impact of COVID-19.

The pandemic, they say, has compelled the public sector to reimagine service delivery in a post-lockdown era, and to invest more in technology.

For Africa to not just survive the current pandemic, but to thrive, investment into digital infrastructure is inevitable. Much-needed digital infrastructure and the resulting digital transformation will be an enabler of rapid development across the continent, positively impacting the most vulnerable communities.

While digital transformation is certainly not a new discussion, the Covid-19 pandemic has abruptly accelerated the need for digital adoption. There’s an urgent need to invest in connecting communities and improving service delivery to citizens throughout Africa.

While the cities of Zurich in Switzerland, Oslo in Norway and Canberra in Australia are ranked as the best smart cities in the world by the 2023 report of the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland, five African capitals such as Tunis in Tunisia are also honored for their prowess in the digitalization of services in the face of climate change.

Cairo in Egypt, Algiers in Algeria, Cape Town in South Africa, Rabat in Morocco, Tunis in Tunisia. These five African metropolises are included in the ranking of the best smart cities in the world recently drawn up by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland. In its “Smart City Index Report” 2023, the IMD assessed the extent to which municipalities have taken into account new technological advances.

"We are determined to ensure that our people fully benefit from the advantages to ICT and related technology," President Uhuru said. The President spoke in Kigali, Rwanda during an interactive session for Heads of State at the Transform Africa Summit. He said Kenya has prioritised the use of ICT in its development agenda because of its potential to trigger an industrial revolution necessary for the country's transformation.

Nsambu delivered a keynote address at Satcom 2008, which began in Sandton, this morning. He said many African countries regard satellite as an old and expensive technology.

Julius Opio, SEACOM's head of sales said the future is also in the areas of managed services, e-Commerce, e-Health, e-Government and e-Learning as bandwidth capacity has improved greatly with prices down as well.

"The impact of high capacity bandwidth and solutions will dramatically shift the way we learn, conduct business and bridge the knowledge gap in Kenya and across the region hence enabling communities to unleash their creative potential and seamlessly integrate into the information driven global economy," Opio said.

The leaders' session began with a demonstration of the difference in speed between 4G LTE and a 3G network; the 4G reached 90mbps while the 3G was still at 0.5mpbs. The difference, according to Rwanda's Minister of Youth and ICT, would allow students to livestream classes therefore being directly beneficial to students education and countries' development.