A
THE IMPACT OF ICTs ON AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT
re we seeing history repeat itself ? In the aftermath of the African independence movement of the 1960s, many communications experts from the West had claimed that the spread of technology in Third World countries would favour, even accelerate, their socioeconomic development. A leading exponent of this view was American Wilbur Schramm, who, in his influential book Mass Media and National Development, described the hopes embodied by television for the fields of education and development. In the end, television’s impact on development proved well below expectations. Be that as it may, information and communication technologies (ICTs) are today’s new television, bestowed with the power to transform a society both economically and socially. Can they succeed where other technologies have failed? Before answering this question, one must first examine Africa’s situation in terms of the penetration of these new technologies. With respect to the Internet, the African continent is considered the world’s biggest laggard, with users representing only 5.5% of its population and a penetration rate of 7%. On the other hand, mobile telephony has witnessed an explosion, with growth exceeding 500% in less than ten years and an average penetration of 37%. Result: between 1998 and
EDITORIAL BY GERBA MALAM
illnesses, to compensate for the scarcity of medical staff and to avoid needless travelling. Finally, ICTs provide a means for effecting political change by enabling users to exert pressure for the democratization of regimes. An example of this is the role played by social media networks in the recent popular revolt in Tunisia, as participant, supporter and even as causative factor. They were indispensable for boosting the morale of the revolutionaries, by showing them they were not alone and by raising Westerners’ awareness of the situation. On the other side, detractors believe the effectiveness of the new technologies is overestimated. For them, the penetration of technology is not synonymous with progress. “Technology is a magnifier in that its impact is multiplicative, not additive, with regard to social change,” says Kentaro Toyama, professor at the Berkeley School of Information, in California. After observing telecentres in Asia and Africa over a five-year period, he has come to the conclusion that their successes have been “rare, fleeting and far apart.” While ICTs no doubt provide access to modern resources that can help counter a climate of lack (short-
IT CANNOT BE SAID THAT TECHNOLOGY IS USELESS. RATHER, THE MYTH SURROUNDING ITS OMNIPOTENCE NEEDS TO BE PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE. 2009, mobile service registrations have risen from two million to more than 450 million. The news is good on the fibre optics front too: Africa’s international Internet bandwidth will grow tremendously by late 2012. Thousands of kilometres of underwater cables are being installed along its coasts. About 15 underground fibre-optic cables, providing a throughput of 32 terabits/second, surround the continent. In short, then, while the digital divide remains quite pronounced as regards personal computers and the Internet, portable telephones are doing very well indeed. Say what one will, the implementation of infrastructure continues at a brisk pace. Are all these efforts having an impact on development? On this matter, there is a wide divergence of opinion. On one side, there are those who defend the benefits of the new technologies. In their view, the rapid technological progress experienced by developing countries has contributed to raising revenues and to reducing the level of absolute poverty from 29% in 1990 to 18% in 2004. The World Bank claims, for instance, that 10% growth in mobile penetration results in 1.2% growth for a sub-Saharan country. Other experts estimate that between 2000 and 2012, the telephony sector will generate nearly $71 billion US for the same region. In the field of education, distance teaching has helped bridge the need for teachers, and the African Virtual University, founded in 1997, has trained close to 9,000 scientists, engineers and technicians. Meanwhile, in the health sector, teleradiology and telediagnosis have made it possible to identify those patients requiring monitoring of certain
comings of the higher education system, of medical coverage, and so on), the environment remains fundamentally undeveloped. Thus, while the African Virtual University enables African students to access quality higher education, it does not for all that solve the problem of the deterioration of African universities with respect to infrastructure and their quality of teaching. Similarly, while telemedicine may enable patients to access the medical services they require, it does not resolve the issues of hospital deterioration and quality of care. In brief, to think that the dissemination of suitable technologies on a large scale can in and of itself remedy poverty and other social ills is nothing short of techno-utopian. For if such an outcome truly were within the power of technology to achieve, how does one explain that the number of poor people continues to rise in Africa? Does this debate need to be settled one way or the other? Truth be told, according to the side one takes, there will be a tendency to emphasize either the successes or the failures of these technologies. Yet in all cases, it cannot be said that technology is useless. Rather, the myth surrounding its omnipotence needs to be put into perspective. Technology is not a panacea, but merely one piece of a larger puzzle. And so, Kentaro Toyama is right to point out that economically developed countries established themselves as economic powers way before the arrival of digital technology. Their advanced production techniques and consumption of information technologies should therefore be interpreted as a result of economic progress rather than as a primary cause of it.
2011 SPECIAL ISSUE AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
3
9
At a time when the number of development projects is constantly growing on the continent, Africa must regain sovereignty over its frequency spectrums.
18
With more than 350 million subscribers in a population just over a billion, the cell phone’s progress on the African continent is downright dizzying.
A CONNECTED
AFRICA 4
2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
DIGITAL AFRICA Africa goes wild for THE
MOBILE
PHONE
29
Despite the digital divide, just about everyone is finding a way to connect to the Web for information and communication.
EDITORIAL BY GERBA MALAM
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
10
Infrastructure
Africa looks to satellites
12 14
DIGITAL AFRICA
THE BATTLE FOR SOVEREIGNTY OVER ITS FREQUENCY SPECTRUM
the new Eldorado of telecommunications
16
Infrastructure
The switch to digital is sluggish
Telephony
18
Africa goes wild for the mobile phonE
20
consumption
Africa
Competition is Fierce
24
DIASPORA
AFRICA, MORE THAN EVER JUST A PHONE CALL AWAY
Cybernetics
30
DIGITAL DIVIDE
34 36
THE NEW
ELDORADO
OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS
11
The continent has embraced the new information technologies and now represents an important market for international operators.
MOBILE PROVIDERS
The Fixed Phone Capitulates to Mobile Technology
22
32
AFRICA
CONTENTS
3
Mobile Providers
AFRICA AND THE « GLOBAL VILLAGE » KILOMETRES APART FIBRE OPTICS
ON THE DIGITAL FRONT LINES
COMPETITION IS FIERCE
22
While the digital divide is slow to be bridged, the bulk of digital technology is in place on a continent in step with the times.
Internet Cafés
The New Addiction Multimedia
Africa’s shift toward convergence
38 Government the dematerialization of public services 40
African Radio and Television on the Road to Digital
42
Africa’s Internet press taking baby steps
INTERNET CAFÉS ADDICTION THE NEW
Audiovisual
42
Africans have taken a shine to these new communication centres, although sometimes for dubious reasons.
2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
5
DIGIT
TAL AFRICA Lagging behind developmentally on several fronts, the African continent seems to be catching up as far as new technologies go. Although metrics and trends tend to minimize the extent of development, much groundwork is being done and is meeting with some degree of success thanks to the fertile business climate. The communications sector, particularly mobile telephony, is experiencing a heretofore unseen clamour for its products, from farmers in the most backward rural regions to the trendiest urban sophisticates, and infrastructure is rapidly coming together to meet the numerous local needs.
According to experts, this comes as no surprise, as the accelerated spread of networks in the least advanced countries has been a strategic priority for lenders since the G7 summit in Brussels in 1995 and the G8 summit in Okinawa in 2000. The World Bank, the IMF and other major international organizations, with the support of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), aim to liberalize the sector through the development of a universal telecommunications service, thereby reinvigorating struggling economies. This multifaceted information society is the subject of this special issue.
2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
9
Just like other nations, African countries can no longer do without satellites, whether to observe the Earth or to transmit communications. South Africa, Nigeria and Algeria even own their own satellites.
T
o be broadcast by satellite has become a trend in Africa’s television industry. A heretofore unaffordable privilege that the wide-open possibilities afforded by technology have made accessible for practically most of Africa’s television broadcasters. The stuff of myth in the early 90s, satellite transmission is now within reach for many telecommunications and television operators. The sky is teeming with various satellites sweeping over Africa, particularly satellites in geostationary orbit. The satellite that object launched into space and that rotates around the Earth has become essential for observation, photography, meteorology and telecommunications. And Africa is an attractive market in full growth. In the television sector alone, there is an unmatched interest in satellites. According to an official from Cameroon’s Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, “satellite technology is the most reliable and effective means of transmitting television and radio programming across the entire continent.” The number of satellite TV stations that can be broadcast is virtually limitless, and practically the entire population is within reach. Antennas equipped with decoders are available for purchase in all African marketplaces, even in the most backward localities, at prices everyone can afford: about 35,000 francs (77 US dollars), no subscription required.
African satellites Though they do cover Africa and are undeniably sources of national pride, these satellites have not a single African component in them. Three African nations have decided to enter the league 10 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
Parfait N. Siki of satellite-owning nations. South Africa was the first to do so, with the launch of SunSat in 1999. It marked a genuine revolution for Africa and a challenge to other nations already equipped with their own satellites. SunSat was launched by NASA and has successfully fulfilled all mission objectives, namely to take inexpensive, high-resolution photographs of South Africa. On September 17, 2009, from the Baikonour base in Kazakhstan, South Africa launched SumbandilaSat aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. The satellite payload included a high-resolution camera for gathering images for use in infrastructure cartography and in the monitoring of agriculture and land use, human migration patterns and the water levels of dams and reservoirs. Algeria followed suit on the difficult and expensive path toward the launch of a satellite. Its first satellite, Alsat-1, was placed into orbit on November 28, 2002, nearly three years after South Africa’s first satellite. Alsat-1 is a small cartography satellite designed chiefly for use in the management of natural resources and the prevention of natural disasters such as flooding and earthquakes. In July 2010, Algeria launched a second satellite, Alsat-2, a reflection of the nation’s grand space ambitions. Indeed, the Bouteflika administration’s satellite program, introduced in 2006, is funded to the tune of 82 billion dinars (one billion US dollars). It will run through to 2020 and involve the construction of a series of satellites that will serve, among other things, to support efforts to protect the environment, to help in the fight against desertification, and to improve communications. The last country to enter this select club is Nigeria. Nigeria-SAT-1 was successfully launched from Russia’s Plesetsk cosmodrome in September 2003. The satellite was built in Great Britain by Surrey Satellite Technology, with the participation of 15 select Nigerian scientists, at a cost of 13 million dollars.
However, it was well worth the expense. Data gathered by Nigeria-SAT-1 help avert natural disasters, assess crop yield, manage water resources, and monitor population growth. Of significant interest too is its use in the surveillance of the country’s oil pipelines, often prone to siphoning, oil being the country’s main resource. To further leverage these benefits, Nigeria has gone on to launch two more satellites, SAT-2 and Nigeria-SAT-X.
AFRICA LOOKS TO
SATELLITES The Rascom project
they must transit via Europe or the United States, at fees that run up to several million US dollars per year, according to Rascom’s
was launched in 2007. Funded through loans granted by the Libyan Foreign Bank (LFB), the African Development Bank Other African countries have found (AfDB), the West African Dea means of owning their own velopment Bank (WADB) and satellite while avoiding charges of The satellite has become essential for the Central African Developwasteful spending: consortiums. Bank (CADB), Rascom This was the impetus that gave rise observation, photography, meteorology and ment set its sights high from the to the Rascom (Regional African telecommunications. And Africa is an attractive start. A second satellite was Satellite Communications Organlaunched on August 10, 2010 isation) project. It is the response market in full growth. from a base in Guyana. of 53 African countries to the A signal that the battle for virtual inexistence of direct links between African countries, such that, in Web site. Rascom-QAF 1, the very first African skies will involve Africans as well, order to communicate among themselves, pan-African telecommunications satellite, bearing African arms. 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine 11
TELECOMMUNICATIONS L’AFRIQUE NUMÉRIQUE
INFRASTRUCTURE
DIGITAL AFRICA
THE BATTLE FOR SOVEREIGNTY OVER ITS FREQUENCY SPECTRUM
Africa has lost the battle for its underground resources, its lands and its skies. It must now wage a final battle, a crucial one, for control of its spectrum frequencies in the digital age.
T
he promise of the new digital era will go unfulfilled if African countries do not meet the basic condition for thriving in the digital economy, namely control of their spectrum frequencies. This condition is a sine qua non and no compromise is possible here. Some will find this a matter for philosophical discourse; I, on the contrary, hold that it is the very crux of the war. The advent of modern telecommunications networks is analogous to the introduction of the railroad during the industrial revolution that took place roughly a century ago. At stake is Africa’s sovereignty over telecommunications infrastructures (satellites, fibre-optic cables, and so on). The correlation between control of telecommunications infrastructures and reaping of the concomitant windfalls has been proven in nations such as New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Venezuela, India and China. These infrastructures are a source of multiple benefits: revenue for governments, greater competition between companies, and innovation for the people. Because they help provide services to citizens and contribute to the growth of companies, robust and increasingly efficient infrastructures lie at the heart of a true paradigm shift in wealth creation and distribution.
12 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
Ben Marc Diendéré Special Contribution
To whom do Africa’s telecommunications networks satellite and cable belong? In these times of dubious mobile and digital service offerings and cheap infrastructure, the question bears asking. For, while globalization and digitalization are knocking at Africa’s door, as the so-called Arab Spring clearly showed, telecommunications facilities on the continent are not independent, as the uprising also revealed: the “revolutionaries” had to resort to foreign networks to make their voices heard. There will be no sustainable development to speak of if African countries do not regain control of the spectrum, a valuable resource so critical for the future of Africa. Achieving such control must become an overriding priority nay, an obsession for governments, because to ignore this issue would be seriously negligent and tantamount to the
The digital era brings in its wake a battle for the spectrum, and with it, the latest generations of infrastructure. This invisible, intangible resource, concerning which Africans have had no say, is of inestimable value today. A nation in control of its spectrum controls its development in the areas of education, culture, health, the environment and the security of its people. Taking back control of the spectrum frequencies has had windfalls in the hundreds of billions of dollars for U.S., European, Asian and Latin American governments—gigantic sums that have helped boost corporate competitiveness and innovation. All these frequencies in the African skies need to belong to their rightful owners: Africans themselves. Like oil and gold, the frequency spectrum is a resource that makes the world go round.
