Increasing broadband services should improve Africa's telecom sector as more African countries move to implement e-governance, e-learning and e-health programs, which have been hindered by the region's insufficient broadband infrastructure and capacity.
African governments increasingly practice e-governance, e-health and e-learning to improve transparency in the political system and efficiency in hospitals and schools. Simultaneously, demand for broadband capacity has risen significantly in the region.
The commission will foster universal access to broadband-enabled applications that will help in the sharing of scientific knowledge and research findings, as well as in enhancing social cohesion and promoting cultural diversity, according to UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information Abdul Waheed Khan.
Africa has a number of undersea cable systems, but the countries with full access to the cables are those along the seabed with landing stations, while landlocked countries including Zambia and Zimbabwe buy capacity from those countries at a high cost.
The commission wants to implement measures that will allow all countries in the region and around the world to have equal access to broadband services.
"Zambia buys its broadband capacity from neighboring countries that is later sold to service providers at exorbitant prices," Sipo Kapumpa, director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, told Computerworld Zambia.
The president of Rwanda Paul Kagame will lead the commission, which is dubbed Broadband Commission for Digital Development and whose commissioners include the secretary general of the ITU Dr. Hamadoun Touré.
Khan said broadband has the power to spur human and economic development and that the latest information and communication technology has opened new opportunities for the creation, preservation, dissemination and use of information.
UNESCO (United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization) wants to promote "knowledge societies" in which people are empowered to improve their livelihoods and contribute to their social and economic development, he said.
Earlier this year, the ITU established the Build on the Broadband' initiative, designed to raise awareness of the benefits of high-speed networks, not in just communication, but across a whole range of sectors including agriculture.
---
Autor(en)/Author(s): Michael Malakata
Quelle/Source: Computerworld Zambia, 21.05.2010
Bitte besuchen Sie/Please visit:
