Information Technology in Africa

• "The Digital Advance: More than half the world's people have never made a phone call. Will ICTs assure us change?" - Cees J. Hamelink, UN Chronicle, No.3, 1998.

In July 2000, Wired Magazine published an article that draws the map of Africa in terms of connectivity and use of Information Technology. The data reproduced here show  the African countries ranked according to the number of Internet Service Providers (ISP), number of Internet Users (NET), number of cell phone subscribers (CELL), number of personal computers (PC). These IT indicators are compared with traditional indicators such as the population number percentage of people having access to safe drinking water (H₂0) and percentage of people with access to sanitation (SAN).

Report points up Africa's tech gap

By HARRY DUNPHY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (October 30, 2000 9:49 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - Africa has more than 10 percent of the world's population but fewer than one percent of the world's Internet users. Even what little usage the continent has is spotty: A million people in South Africa enjoy Web access but practically no one does in war-racked Congo.

The U.S. Internet Council's State of the Internet Report 2000 places the number of African users at 2.5 million, compared with 136 million in North America, 83 million in Europe and 679 million in Asia.

To help Africa bridge the digital divide and gain access to new technology, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and executives from several multinational high technology companies met Monday to establish the Africa Technology Forum.

The nonprofit organization is to serve as a platform for African-associated companies to exchange ideas, establish an online information clearinghouse and encourage development of the continent's high tech industry.

"The forum acts as a magnet for African entrepreneurs and companies with interests in Africa to form bonds that will serve as the building blocks for a new generation of thinking," said Cameroon-born Rebecca Enonchong. She is chief executive of Application Technologies Inc., a $20 million Washington-area global information technology consulting firm.

Enonchong spoke at the start of a weeklong Africa Forum 2000 conference sponsored by the World Bank/International Monetary Fund Africa Club, a 1,200-member group of the organizations' African staff members and non-Africans who support them.

Welcoming the participants, Horst Koehler, the IMF's chief executive, said, "Development of a vibrant private sector ... is essential to growth and poverty reduction in Africa."

Representing the Clinton administration, Deputy Trade Representative Susan Esserman noted that the forum was being formed as 34 African nations become eligible for the new U.S. program the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, which took effect Oct. 1.

"We seek to ensure that the private sector of Africa is poised to take advantage of the act's benefits and the American private sector and public become more aware of the potential of Africa," Esserman said.

The new U.S. law establishes a free trade area between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa, giving countries duty and quota access to the U.S. market. It also encourages multinational corporations to invest in Africa, which some critics say encourages a neocolonialist vision of development.

Several African countries are privatizing their telecommunications sectors in the hope that a burgeoning industry will help overcome the lack of facilities that stands in the way of increased Internet access.

In Ghana, which in 1994 became the first West African nation connected to the Internet, several cellular telephone operators are in place, and Internet providers are trying to develop increased connections to the World Wide Web.

The United Nations and the private Global Technology Organization are expanding a pilot project in Mali providing Internet training to other countries on the continent.

Over four weeks in June, volunteers from the University of Pennsylvania set up four computer centers in Mali and trained 120 residents, mostly students and educators who could then teach others. Organizers also set up a Web site to help the residents obtain information on education and health.

African countries :

with more than 20 Internet providers
with 10 to 20 Internet providers
with 3 to 9 Internet providers
with 1 to 2 Internet providers
with no Internet provider
all countries

Paradox of the Global Village

There are now fewer phone lines on the whole continent than there are in Manhattan