All these frequencies in the African skies need to belong to their rightful owners : Africans themselves. abandonment of an entire generation of millions of African youth, who will not remain silent as their parents once did. There is consensus that the digital era, with its dematerialization of content and data, constitutes the latest revolution for mankind. The initiatives of the so-called BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) bear witness to this, as do those of ASEAN members, which have made the latter serious contenders for developing nation status. To say nothing of the European Union, the United States and Canada. We must find inspiration in all these models without making excuses. If we observe the investments made by countries around the world, by new and old economic communities alike, and the revenues reaped by them, it becomes evident that a nation that asserts control over this new order will be master of its destiny and that of its people.
The spectrum, an invisible source of wealth Africa has already lost sovereignty over its underground resources, as witnessed by the fact that land deeds pertaining to said resources are practically all held by foreign-owned operators. Indeed, a map showing ownership of the continent’s subsoil resources would paint a bleak and frightening portrait. Africa has lost sovereignty over its territory. There too, an ownership map would leave us speechless. And what of Africa’s sovereignty over its air space, that is, over everything touching upon aeronautics and commercial aviation? A true transportation nightmare. Consider, for instance, that it is more difficult for a West African to fly to East Africa than to China. A most bizarre situation, to be sure.
The anarchy that now reigns with respect to property and to royalties (collected or not) from licensing rights, as regards mobile telephony and as witnessed by the ubiquitous presence of foreign-owned radio and television broadcasters on the continent, combined with the unconcerted actions of African countries, leaves the field wide open for greedy players and paves the way for African nations to be kept in an alienating spiral of financial and cultural dependence, an economic subjugation that will only grow in the digital age.
The need for an urgent review of the spectrum property regime The African Union must ask each member to make an inventory of its spectrum and to present said inventory to its citizens and to the Union immediately. All countries must make individual or collective calls for tender, with local business consortiums or partnerships to be in charge of safeguarding the process and answerable for it. Foreign ownership rules for the telecommunications sector in effect in Western countries must also apply in Africa. The continent must get out of past agreements in effect today. An exhaustive review of its property regime is crucial. At a time when the number of development projects is constantly growing on the continent, Africa must regain sovereignty over its frequency spectrum. Africa’s skies are a limited resource and it is totally within its rights to stake a claim to its space, for the millions of young Africans who simply wish to be creative, entrepreneurial and whole members of the community of nations, without an inferiority complex.
2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine 13
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Regaining control of Africa’s spectrum
AFRICA,
THE NEW
ELDORADO
OF
TELECOMMUNICATION A veritable wellspring of growth, Africa has in the past decade witnessed a telecommunications boom, one driven by the mobile telephony sector in particular. Yet even as the continent undergoes a number of technological revolutions, it remains one of the key regions of the globe where much remains to be done, especially in terms of access to high-speed connectivity.
A
ccording to the 2008 global annual report by IDATE, the European institute for audiovisual and telecommunications (Institut des télécommunications et de l’audiovisuel en Europe), the telecommunications market in the Western world is expanding at a slower pace than in emerging economies, with 3.4% growth in Europe, 2.9% in North America and 6.2% in Asia-Pacific compared to an average of 10% in Latin America and 13.5% in Africa and the Middle East. Indeed, the market in Africa has taken a big leap forward in recent years, thanks in large part to the explosion of mobile telephony. As reported in a study conducted by the World Bank, a 10% growth in mobile telephony penetration translates into 1.2% GDP growth for a sub-Saharan country. In broad terms, private investment in Africa’s telecom sector between 2004 and 2007 has represented on average 1.3% of the GDP, or the equivalent of $11.5 billion. A significant 14 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
Vitraulle Mboungou source of economic growth and development, the sector has consequently taken on an important role in the economy of most African countries, representing 5% of overall GDP and becoming one of the most important sources of tax revenue on the continent (accounting for 11% of all such revenues in Chad, 10% in Congo and 9% in Cameroon), with effects rippling through all levels of African society, the first impact being on employment.
The ICT revolution The spin-offs of the telecommunications boom are particularly and directly felt in the thousands of jobs created, notably by large international groups such as Orange, MTN, Orascom, Bharthi-Zain and Vodacom, all of which have converged toward these highly profitable new technologies. According to Frontier Economics, one of Europe’s leading economic consultancy firms, the telecom sector employed 3.5 million people in Africa in 2007. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) also make an undeniable contribution to society, particularly in the fields of education and health. In education, for instance, ICTs make remote learning possible, which helps meet demand for
teachers as well as fight one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. A case in point, the African Virtual University, founded in 1997, has trained nearly 9,000 scientists, engineers and technicians. In the health sector, these new technologies, generally speaking, help meet numerous needs, notably by improving data transfer and remote communication, thus leading to significant gains in productivity. As an example, one may look at the field of teleradiology in Mali, or that of telediagnostics in Egypt, where tools for the remote management of diagnosis enable physicians, among other practitioners, to identify which patients require follow-up in order to monitor certain diseases. Such tools save time for doctors and patients alike by helping avoid unnecessary visits; they have a further, two-fold effect by compensating, on the one hand, for the scarcity of healthcare staff, and on the other, for the difficulty of transporting patients and physicians on the African continent. The development of ICTs in Africa has been particularly driven by the boom in mobile telephony, which since 2002 has shown the “fastest growth anywhere in the world (49.3% annual growth versus 7.5% in France, 28% in Brazil and 27.4%
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
NS in Asia) in spite of high production costs,” according to a 2009 study commissioned by top global audit firm Ernst & Young. And while the average penetration rate of the mobile phone in Africa is currently 37%, it could well rise to 61% by 2018. A study by the IFRI (Institut français des relations internationales), France’s leading independent think tank dedicated to research and debate on international affairs, concludes that GSM coverage has gone from 10% in 1996 to 80% in 2010, and that the number of subscribers in Africa has risen from 51.8 million in 2003 to 360 million in 2010. This success is attributable to the fact that mobile telephony appears to be the technology best suited for the inherent constraints of the African continent.
