IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

On Tuesday, up to 1000 delegates concluded the high-powered summit meant to set a faster tone to broadband infrastructure and strengthen connectivity for Africa. The Summit also sets out to meet the World Summit on the Information Society goals for capacity building, establishing an enabling environment for investment, and e-government services.

Governments using cellular technologies as a broadcast and transactional vehicle to reach out to their citizens is a fine idea and no-one will argue with the potential benefits, but all stakeholders need to share in these benefits:

• Public service providers must see substantial cost savings that reward the overhaul of processes required for migration to a mobile government delivery model.

• End users must see an almost immediate reward for the transaction costs they incur when they adopt a new way of accessing basic services.

• Providers of network capacity and equipment, data storage and processing, content, and applications require revenue streams that exceed their costs and that help nurture a longer-term relationship with customers.

The Director made this observation at the end of a conference held on Thursday in Acrra. The conference had the theme: “International Development-African led Solutions”

Gosier said: “While the young show a lot of interest in ICT, with many of them being conversant with it, the elderly do not appear to be all that keen to learn ICT.”

Rwanda's government will use the money to establish the country's national capacity to provide broadband connectivity and access to low-cost international bandwidth.

One interesting theme took centre stage during panel discussions at the recently concluded World Economic Forum on Africa in Rwanda; that what the continent needs as much as roads, dams, power plants (although there is still more development required) is a way to embrace technology and infuse digital transformation in all sectors.

It was interesting because when questions such as "how can we diversify our economies" and "how can we improve efficiency" or "how do we prepare our young generations to have jobs" were asked, the answer from a lot of different players including politicians, think tanks, investment organisations and the private sector was the same; embrace the "3rd industrial revolution"; the digital transformation revolution.

One interesting theme took center stage during panel discussions at the recently concluded World Economic Forum on Africa in Rwanda; that what the continent needs as much as roads, dams, power plants (although there is still more development required) is a way to embrace technology and infuse digital transformation in all sectors.

It was interesting because when questions such as “how can we diversify our economies” and “how can we improve efficiency” or “how do we prepare our young generations to have jobs” were asked, the answer from a lot of different players including politicians, think tanks, investment organizations and the private sector was the same; embrace the “3rdIndustrial Revolution”; the digital transformation revolution.

The Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN body, Dr Hamadoun Toure, said ensuring adequate protection for the Eastern African Sub-Marine Cable System (EASSY), aimed at linking Africa, was key to its success.

Addressing participants at the "Electronic/Mobile Government in Africa" three day workshop in Addis Ababa, Richard Kerby, Inter-regional adviser on E-government for the UN said African citizens have not benefited from new technologies despite the evolution in mobile and information and communications technology.

Smart cities are the future of urban development, using digital technologies to improve lives, optimise access to resources and fuel economic growth. By 2050, the World Economic Forum predicts that 7 out of 10 people will live in cities. Some 2.5 billion people will move to urban areas, and 90% of this trend will take place in Africa and Asia[1].

A truly smart city leverages technology in an intelligent manner to improve service delivery, reduce pollution, improve safety, and tackle a myriad of local challenges. The sixth annual African Smart Cities Summit, the continent’s only dedicated conference on smart city development, will highlight the potential of smart cities to solve many of Africa’s most pressing challenges, and opportunities.

Trescon’s World Cyber Security Summit – Africa succeeded in bringing in fresh narratives, innovative ideas and awareness on key areas such as cyber threat intelligence, data governance, data privacy and cyber regulations in the African region.

Wednesday, 02 September 2020: On Friday, Africa played host to the most content-rich virtual conference on Cybersecurity by convening over 200 online participants that included government authorities, policymakers and the region’s leading CISOs and Cybersecurity experts. The summit was put together to raise awareness on the Socio-technical aspects of Cybersecurity and the importance of using emerging technologies in the fight against cybercrime in the region.

Africa is experiencing an accelerated digital transformation driven by a growing demand for connectivity. It presents a strong business case to would-be investors, especially those with data centre and cloud services ambitions.

This is according to Juanita Clark, co-founder and CEO, Digital Council Africa, who presented the opening keynote address at the ITWeb Cloud and Data Centre Summit 2023 hosted at The Forum in Bryanston on 31 October.

For many years it was widely believed that it would be mobile that would ‘open up’ Africa. However, the fixed line operators, with their existing networks and infrastructure in place, are now perfectly placed to capitalise on the influx of fibre and transform their networks and offerings. New services and experiences will be made available to consumers and new revenue opportunities will be created for the operators.

A report the other day by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation that Nigeria and other countries in Africa are losing about $2 billion annually via brain drain in the health sector is another badge of dishonour for a continent that has constantly been a symbol of shame and suffering.

The Foundation stated in its 2018 Report titled, “Public Service in Africa” that no sound governance in Africa would be achieved without strong public services and health care delivery is one that is abysmally, shamefully low, of all public services.

Smart cities are a potential solution to Africa’s urban challenges

Amid all the headlines about weakening currencies, rising inflation, and political instability, it’s easy to get caught up in the negatives, but there’s a lot to celebrate on our continent. As we come to the end of Africa Month in May and we approach the African Smart Cities Summit in June, it’s a great time to recognise the remarkable advancements in Africa’s top-performing smart cities.

Prof. Hlengiwe Mkhize, Deputy Minister of South Africa’s Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services, during day-2 (November 18) of the AfricaCom 2015, highlighted the importance of information and communications technologies for socio-economic development in Africa.

She identified education, e-health, e-governance, online/mobile financial services as the the key elements of ICT development.

The 20th anniversary of Africa’s largest tech-focused event may have come and gone, but beyond the record-breaking number of visitors, exhibitors and speakers and new launches and cutting-edge products this year, the outcomes make for a lasting impression.

AfricaCom was once focused solely on the telecommunications market, but now that conversation has successfully shifted to embrace all things technology driven – the backbone of our everyday and increasingly, future lives. While many of the discussions at AfricaCom 2017 centred around connectivity – from the cost of data to the deployment of satellite as a viable means of connecting the continent, Africa has more pressing problems – that of digital inclusion, and just what this means and how this digital-democracy can actually materialise.

Huawei Technologies hosted the Digital Africa Summit, which took place during AfricaCom, earlier this week , with expert speakers engaging on Africa’s digital transformation, the strides made during the Covid 19 pandemic and the path still ahead.

While Africa has come far in the past 18 months in its digital transformation, there is still much potential to fully embrace digital transformation and equip the continent’s youth with the skills they need to thrive in a digital economy.

According to a Commonwealth press statement, the 11th Forum of Commonwealth Africa Heads of Public Service, taking place in Port Louis, Mauritius, was opened on Tuesday by Mauritian President Rajkeswur Purryag under the theme ‘e-Government for Inclusive and Sustainable Development in Africa’.

More and more governments around the world are turning to electronic methods to deliver services and communicate with citizens via the internet.

These e-government systems, as they are known, allow people to do a number of things. They can pay for their utilities, or settle their fines. They can register new businesses or vehicles. They are also able to get information from government agencies through emails, SMS messages, and mobile apps.