Michael Behar, Wired, July 2000

Countries with more than 20 Internet providers

Countries with 10 to 20 Internet providers

Countries with 3 to 9 Internet providers

Countries with 1 to 2 Internet providers

Countries with no Internet provider

Legend

Africa : all countries

Country	Population	ISPs	Net	Cell	PC	H20	SAN
Algeria	31,133,486	1	2,250	18,000	160,000	78%	91%
Angola	11,177,537	2	12,000	9,800	10,000	32%	16%
Benin	6,305,567	6	6,000	6,300	7,000	50%	20%
Botswana	1,464,167	3	3,000	23,000	40,000	70%	55%
Burkina Faso	11,575,898	3	2,700	2,700	10,000	78%	18%
Burundi	5,735,937	1	450	600	n/a	52%	51%
Cameroon	15,456,092	1	6,000	4,200	30,000	41%	40%
Cape Verde	405,748	1	150	1,000	n/a	n/a	n/a
Central African Republic	3,444,951	1	600	700	4,000	19%	46%
Chad	7,557,436	1	900	n/a	8,000	24%	21%
Comoros	562,723	0	600	n/a	2,000	n/a	n/a
Côte d'Ivoire	15,818,068	5	6,000	91,200	65,000	72%	54%
Democratic Republic of Congo	50,481, 305	1	1,500	8,900	n/a	27%	9%
Djibouti	447,439	1	900	200	6,000	n/a	n/a
Egypt	67,273,906	40	300,000	90,800	600,000	64%	11%
Equatorial Guinea	465,746	1	600	300	1,000	n/a	n/a
Eritrea	3,984,723	0	900	n/a	n/a	7%	n/a
Ethiopia	59,680,383	1	7,200	n/a	35,000	27%	8%
Gabon	1,225,853	2	3,000	9,500	10,000	67%	76%
Gambia	1,336,320	1	450	5,000	4,000	76%	37%
Ghana	18,887,626	3	15,000	21,900	40,000	56%	42%
Guinea	7,538,953	4	900	21,600	25,000	62%	14%
Guinea-Bissau	1,234,555	1	450	n/a	n/a	53%	20%
Kenya	28,808,658	10	45,000	6,800	100,000	53%	77%
Lesotho	2,128,950	0	600	9,800	n/a	52%	6%
Liberia	2,923,725	0	225	n/a	n/a	46%	30%
Libya	4,992,838	1	7,500	20,000	n/a	90%	86%
Madagascar	14,873,387	3	4,500	12,800	25,000	29%	15%
Malawi	10,000,416	1	6,000	10,500	8,000	45%	53%
Mali	10,429,124	4	1,500	4,500	9,000	37%	31%
Mauritania	2,581,738	1	300	n/a	15,000	64%	32%
Mauritius	1,182,212	1	39,000	60,500	100,000	98%	100%
Mayotte	149,336	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Morocco	29,661,636	70	120,000	116,600	200,000	52%	40%
Mozambique	19,124,335	8	12,000	6,700	40,000	32%	21%
Namibia	1,648,270	5	9,000	19,500	40,000	57%	34%
Niger	9,962,242	1	1,900	1,300	3,000	53%	15%
Nigeria	113,828,587	12	9,000	20,000	650,000	39%	36%
Republic of Congo	2,716,814	0	100	3,400	9,000	47%	9%
Reunion	717,723	n/a	1,500	50,300	30,000	n/a	n/a
Rwanda	8,154,933	1	300	5,000	n/a	n/a	n/a
Sao Tomé and Principe	154,878	1	4,000	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Senegal	10,051,930	6	7,500	22,100	120,000	50%	58%
Seychelles	79,164	1	3,000	3,800	10,000	n/a	n/a
Sierra Leone	5,296,651	2	450	n/a	n/a	34%	11%
Somalia	7,140,643	0	n/a	n/a	n/a	31%	22%
South Africa	43,426,386	70	1,622,000	2,500,000	2,100,000	70%	46%
Sudan	34,475,690	1	10,000	8,600	55,000	50%	22%
Swaziland	985,335	2	2,700	4,700	n/a	n/a	n/a
Tanzania	31,270,820	10	7,500	37,900	55,000	49%	86%
Togo	5,081,413	7	5,100	7,500	30,000	63%	26%
Tunisia	9,513,603	2	110,000	39,000	138,000	99%	96%
Uganda	22,804,973	3	9,000	30,000	40,000	34%	57%
Zambia	9,663,535	2	9,000	5,200	60,000	43%	23%
Zimbabwe	11,163,160	13	30,000	55,000	130,000	77%	66%

From 'Africa.com. Continental Shift', in Wired, July 2000, pp.137-139.
Sources : eMarketer, World Bank, CIA World Factbook 1999, ITU, UNECA, Nua Internet Surveys.

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