Internet: a most promising market While the development of mobile telephony has proven a veritable catalyst for progress in Africa’s telecommunications sector, the same cannot be said of the development of the Internet, which still lags far behind in terms of access to high-speed connectivity. In fact, with Internet users representing 5.5% of its population in 2008 (the percentage is lower if one excludes the Maghreb countries and South Africa) and a 7% penetration rate for the Internet (1% for high-speed), Africa is the region which lags the farthest behind in the field. With so much to be done, Africa is one of the last areas on Earth with enormous development potential and a
highly optimistic outlook for economic growth. Accordingly, the market has in recent years experienced a gold rush of sorts spearheaded by major foreign operators convinced that the continent’s current Internet revolution (thanks largely to mobile Internet access) will soon be a tremendous profit centre. International leaders such as France Telecom and Vodafone are engaged in ferocious battle for market share in this very promising and burgeoning climate. What is more, thanks to the growing number of underwater fibre-optic cables (there was a single such cable in January 2009, there will be 14 by mid-2012) that increase capacity and decrease connection speed, Africa is henceforth less dependent on satellites. 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine 155
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
INFRASTRUCTURE
THE SWITCH TO DIGITAL IS SLUGGISH Back in October 2007 in Kigali, representatives from 54 countries, including six Heads of State and government, gathered in the Rwandan capital for the Connect Africa summit. The aim was to mobilize the human, financial and technical resources necessary to remedy the glaring gaps in the continent’s information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure. Now, four years later, there are still fundamental problems to be worked out, most notably the widespread conversion from analog to digital communication technology. The International Telecommunications Union has set June 17, 2015 as the deadline for the completion of this transformation.
Léopold Nséké
A
nalog and digital are two processes used to store and process virtual data (of an audio, video, photo, etc. nature). Analog arrived on the scene at about the same time as electrical power, while digital technology was phased in as the computer era took hold. The two methods differ in how they reproduce signals. Data-carrying waveforms vary in electrical amplitude, and analog technology captures this variation on media that is generally magnetic in nature. In digital mode, a converter transforms the signal into a series of amplitudes with only two possible values, as represented by binary digits of value 0 or 1, with near-perfect fidelity. Analog data requires an enormous amount of storage space, whereas digital data requires considerably less.
An opportunity for Africa Two years ago in Ouagadougou, when asked about the relevance of this radical shift most African countries have undertaken, Emmanuel Adjovi, Media Program Manager for the International Organisation of La Francophonie (IOF),
16 2011 AFRIQUE SPECIALEXPANSION ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE Magazine EXPANSION HORS-SÉRIE Magazine 2011
had been emphatic: “It is first and foremost a matter of improving sound and image quality. The second benefit is quantitative, namely an increase in the supply of content, because the switch to digital requires denser content. Digital technology also makes possible a greater number of outlets, and consequently widens employment opportunities, particularly for journalists and technicians. Digital drives growth. One can speak of the digital economy, which impacts on employment as well as on the growth of broadcasters by generating greater audiences and therefore higher advertising revenue, which in turn increases corporate sales. Ultimately, the State benefits too, as this creates a new source of tax revenue.” So much for the quantitative, technological and financial benefits of switching to digital. In the field, numerous recommendations have been put forth for the implementation of structures dedicated exclusively to this technological sea change and for sourcing the financing required for the operations thereof. Along those lines, a progress meeting was held in May 2011 in Dakar regarding the legal and economic
aspects of Africa’s switch to digital. During the event, Emmanuel Adjovi once again encapsulated the state of affairs. In his view, Africa has fallen behind and the situation worries him. While Asia and Europe are awash in digital technology, Africa is once more a laggard. Some blame this on a lack of political will, while in other quarters the perception is that the difficult choices required by this course do not represent a priority in plans for development. The latter parties have no choice, however, because replacement parts for analog equipment, to name but one drawback, will very quickly go out of stock and adaptation is almost, if not completely, impossible. And yet, the communications sector creates jobs. It works like other markets do, with participants vying for their share of the pie. Digital and new technologies spur the development of new equipment, new trades and new fields of innovation. As Nature abhors a vacuum, so too does the economy, and should Africans fail to seize this opportunity, this economic sector will most certainly fall under the complete domination of Western and Asian players.
TELEPHONY AFRICA GOES WILD FOR THE
With more than 350 million subscribers in a population just over a billion, the cell phone’s progress on the dark continent is downright dizzying.
O
ften one to lag behind when it comes to development, Africa is making up for lost time when it comes to mobile telephony. The sector is experiencing an unprecedented boom, with penetration in the continent increasing by more than 500% in less than a decade. The 2009 report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on the information economy established that “since 2003, mobile phone subscriptions have grown faster in Africa than in any other region of the world.” Eight years ago, only one African out of fifty had a cell phone, while today nearly one-third of the population does. Initially a luxury item for the wealthy, the mobile phone is now an essential product in Africa. While in the early 2000s there were fewer telephone lines in all of Africa than on the island of Manhattan in New York City,
18 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
MOBILE PHONE Parfait N. Siki
by the first quarter of 2008 Africa, with over 280 million cell phone connections, Africa had surpassed the United States and Canada with their combined total of 277 million. Some countries showcase just how profound the mobile telephony movement is in Africa. Nigeria, for instance, has caught up in dramatic fashion, surpassing even South Africa. Prior to 2001, with 140 million inhabitants, Africa’s most populous nation had only 867,000 telephone lines; by March 2008 that number had swollen to nearly 61 million, i.e., 43 lines per hundred citizens. There are 56.7 million GSM line subscribers, i.e., cell phone owners, representing 93% of the population.
Remarkable penetration Increasing the technology’s penetration is a major component of certain operators’ strategy to expand their clientele. To this end, Africa’s largest mobile
The mobile phone has not only given a voice to its users and facilitated communication, it has also made new services possible, such as the mobile banking. telephony operator, MTN, introduced so-called “village phones” in Cameroon. These community phones are meant to facilitate access to telecommunications for rural Africans, at reduced rates. “Thanks to this initiative, rural citizens can make or receive calls without having to travel to neighbouring cities,” explains Cameroon’s Minister of Post and Telecommunications, Jean-Pierre
Telephony
Biyiti bi Essam. By June 2011, there were 1,800 village phones in as many villages throughout the country. The phones are also used in some of these villages to listen to radio shows and participate in them. In achieving the status of just another regular household expense, with some people preferring to buy a call-credit refill card rather than pay for some other good, the mobile phone has not only given a voice to its users and facilitated communication, it has also made new services possible. UNCTAD’s October 2009 report notes that African countries are thus at the forefront in banking services and electronic transactions made using a mobile phone. In South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia, for example, cell phones allow businesses and individuals alike to make payments and personto-person money transfers as they would prepaid purchases, without the need for a bank account. Mobile telephony has fundamentally changed habits, accelerating the pace of all sorts of activities by facilitating contacts.
