IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Revenue in the smart cities market is anticipated to exceed US$89.5-billion in 2023. Almost every government has a smart city project in progress. According to the IMD Smart City Index 2023, the cities leading the pack in Africa are Cairo, Algiers and Cape Town. However, these urban beacons of technology require the right security and connectivity as a foundation to ensure they can stand above the challenges plaguing urban areas, and do so sustainably.

Smart cities are defined by their ability to reshape traditional citizen service delivery with interconnected solutions and technologies, and each city interprets their use of “smart” technology differently. It can be safer, more sustainable and focused on the environment, or designed to provide people with seamless access to services that would previously have been complex to navigate and manage. To achieve all these goals, smart cities need the right tools.

A working group has proposed pilot projects to deliver information and communication technologies (ICT) to sub-Saharan Africa in order to improve healthcare systems.

At a meeting in Gaborone, Botswana earlier this month (1 March), the Telemedicine Task Force reviewed ICT for health in the region.

According to Vino Govender: Executive for Strategy, Mergers and Acquisition and Strategy at Dark Fibre Africa, reliable and low-latency fibre connectivity underpin the success of the Smart City.

Across Africa, rural populations continue to migrate into the cities, seeking out work, education and better lives. It’s a steady influx of individuals that puts increasing pressure on ageing infrastructure and creaking systems that already battle with the weight of a growing population. Already, more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, with that number expected to reach 80% by 2050.

Looking at the e-government strategies of many African countries, it is clear that there is a will to be in the vanguard of the region’s e-government movement. The Kenyan government recognises that e-government can be “an economic pillar, a social pillar and a political pillar.” The South African government pledges that it will have 50 services automated on e-government platforms in 2014 and has articulated the need for greater “citizen engagement”. In North Africa, Algeria’s 2013 strategy refers to the development of online services for the benefit of its citizens, as illustrated by the government’s H1N1 National Hotline, a portal page with a section for citizens to access medical resources and share information on symptoms to monitor for the H1N1 flu.

Additional areas that could get a boost from increased bandwidth include managed services revolving around e-commerce, e-health, e-government and e-learning, according to Julius Opio, SEACOM's head of sales.

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.