IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Addressing the industry at the ASSOCHAM Focus conference in New Delhi, Planning Commission member secretary Raajeva Ratna Shah disclosed the 11th five year plan for 2008-2012. The plan is in keeping with digital content production and distribution in India.

Information Technology experts have revealed that 68% of Nigeria’s population is currently still not connected to the Internet.

The statistics was made public, on Tuesday, August 18 at the launch of Androidone held at Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

MTN’s CEO, Mr. Michael Ikpoki, while launching the first of its kind collaboration between the telecom company, Infinix, Google, and online sale outlet, Jumia, said Nigeria, was yet to fully tap into the benefits offered by getting connected to the Internet.

By 9.30am today I will have skyped Malawi, emailed Ghana, Facebooked Nepal, paid a bill online and used the satnav on my mobile phone. It feels a long time since we first got colour TV at home and, years later, when I accessed the internet using a dial-up modem. When I recalled these moments to my son he yawned. Aged, 19, he doesn’t remember a time before ubiquitous connectivity.

According to a new report from the World Bank, more than 40% of the global population now has internet access. On average, eight in ten people in the developing world own a mobile phone. Even in the poorest 20% of households this number is nearly seven in ten, making cellphones more prevalent than toilets or clean water.

From basic Internet and telephony to sophisticated cloud offerings, connectivity and communication are the heart of ICT, and central to delivering these services is the network backbone, enabling access for connectivity. While multiple undersea cables have landed on the African continent, providing the potential for high-speed connectivity, much of the population remains unable to access this, which is slowing business growth.

Last week, on 21 January, saw the first for the year meeting between representatives from the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the EU Commission dedicated to discussing and finding solutions for one of the major socio-technological problems today – that of the digital divide.

The meeting itself was conducted virtually and involved those CoR members who conform a specialized Broadband Platform team, whose work is to generate ideas and opinions which are then presented twice a year to the Commission as a way of helping it in the formation of its relevant policies.

Kenya has, in partnership with Google’s sister firm, Loon, launched a fleet of 35 internet balloons that will provide internet services to remote areas of the country. This is the first balloon-powered internet to launch in Africa. Nixon Muganda explains how these will work and the opportunities they can bring.

Q: How do internet balloons work and do many countries use them?

Google’s internet balloons are wireless Internet connectivity towers that float in the stratosphere. They beam Internet signals to earth-based stations, which then transmit the internet to users through internet service providers.

In February 2015, the European Commission's Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) ranked Denmark, Sweden and Finland at first, second and fourth place respectively in a list of the European Union's most digital nations, based on 2013 and 2014 data.

Only the Netherlands could foil a Nordic 1, 2, 3 atop the list – and, as Norway and Iceland are not in the European Union (EU), they didn't feature.

New information and communications technologies (ICTs) — including the internet of things (IoT) and advanced data analytics using artificial intelligence — have become essential tools for many city governments. Smart-city innovations are helping to boost efficiencies, improve infrastructure and confront urgent challenges — such as rapid population growth, social inequality and climate change.

Yet, along with their well-documented benefits, new technologies are ushering in new risks and unintended consequences. Increasingly, cybersecurity, privacy rights and the gap between those who have access to new technologies and those who don’t — aka the digital divide — are receiving greater scrutiny. Getting the risk-reward balance right is key for citizens’ wellbeing.

2200 Frauen in Städten und stadtnahen Gebieten aus den Ländern Ägypten, Indien, Mexiko und Uganda wurden für die Studie zu ihrer Internetnutzung befragt. Die Ergebnisse wurden im Rahmen einer zweitägigen internationalen Arbeitstagung des US-Außenministeriums und der Organisation “UN Women“ vorgestellt.

Counties such as Nakuru and Kisumu are in the process of putting up free Wi-Fi hotspots for their residents.

Meanwhile, telecom player Orange Kenya is also helping to setup Wi-Fi services in various regions in the country. Orange, in turn, plans to support county governments with implementing e-security, revenue collection and management, e-health services and online education initiatives.

Q: Tell us more about Cisco's "Internet of things, internet of everything," in the context of infrastructural challenges in the emerging markets you operate in?

The Visual Non-Visual Network (V.O.) has come up with a project to make Smart City more inclusive for blind people in Malta, while also turning the area into a greener space.

“This project originated because our blind members were always curious to visit and understand what is Smart about Smart City. Eventually, we came to the understanding that there is nothing really Smart about Smart City,” the V.O. told Lovin Malta.

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda set the tone at the outset, saying, "Investment and trade -- as opposed to aid and charity -- must drive the transformation of our economies." He called for a dynamic ICT sector to connect Africa to the global information superhighway. "In order to realize this much-needed economic revolution, we have to forge productive relationships between government and business," said Kagam

The study showed however that some sectors of Irish industry are ahead of EU averages for ICT use.

It also revealed that EU spending on ICT research is less than half of US levels.

By 2020, the European Commission wants all households to have access to high-speed broadband, as part of its "Digital Agenda". By 2015, all patients could have access to their online medical records wherever they are in the EU.

These data published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, represent only a small part of the results of a survey on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) usage in households and by individuals in the EU27 Member States, Iceland, Norway, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey. As well as internet use and broadband connections, the survey also covers other indicators such as e-commerce, e-skills and e-government.

The chief of media relations and public information of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Sanjay Acharya told Highway Africa News Agency (HANA), that the ICT industry takes the lead of those commitments.

African Information, Communication and Technology experts, Governments, civil society, youths, the media, private sectors gathered in Accra last week to explore ways of bridging the ICT divide. Experts, meeting at African Regional Preparatory Conference of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS), in Accra, deliberated on the need to revolutionise the ICT sectors in Africa and bridge the digital divide.