Increasingly accessible costs The cost of communications, while prohibitive at first, is increasingly affordable for households. In Nigeria, it cost 30,000 nairas [152 euros] in 2001 to receive a telephone number and a SIM card, and 50 nairas [0.25 euro] per call minute. Greater competition and a growth in the number of subscribers brought prices down. Today, a SIM card costs only 400 nairas [2 euros]. The situation is similar in Cameroon, where prices have dropped annually since 2000, sliding from 500 CFA francs per minute to less than 100 francs in 2011. If citizens appreciate the benefits of cellular phones, governments are even more sensitive to the tax spin-offs, returns on investment and employment stimulus. In Nigeria, these impacts are cause for jubilation. “In less than six years, the telecommunications sector has brought in billions of dollars in direct foreign investment, and accounts for nearly 34% of the gross domestic product”, notes Nigerian economist Kunle Adebayo. In comparison, the petroleum
industry represents only 13% of the African powerhouse’s GDP. Elsewhere, Cameroonian operators demand 2,000 billion dollars in investments over ten years, and cell phone activity accounts for 7% of all tax revenue for the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. According to a study by economics consultancy Frontier Economics, commissioned by the GSMA, an association representing the interests of mobile operators worldwide, mobile telephony creates more than 3.5 million direct and indirect jobs for sub-Saharians. Mobile operators complain they are overtaxed. The GSMA claims their average income tax rate exceeds 30%. However, operators do reap considerable benefits, which is why fierce competition is constantly brewing in the sector. In Côte d’Ivoire, the industry watchdog has capped the number of licensed operators at six, while Cameroon’s government has decided to issue three additional licenses. All of which points to a bright future for the mobile phone in Africa, particularly with the eventual spread of the latest novelty, mobile Internet.
2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine 19
consumption
THE FIXED PHONE CAPITULATES
TO MOBILE TECHNOLOGY
F
The landline phone has not altogether disappeared in Africa despite the mobile phone boom, though its share of the market has whittled down to a pittance. In Cameroon, for instance, its users now consist of administrative services and a few privileged individuals.
or the longest time, in Cameroon as in many other African countries, the fixed or landline phone was a luxury only the well-off few could afford. In fact, up until the early Aughties, only 200,000 or so Cameroonians had a fixed phone, most of them living in Douala and Yaoundé, the country’s two main urban centres. Because telephone line infrastructure was inadequate, owning a landline phone was a privilege indeed, and outside of government offices, few people had access to them. The agency regulating this sector was overrun by applications for a phone, and its efforts to accommodate such requests were as a drop in the proverbial bucket. The liberalization of the telecommunications sector in July 1998 fundamentally altered the landscape by enabling market entry for two private operators that would introduce the GSM 900 standard for mobile telephony, alongside the traditional fixed-telephony operator. With the dawn of the portable phone revolution, telephones would become accessible to most people. Initially, high prices for handsets and prohibitive rates meant, predictably, that the mobile phone was affordable only for the wealthy, and in fact it was 20 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
Marc Omboui considered a status symbol. It was not too long, however, before declining prices led to a rush to procure the new device. Today’s telephone owners, henceforth “reachable,” number in the millions.
The Mobile Boom The mobile phone, in fact, entered the Cameroon market through the fixed-telephony operator. Cameroon Telecommunications (Camtel), formerly Intelcam, a public corporation, the incumbent operator with a monopoly on fixed-telephony services, founded Camtel Mobile. The new company would be the first to introduce the mobile phone into Cameroon. Initially, coverage was limited to three cities and a 5,000-line capacity. The mobile phone was at that time a luxury item. It was only with the acquisition of Camtel Mobile in January 2000 by Mobile Telephone Networks Cameroon (MTN), a subsidiary of the South African group of the same name, that things began to truly change. The arrival on the scene of Orange Cameroun, formerly the Société Camerounaise de Mobile, or SCM-Mobilis, a subsidiary of France Telecom/ Orange, which had obtained its license to operate a cellular network in June 1999 prior to commencing its activities in February 2000, brought with it a genuine mobile phone boom. Getting a cell phone, whether new or used, could not
be simpler. Distributors could be found on every city street corner, offering their wares at very competitive prices.
Everyone dreams of owning a mobile phone All told, the popularization of the mobile phone has raised the rate of ownership from 7.6% in 2001 to 44.9% in 2007, and more specifically, from 19.9% to 81.4% in urban centres and 1% to 23.4% in rural regions for the same period. This trend applies to Cameroon as it does to most other African countries. In some countries, such as Nigeria and South Africa, the inroads made by the mobile phone have been even more astounding. In light of such statistics, one may well ponder the fate of the fixed phone. The popularization of the mobile phone has generally come at the expense of the fixed phone, all the more so because the fixed-telephony operator had succumbed to the sclerotic effects of its monopoly, only to then suffer from the hemming and hawing of politicians, which gave it little time to adjust to the new market reality. Camtel thus comes out of the transition to the mobile phone the big loser. Citizens, for their part, see the shift as their opportunity to exact a revenge of sorts on an inaccessible and outrageously arrogant operator.
Telephony
Citizens, for their part, see the shift as their opportunity to exact a revenge of sorts on an inaccessible and outrageously arrogant operator The fixed phone will still have its place To date, according to a report published by the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, Cameroon has 458,004 fixed-phone subscribers versus 9,314,000 mobile clients. Clearly, the restructuration of the telecommunications sector begun in 1998 has benefited the mobile phone to the detriment of the fixed phone. And yet, for all that, one cannot
proclaim the death of the fixed phone. For one, while individuals may opt for a cell phone because of its convenience, practically all government offices, and even private ones, still use the older technology. As well, fixed phones are priced relatively cheap; at any rate, less than mobile phones. Moreover, the cost of a fixed phone is not borne by individuals but by a company or an administration. Thus, while cell phone conversations are generally kept brief to keep costs down, people tend to spend considerably more time
talking on a fixed phone. Finally, due to reported cases of cell phone abuse, the tool elicits a certain distrust. Many users answer their phone only if they recognize the phone number on the call display panel, and an incoming call originating from a fixed phone still evokes greater trust; it is deemed more “serious.” While the mobile phone seems to have won the battle against its forerunner hands down, the fixed phone may yet have its last word. Perhaps the war is not quite over. 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine 21
MOBILE COMPETITION
Providers Badjang ba Nken
In a virgin market teeming with competition and speculation, the penetration of new telephony technologies has reached 100% in certain African countries.
O
bservers agree that market penetration for mobile telephones in Africa is nothing short of spectacular. The numbers and indicators seem to back up their assertion. Indeed, from 1998 to 2009, subscriptions to mobile service for the continent rose from two to 450 million accounts. Based on this performance, experts conclude that growth in the mobile and Internet markets in recent years has been double that seen globally. Is this the effect of novelty or simply the fulfillment of a need to get in step with the sweep of technological change? Regardless, these tools have found a nearly virgin market primed for their expansion, albeit with mixed results on a country by country basis: thus, in Morocco, the number of mobile telephone subscribers has surpassed the number of inhabitants, while in Gabon, market penetration is practically 100%, a far cry from the 50% penetration recorded in Senegal between 2003 and 2009 and farther still from the 7% seen in Ethiopia, Burundi and the Central African Republic. 22 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
Mobile banking According to the World Bank, only one African household out of five has a bank account. And, on average, there are five bank branches per 1,000 inhabitants. All of which leads experts to concur that Africa is the most underbanked continent. Yet demand for banking services is growing in those countries experiencing an economic boom. The robust penetration of mobile telephony services is paving the way for new, win-win partnerships between telephony operators and banking institutions for the development of mobile banking, a mode of personal banking whereby operations are conducted with one’s mobile phone. A phenomenon which first appeared in Africa in the early 2000s, mobile banking has today taken on a whole other dimension following the entry on the market of major banking groups.
