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Africa - Offline And Waiting for the Web
The nytfeed provides us with an article about the current state of internet connectivity on the African continent. Only 4 percent of Africa's population has regular access to the internet, with most of those people living in North African countries, or the country of South Africa. This might seem like a market ripe for development, but the article explains that there are numerous difficulties involved getting an infrastructure project off the ground. "Africa's only connection to the network of computers and fiber optic cables that are the Internet's backbone is a $600 million undersea cable running from Portugal down the west coast of Africa. Built in 2002, the cable was supposed to provide cheaper and faster Web access, but so far that has not happened. Prices remain high because the national telecommunications linked to the cable maintain a monopoly over access, squeezing out potential competitors. And plans for a fiber optic cable along the East African coast have stalled over similar access issues. Most countries in Eastern Africa, like Rwanda, depend on slower satellite technology for Internet service." The good news is that, of course, progress is being made. Just ... slowly.
Yeah, the internet is one of the last things Africa needs.
I'd say that Social, Political, and Agricultural reforms are FAR more important to the average African than the good old WWW.
Africa is living proof that imposition of a foreign structure and hierarchy followed by throwing fists-full of aid money is not enough to improve the lives of a people.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 is the magic number.
I heard, Nigeria is about to be connected. I received mail from my new business partner down there today. If all overdue money transfers go through well, fiber optic broadband for the people is just around the corner. Or so I'm told.
A World in a Grain of Sand / Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Infinity in the Palm of your Hand / And Eternity in an Hour.
Truly enough, the traditional monopolies of the telecom companies are what's keeping the prices high up. To talk about the case I know best, the Moroccan telecom company IAM (Maroc Telecom) abuses its monopoly in so many ways that citing them would require a whole article. The people benefiting from that are, of course, the political and business elite. It wouldn't surprise me that the government is purposely keeping the masses off the Web to keep them blindfolded. Aware citizens would certainly demand change from the dictatorial regimes Africa's infested with.
Res publica non dominetur
A bit off-topic here: I also got educated in a way...that is...I realized that it is actually hotter in USA (Texas) than in some of these African countries that we think are way too hot. Temperatures never went above 86 degrees F, in the capital (Kampala)...compared to the 113 degrees in some parts of the US lately.
I love the irony that there is a thread also on the front page about the few OLPCs that are being sent to Africa are being used to surf porn. How can you rich westerners downloading your terrabytes of porn just stand by while the poor children of Africa are smacking it to dial-up?!
The internet may not be a top priority (food, medicine, etc). But, bringing the internet to people may help with these things. What if poor farmers could learn new agricultural techniques using the internet? Or what about spreading better disease awareness? Not to mention the potential freedom it could bring once people realize there are alternative forms of government. Instead of just throwing fistfulls of money and medicine at these countries, open internet access could help them start doing more for themselves. No, I wouldn't say bringing the internet to third world countries is the top priority, but it certainly won't hurt.
Yeah, my Internet service provider commercially exploits me every month. What a ripoff. I get high-speed Internet and they want to get paid for it!!?!?
Why would anyone in Africa want that? High speed internet -- who needs it! Someone might make some money by providing it to people. Money! They should work for love! They should make fiber optic cables out of their own altruism and power the routers with the self-satisfaction they get from doing good.
What evil thing will those exploiters do next? Commercially exploit hunger by selling good, healthy food at a small profit? Better to starve than allow such exploitation!
Most of the people who left Africa in prehistoric times did so accidentally, with pretty much no knowledge that they were in Africa to begin with--it was pretty much random human migration, nothing more. Also, how on earth has some thinly-veiled racist remark gotten modded up a 3, Insightful?
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
As a South-African citizen I believe that progress is finally taking place, I also believe that South-Africa specifically is on the verge of a dramatic internet boom. Hopefully, other sub-Sahara country's will follow, but also learn from our mistakes. Up until a few years ago Telkom, the monopolizing, mainly government owned telecoms operator was the only company in South Africa that was allowed, by law, to provide landline-based services and VOIP was illegal. Since the beginning of the new Government in 1994 the tale of South-African public internet-connectivity has been a long and tragic tale that has been told many times over. (check hellkom.co.za) But finally we are beginning to see some progress : Telkom now has a competitor, Neotel, and since their licensing, broadband prices started to fall dramatically, and it is continuing to do so. Telkom claims that it will have 1 million broadband subscribers by 2009 and for us, although most people are skeptical, that is a HUGE leap forward. With our growing economy and WIMAX just around the corner, proper broadband internet connectivity might just become one of the most successful tools for education, and most experts these days agree that education is the best weapon that we can use to fight our problems like HIV/AIDS and crime.
Africa has 200 million cellphone users (about the same as the number of US cell phone users, and 10x the number of fixed phone lines in Africa). To me that seems like the obvious answer for last mile connectivity. Some might hook those phones up to computers with bluetooth, but maybe they should just skip that step and use smartphones without computers. Already Africa is using cellphones to increase productivity, such as cell phone banking.
Greetings. I live and work in Africa (http://therandymon.com/content/view/104/59/), so I happen to know a little something about the way things are. Frankly, I don't see the scandal in the fact that Africa doesn't have good access to the Internet, and reject this article on the grounds that (a) as usual, the story is focused on lack of infrastructure, which is not the correct focus, and (b) as usual paints a bleaker picture than neecssary.
It's true service is slower and more expensive but in the capitals and in major cities there is more than enough to go around. In Benin there is dial up service for about $15 per month plus the cost of the phone call, ADSL service in the capital for about $75 a month for 256/128, and if that's not good enough you can pay more (up to $200/month) for greater bandwidth. It's more expensive than I'd like and the service is occasionally down for service, not to mention phone line trouble, saturated networks, and so on, but that's another story. The point is, I've got Internet in the capital (Cotonou, if you care) and it's essentially satisfactory. Inland in places like Burkina Faso and Mali they've got internet connections as well, but they are more expensive and the bandwidth isn't as good, since the network goes through the coastal nations - Ghana, Togo, and Benin. The big agencies - UN, embassies, major companies working in the region - also have available satellite internet at much higher prices.
Lack of infrastructure is not the problem. Lack of a market willing to pay for the service that demands that infrastructure is, and as the market develops the infrastructure will suddenly seem like a worthwhile investment. You don't get Africans connected by building a bunch of equipment and hoping they show up. The second factor is regulation, which is clearly an area where African governments have some growing to do. To build a telecommunications sector (and make no mistake about it, if you put in cable and connections you're building the sector) you need effective government regulation. Unfortunately that has to happen from within, and no multinational company can effectively impose good government (and thus good government oversight) on a nation. The article's story about Kigali is a perfect example of this point.
In the meantime, where's the scandal? I have friends and colleagues who live in small villages inland, not in the capital. Every one of them has a hotmail/yahoo.fr/gmail account, and when they need to use the Internet they go to a cybercafe for a quick hour or two. That fits their budget and works well.
If you want to connect Africa, help educate the people so they can improve their own economic situation. They will form the basis for a stronger economic market for these services, and the system will be sustainable. Impose on these growing countries the infrastructure before they are ready to sustain it and you will just perpetuate the development myth.
Before leaving this post, I highly recommend you read White Man's Burden by William Easterly, if the idea of development interests you. After 40 years of investing in growing countries we know a lot more about it than before, and there are many lessons to be learned.
If this were Usenet, I'd killfile the lot of you.