IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Andrew Rugege, the Director of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) regional office for Africa, made the call Friday at the closure of a three-day annual ITU Regional Development Forum in Kigali.

"If we want to ensure equitable access to ICTs in our countries, we need to build broadband infrastructure that covers the whole country, connecting all villages coupled with affordable services," he said.

Convergence Partners has unveiled a new infrastructure fund dedicated to the information and communications technology (ICT) sector in Africa, with a first close of $145 million.

The Convergence Partners Communications Infrastructure Fund (CPCIF) is targeting a final close of $250 million, and will target communications infrastructure and related services and technologies across sub-Saharan Africa.

The New Times reports Rwandan Prime Minister Pierre Damien Habumuremyi called for more commitment toward projects that will change the continent.

At the event organized by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) and hosted in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications, Ghana, National Communications Authority and the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), Ghana’s Minister for Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrisu called on African governments to pay attention to ICT infrastructure for economic development.

The mobile revolution in Africa has had a powerful impact on job creation and community development. Now, off the back of this technological leap forward, countries are beginning to make progress towards transforming major cities into smart cities.

Nairobi, Cape Town and Kigali are touted as some of the most advanced cities on the continent currently. They are beginning to connect to the internet of things (IoT) and make progress towards becoming truly smart cities. The continent is at an advantage when it comes to implementing smart cities technology, according to Deloitte, because of rapid urbanisation, a growing middle class, a prevailing entrepreneurial mindset and the ability to leapfrog older technologies to implement the new.

Digital public infrastructure (DPI) is emerging as a core component of socio-economic advancement. For African economies navigating a rapidly digitizing global landscape, the importance of DPI cannot be overstated. It offers the structural backbone to support digital services across sectors, from financial inclusion and e-governance to agriculture, education, health, intra-African trade etc.

Unlike private digital infrastructure, DPI refers to open, interoperable systems that enable a wide range of actors, government, business, civil society to deliver digital services at scale. Foundational elements of DPI include digital identity systems, interoperable payment systems, data exchange layers, and digital authentication protocols. When designed and governed well, DPI enables inclusive access to services, reduces the cost-of-service delivery, increases transparency and boosts economic participation.

'We are not waiting for transformation to happen. We are building it.'

In the African context, digital transformation is often misunderstood as just a matter of adopting new tools or platforms.

But in my experience, it is far more than that. At its core, digital transformation is about using technology to simplify and speed up how we meet the needs of our customers — not just reactively, but proactively, precisely, and with purpose.

The participants who were from Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago and Zambia picked up the finer points on the drafting of legal frameworks to facilitate e-governance in an event organised by the Malta-Commonwealth Third Country Training Programme.

Ahmed Ibrahim Wakea Allah is a farmer in Sudan. By taking part in an e-agriculture project, he quadrupled his wheat yield in just one year and went from making a loss of 8000 Sudanese pounds in the 2013/14 season to a profit of 80 000 Sudanese pounds in 2014/15. E-agriculture is an emerging field that sees agricultural services, technology dissemination, information and communication delivered or enhanced through the internet of things (IoT).

Combing farming and ICT yields positive results

Agriculture is strategically important in supporting the livelihoods of the majority of the rural population in Africa and closer to home in South Africa. The growth of e-agriculture has the potential to accelerate agriculture and rural development, promote food security and reduce rural poverty in developing markets. - See more at: http://www.itwebafrica.com/home-page/opinion/235543-opinion-e-agriculture-how-ict-is-taking-farming-into-the-future#sthash.aNqOTmlm.dpuf

Among the global e-innovators e-policy followed e-business, which was enabled by an explosion in internet usage fueled by increasingly cheap and fast internet bandwidth.

This was highlighted at the start of the three-day '3rd annual African e-government Forum 2009' that is taking place in Kigali since yesterday.

Global VSAT Forum, the association of the global satellite industry, said it will be doubling the number of satellites serving the continent.

Global Mobile Association, the industry body of GSM service providers, promised to spend $50 billion to connect the remote areas of the continent over the next five years.

Kaapanda said this in a speech read on his behalf by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mbeuta Ua-Ndjarakana, on Friday at the launch of the 2009 African Economic Outlook report.

There’s no question that a smart city extends beyond infrastructure and urban planning. For a smart city to work, it requires smart citizens and technology plays a pivotal role in enabling civic engagement.

If a city wants to empower those who live in it, it requires initiatives that improve service delivery and technology is the solution to making e-government platforms a reality.

Washington. Shimmering new call centres, the rapid explosion of mobile phones and Internet connections today mark the landscape of many African cities—where improved information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure is helping connect urban dwellers to global networks.

International Telecommunications Union - ITU secretary general Hamadoun Toure said limited development in infrastructure especially energy development and distribution on the African continent is hindering the fast growth in the telecommunications sector.

Officially opening the 6th Information Technologies Africa 2011 Africa Conference and Exhibition at GICC yesterday, the Minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology, Johnnie Swartz, said development of the ICT sector is of outmost importance and could facilitate the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

One example is a telephone hotline in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Callers can receive information about family planning and the prevention of unwanted pregnancies. They are able to speak privately with trained operators about contraceptive methods and about health clinics.

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.