N IS FIERCE
In certain countries, particularly those with few important natural resources, the telecommunications sector constitutes the largest source of tax revenue. Experts estimate that revenues from the various telecommunications sectors represent on average 5% of the GDP of African nations. They forecast that between 2000 and 2012 the mobile telephony sector will generate close to 71 billion dollars in sub-Saharan Africa; that number may prove even higher if the tax authorities in some of those countries were to cease classifying mobile phones and other telecommunications equipment and consumables as luxury goods. Despite this restrictive framework, in many countries, operators’ profit margins exceed 30%; Cameroon (39%), Gabon, Tanzania (40% each), Madagascar (45%) and Zambia (53%) are part of this group, and represent business opportunities being exploited by numerous operators, all vying for a share of what for them is a dream market. The motive behind the rapid expansion of mobile telephony companies in Africa is evident: the continent constitutes an untapped market of roughly one billion people, and that opens the door for a great many innovations.
Major mergers
THE LEADING GROUPS IN AFRICA European operators : ORANGE, VODAFONE, TELEPHONICA, PORTUGAL TELECOM Persian Gulf operators : ZAIN, ETISALAT African operators : ORASCOM, MTN, VODACOM Local operators : MASCOM, COMORES TELECOM Others : BHARTI AIRTEL
Ten major operators currently divide the lion’s share of the African market. These can be classified into four broad categories on the basis of the geographical location of ownership, though it is not uncommon for them to collide, or even collude, based on where their interests lie. Generally speaking, there are on average 2.7 telecommunications operators per African country. Through mergers and major investments, some have become more successful than others, with South Africa’s MTN, Egypt’s Orascom and Morocco’s Maroc Telecom being the leaders on the continent. However, since the entry into the market of entities from certain developing countries, market share has been constantly shifting. A case in point is India’s Bharti Airtel, which took over the African assets of Kuwait’s Zain after failed attempts at a merger with the MTN Group. The move has significantly changed the telecom landscape. More memorable was the impressive merger of Russia’s VimpelCom, Egypt’s Orascom, and Wind Telecom, for upward of 6.5 billion dollars. The operation involved, notably, the former’s acquisition of a 51.7% stake in Orascom. If, as all indications point to, Chinese operators, increasingly clamouring at the market gates, were to make their entry, France’s Orange, present in 15 countries and possessing a market share of more than 50 million subscribers, will certainly be hard-pressed to maintain its leadership. At any rate, though the sector’s short-term prospects are rosy, the boom may sputter if precautionary measures are not taken by governments, operators and investors alike. Some governments throughout the continent have handed down questionable arbitration rulings that serve as disincentives to companies, or that at the very least make the latter skittish toward further investment. Along the same lines, the temptation for authorities to overtax activities in what appears to be a highly lucrative sector is another market risk. For their part, operators and their investment partners need to steer clear of unprofitable speculative ventures in order to avoid over-indebtedness (debt for 2007 totalled in excess of 14.7 billion dollars). 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine 23
Telephony
A highly lucrative sector
DIASPORA
AFRICA, M
JUST A P Didier OTI
A
fricans living in Canada or the United States have noticed how in 10 years the price of transatlantic telephone communication has considerably fallen. Much of this drop is attributable to the explosion of the calling card phenomenon. Nowadays, one can call Benin, Senegal or Côte d’Ivoire for 20 cents a minute, roughly a quarter of the rate a decade ago. Indeed, some cards offer as much as 90% savings. Thus, armed with a five-dollar phone card, a Congolese, 24 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
BETWEEN 1995 AND 2000, SALES OF PREPAID CALLING CARDS WENT FROM $750 MILLION TO MORE THAN $3.3 BILLION IN CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES ALONE. Beninese or Chadian living in Montreal, Calgary or Toronto is able to have a solid conversation about developments back home in a particular project, get news of family and friends, and so on.
CALL ANYTIME, FROM ANYWHERE The benefits of a prepaid card are many: unlike international calls placed with conventional telephone service suppliers, one need not place a call within a specific set of hours in order to take advantage of reduced rates. Also gone is the need for long-term contractual obligations
with any one company, particularly appreciated if one’s long-distance needs are limited. Moreover, a calling card may be used with any telephone (home, office, public, cellular). And because the user dials a toll-free access number prior to placing the call, the latter is not charged to the address whence it originated. A further benefit is that the calling card protects the user from the unpleasant surprise of a huge telephone bill; in a way, it helps the user budget his or her telephone expenses. Not surprising, then, that between 1995 and 2000, sales of prepaid calling
PHONE CALL AWAY
FROM CALLING CARDS TO THE INTERNET:
THE MANY OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO THE DIASPORA My Africa, African Queen, Mother Africa, Let’s call Africa… Calling card suppliers are competing for the most imaginative ways to lure African expats wishing to stay in touch with the motherland. Admittedly, their rates are enticing. And yet, though the calling card market is barely established, already a dark cloud looms on its horizon. cards went from $750 million to more than $3.3 billion in Canada and the United States alone. Conventional telephony companies such as Rogers, Telus and Bell Canada are in on the game, either directly, or indirectly through associated companies (Vox, Virgin, Solo, Public Mobile, etc.). The fierce competition waged by these companies drives prices down. While convenient and generally inexpensive, the calling card does have its drawbacks. On November 5, 2009, Canada’s Competition Bureau fined Ontario-based Phonetime Inc. $300,000 and ordered it to reimburse consumers who had purchased Bravo! and Bravo! Atlantic prepaid long-distance calling cards. The Bureau ruled that Phonetime had engaged in misleading advertising (hidden fees, number of call minutes fewer than that advertised, rate per minute higher than that claimed). Five years earlier, the Bureau had fined a subsidiary of Gold Line, another Ontario-based company, $750,000 on similar grounds.
