According to the e-Government document, the country has experienced marginal growth in information and communication technology (ICT), which has seen its ranking improve by just one position.
It states that Swaziland now occupies the 145th place at the lower end of the ranking though better placed than countries in Western Africa (Ghana ranked 147 to Niger at 183). The document says competition in the African telecommunications market was increasingly intense.
“The Information Technology Union (ITU) shows, for example, in the 2009 telecommunications development report that 93% of countries in Africa have established regulators. As a result, Africa is the continent with the highest number of regulators in the world.
“Experience in both developed and developing countries shows that an open telecommunications sector is a key enabler for the sector to flourish. Telecommunications in Africa has become far more dynamic with liberalisation,” reads the document.
It states that policy and legal frameworks support the development of a competitive ICT market in the country based on principles of open markets and fair competition. The e-government document says government has reduced its direct involvement in the ICT market, adding that Swaziland, however, has one of the few remaining monopolistic telecommunications sectors on the continent. It states that issues of market structure, absence of private operators, regulatory and service provisions fused within the incumbent government owned monopoly regulations all limit greater access for individuals and enterprise to have basic access to Internet and mobile computing services.
The document says a major reason for the high cost of bandwidth was due to the transmission networks both to access to undersea cables which has to traverse other countries given Swaziland‘s landlocked geographical position.
Adding, it says a survey carried out by Research ICT Africa (RIA) shows that for those accessing the internet however, bandwidth quality and price appear to be among the major reasons given for not finding the Internet useful.
...e-govt can help SD create new economic sectors
E-GOVERNMENT in Swaziland can help create new economic sectors towards attracting investment and business ventures, it has been noted.
According to an e-Government document it would also act as a vehicle for social change by securing co-operation, efficiency and knowledge and efficacy towards the meeting of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and therefore lead to substantive gains in poverty reduction.
“It can motivate and facilitate public as well as private institutions in response to standards in education, infrastructure and service provision.
The e-Government strategy will also facilitate the cohesion of effort between government and the private sector in order to optimise resource management and integration towards sustainable growth and augment Swaziland‘s competitivity,” reads the document.
It says many countries in Africa have designed and embarked upon the implementation of e-Government strategies.
The document says government initiated a process to have an e-Government Strategy in 2011, when through the cabinet secretary and the head of the civil service it approached the Commonwealth Secretariat to assist it with the design of such a strategy.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Nomthandazo Nkambule
Quelle/Source: The Swazi Observer, 17.03.2014
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