THE CALLING CARD SOON TO BE CAUGHT UP IN THE NET? Clearly, there is static on the line. Will this simply lead to a disconnect with longdistance calling card users? In an era when the ubiquitous and boundless Internet makes phone calls possible, the question is worth taking seriously. Some Africans even say that prepaid longdistance cards are already old school. Rather, the latest thing is the transmission of voice data over Internet protocol networks (VoIP), i.e., telephone communication that uses the Net rather than traditional analog systems. The best-known example would be Skype. Telephone calls are free between subscribers and are placed from computer to computer. It is also possible, for a fee, to call land or mobile phones. Internetcalls, VoipBuster, Callserve and other suppliers now offer very competitive rates and are already popular with a significant segment of
Telephony
MORE THAN EVER
African callers. Activating an account is as simple as downloading the free software required, purchasing a minutes package, and filling out a registration form. Despite its very advantageous price, VoIP does have its limits. For instance, during a power outage, a land line will remain operational, while communication via VoIP is disabled—unless one is equipped with a generator or some uninterruptible power source. Moreover, because VoIP relies on an Internet connection, the quality and reliability of the Internet service, the processing power of the computer, and the call destination all affect the quality of the phone communication. Thus, voice quality will be greatly degraded when one is simultaneously communicating via VoIP and performing other tasks on the computer, particularly so during long-distance calls. The Internet is fertile ground for fraudsters and hackers, particularly when a popular application comes along. For the time being, users are vulnerable to certain types of attacks and scams, including identity and personal data theft for criminal purposes. Should a VoIP server be infected by a virus, telephone service may likely be perturbed or the infection may spread to other computers connected to the system. Thus, at the moment, security remains one of the weak links of Netenabled telephone communication, although some solutions are available: safe, confidential passwords; firewalls; anti-virus software; computer upgrade software; computer tech support, etc. In the final analysis, the perfect means for making long-distance calls does not yet exist. Necessity being the mother of invention, however, new offerings in this market are proliferating and vying for prominence. With some patience and prudence, one may make one’s way through this thicket of products and find the right card or the right Web service, without racking up debt or compromising one’s security. 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine 25
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK DEEPENING PRIVATE SECTOR Donald Kaberuka AfDB President
INVESTMENT
The African Development Bank (AfDB) is a multilateral institution that promotes sustainable development in Africa. It is the premier development financial institution in Africa, engaged in mobilizing resources towards the economic and social progress of its 53 African Regional Member Countries (RMCs).
T
he AfDB provides a range of financial products for the private sector to complement its traditional lending operations to governments. Private Sector Operations of the Bank Group promote strong social and corporate governance standards as well as help African Companies achieve international best practices, making them more competitive domestically and in the international marketplace.
Stimulating private sector growth During 2010, the Bank continued to make significant investments to stimulate private sector growth in Africa. To this end, it has at its disposal a number of financial instruments of different risk categories, ranging from senior secured debt to direct equity, including guarantees and quasi equity instruments. 26 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
While the Bank holds some direct equity positions in financial institutions, the majority of the equity investments are channeled through private equity funds. In the last five years AfDB has approved USD 910 Million of commitments to 34 Funds. The Bank expects to continue to grow this portfolio in the coming years and is currently targeting new commitments of USD150-250 million per year. The Bank has already successfully invested in the majority of African countries through its private equity program. The AfDB’s involvement in facilitating trade finance is also growing and the Bank is currently developing its strategy and modalities to enhance support in this area. These include trade facilitation institutions (such as trade guarantee and insurance corporations), unfunded portfolio guarantees for international trade finance, as well as the provision of short-term revolving trade finance lines of credit (LOCs) to regionally active African banks.
In its private sector operations, the Bank focuses on three areas: infrastructure; industries, mining and quarrying; and finance. The finance sector encompasses corporate loans and equity participations in financial institutions, as well as LOCs for on lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which form the backbone of many African economies. The Bank also invests in microfinance institutions, thereby extending its outreach to the very small and informal enterprises that traditionally encounter difficulties in accessing credit, a problem that has been compounded by the financial crisis.
Special Initiatives An important initiative in support of the strategic effectiveness of the Bank’s private sector operations is the Enhanced Private Sector Assistance for Africa (EPSA). This Initiative is an innovative, multi-donor framework for resource mobilization and development partnership to support implementation of the
advertorial
AfDB’s Strategy for Private Sector Development. EPSA was conceived in partnership with the Government of Japan (GOJ), which provided generous financial support of US$ 1.0 billion to its launch in 2005. Part of these proceeds is also being used to provide technical assistance under the Fund for African Private Sector Assistance (FAPA) program. This is mainly to support capacity building linked to the non-sovereign operations financed by the Bank. The African Financing Partnership (AFP) is a collaborative, co-financing platform amongst Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) active in private sector project financing in Africa. The objective of the AFP is to bring together DFI partners with a similar mission so that further results could be delivered through combined efforts. In 2010, the partner DFIs targeted several projects with collaborative financing creative investments of multiple billions. The pipeline of projects under the AFP comprises commercially viable private sector projects with substantial development outcomes. Such projects would be feasible vehicles for long-term institutional investments looking for returns in Africa’s emerging markets. The AFP Secretariat is hosted by the AfDB and it is supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
EGYPTIAN REFINING COMPANY
Selected 2010 projects highlights: The selected projects below demonstrate the scope of PSD interventions including national and multinational infrastructure and connectivity projects supporting economic cooperation and regional integration, consequently also enhancing the business enabling environment in the continent.
TRANSNET’S 5-YEAR CAPITAL INVESTMENT PROGRAM
EGYPTIAN REFINING COMPANY is the Bank’s largest Oil & Gas project Total project cost : USD $3.5 billion AfDB loan : USD $200 million Senior and USD $25 million Subordinated debt AfDB roles : Political risk mitigation, environmental standards Benefits : Import substitution, jobs TRANSNET’S 5-YEAR CAPITAL INVESTMENT PROGRAM Total project cost : USD $99,36 Billion AfDB loan : USD $400 Million Senior loan, additional USD $600 under B-loan umbrella Benefits : Improved transport networks, improved social “THE OTHER 3 BILLION” (O3B) SATELLITE PROJECT Total project cost : USD $848 Million AfDB Loan : USD $50 Million Senior loan Benefits : Access to international bandwidth at lower prices, access of landlocked countries to broadband through submarine cables, access of Africans to online banking.
“THE OTHER 3 BILLION” (O3B) PROJECT SATELLITE
Main targets for the Future : • Increase operations in Low Income Countries (LICs) & Fragile States • More support in Regional Integration operations and Infrastructure • Ensure Integration of Trade finance into the Private Sector Operations • Facilitate more growth in private equity investment in Africa
2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine 27
A CONNECTED
AFRICA
Long subject to the whims of traditional communications operators, the African continent has seen the use of new information and communication technologies skyrocket. Although a gap remains between the various social strata when it comes to access to computers or computer terminals, everyone or close to it is henceforth able to connect to the Web, whether to get informed or to stay in touch. Today, private operators and governments are bound by performance agreements that make it mandatory for them to equip and modernize themselves for high-speed data transfer. A boon to users, who feel less and less cut off from the world and who are increasingly broadening their horizons thanks to the magic of a plasma screen. A recently published report on mobile Web use shows that the number of users in Africa has leapt 124% since 2010, a trend in step with the rest of the world. This situation is a far cry from the anachronistic stereotypes, often the focus of media attention, that have long held Africa to be a land outside modernity.
2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine 29
DIGITAL DI
Home to 43% of the world’s population, Africa accounted for less than 1% of all Internet users in 2000. By late 2008, this proportion had risen to 5%. That same year, telephone penetration in Africa was only 3.77 lines per hundred inhabitants. Yet 27.48% of Africans had access to a cellular telephone. Which begs the question: is Africa getting nearer to the “global village”?
A CLOSER LOOK. 30 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
W
Didier OTI
e are experiencing a digital revolution. Rapid breakthroughs in the fields of information and communication technology quicken the free flow of information, ideas and knowledge. Still, the fountain of knowledge runs abundantly for some but trickles for others. Here, as in many other areas, there are the well-off and the underprivileged. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in late 2008 the number of Internet service subscribers in Africa was inferior to that for France, despite the latter’s being 15 times less populated. The rate of penetration of fixed broadband was 0.09%, i.e., barely 9 subscribers per 10,000 inhabitants. In 2008, once again according to the ITU, the average monthly subscription fee for cellular phone service in sub-Saharan Africa exceeded 20% of the monthly gross national income per capita. In the United States and Canada, this ratio was 0.5%. While figures for 2011 are expected to improve for Africa, they nevertheless are a reminder that Africa remains firmly entrenched on the far side of the digital divide.
AFRICA AND THE « GLOBAL VILLAGE »
KILOMETRES DISPARITIES WITHIN COUNTRIES In the 70s and 80s, there already existed a disequilibrium in the production and circulation of information, a situation the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) was meant to correct. The advent of NICTs (new information and communication technologies) and the Internet has exacerbated the situation, to the point where today 80% of Internet users represent but 20% of the world’s population. In short, there is a digital divide. While this divide is most apparent between States (North/ South, rich countries/poor countries), it is also present within States. It is a truism that if one superimposes maps of Africa’s demographic distribution, electrical supply network, and Internet usage, the three will show a strong direct correlation to one another. In other words, the continent’s interior and those regions farthest from the coastline or from urban centres are also the areas least touched by the digital revolution. This intra-state digital divide is the more pronounced and worrisome form because it affects the majority of Africans. Thus, while the digital revolution makes the “global village” smaller, many Africans have yet to benefit from it. To narrow the gap between the welloff and the underprivileged, a World Summit on the Information Society in two phases (2003 and 2005) under the auspices of the United Nations recommended, among other proposals, that public, local and national authorities voluntarily commit to introducing a 1% digital solidarity contribution on IT-related procurement contracts, to be borne by vendors on their profit margins. Revenue from this contribution would
In some African countries, computers and cellular telephones are still perceived as luxury items. allow the Global Digital Solidarity Fund to finance community-based projects in various countries. For its part, the ITU has launched the “Connect the World” initiative to showcase, consolidate and scale-up development activities and stimulate new partnerships aimed at bridging the digital divide.
THE PRIVATE SECTOR RECOGNIZES A GOOD OPPORTUNITY While some see globalization as a harbinger of homogenization and standardization leading to the gradual extinction of weaker cultures, NICTs are, on the contrary, seen by others as a lifeline for those same cultures. From the viewpoint of these proponents, NICTs can help communities not only maintain a cohesive identity to some degree, but also share their heritage with the rest of humanity. Still, achieving these objectives requires funding, political will, and, beyond good intentions, concrete action. In some African countries, computers and cellular telephones are still perceived as luxury items, and taxed accordingly at higher rates. Meanwhile, there is still hesitation to deregulate the telecommuni-
APART
cations sector. Public facilities, which often provide poor populations with their only means of communication, are subject to inadequate maintenance and upkeep. The good news is that the private sector seems to be stepping up increasingly and driving NICTs in Africa. As private enterprise is motivated by the bottom line, its investment is more substantial in those areas where profits are more promising. Even a multinational such as Microsoft which supports various initiatives related to security, licensing and education in numerous African countries is reaping a fair share of prestige from its involvement. When all is said and done, it is thanks to the private sector that several underwater cables today snake Africa’s coastlines, among them SEACOM/Tata TGN-Eurasia 17, the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), the West Africa Cable System (WACS) and Main One. This contributes to widening the bandwidth of the world’s least connected continent. These new connections have allowed Africa to multiply its Internet capacity 300-fold since 2009. Such progress, however, is quite fragile. Some countries are partially connected to the network of networks via other countries. The result is that a technical failure in Benin can potentially, through a domino effect, have consequences in Togo. This highlights the vulnerability of African countries: not fully autonomous, possessing few resources, yet wanting to bridge the “digital divide” and be part of the “global village”. Already, the building up of high-speed fibre-optic communication infrastructure on a large scale has led to a drop in the price of connectivity, by as much as seven times in some countries. The road ahead is definitely a long one, but it is getting shorter. Inevitably. 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine 31
Cybernetics
VIDE
FIBRE OPTICS
ON THE DIGITAL
FRONT LINES Africa is henceforth plugged into several backbone networks, which has a multiplicative effect on data transfer.
32 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
W
Khadim Ndiaye hile mere years ago 75% of its Internet traffic had to transit via Europe and even America, driving up Internet connection costs, Africa is expected to increase the capacity of its international Internet bandwidth tenfold by late 2012. To accomplish this, thousands of kilometres of underwater fibre-optic cables are currently being laid along its coast. This will ultimately lower the exorbitant cost of connectivity and help meet all bandwidth needs more easily.
West Africa plays a leading role
With no fewer than six underwater fibre-optic cables, West Africa is the region of the continent best-equipped in fibre-optic infrastructure. In the 90s, the area’s first cables were commissioned, albeit with limited capacity. The SAT-2 cable launched in 1993 had a capacity of 560 Mbps (megabits/second), was 9,500 kilometres long and linked Spain, Portugal and South Africa. It was followed by the Atlantis-2 project, a cable enabling communication between Argentina, Brazil, Senegal, Cape Verde, the Canary Islands and Portugal. The 13,100 kilometre cable was laid in 1999 by Brazil’s Embratel. Its capacity is approximately 19,840 Mbps. The cable has landing points in Argentina, Brazil, Cape Verde, Senegal, Spain and Portugal. Things sped up with the commissioning of the SAT-3/WASC (South Atlantic
commissioned in 2010, is the first cable to offer a direct link between East Africa, Europe and North America. Ten thousand kilometres long, it runs along the eastern and southern coast of Africa, connecting South Africa to Sudan, with landing points in Mozambique, Madagascar, the Comoros, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti. Partially funded by the World Bank, the project’s cost was $263 million. EASSy is currently owned and operated by a consortium of 16 countries, both African (92% stake) and foreign (8%). An initiative of the Kenyan government, the TEAMS (The East African Marine System) project will link the country to the international cable system. Presenting itself as a competitor to EASSy, TEAMS is the result of a partnership between the government of Kenya and the Emirates Telecommunication Establishment (Etisalat). The cable has a capacity of 1.2 Tbps and a length of 4,500 kilometres. The project was launched in June 2009 at a total cost of $82 million. Mediterranean cables—EIG (Europe India Gateway), I-ME-WE (India– Middle East–Western Europe), SEA-ME-WE 4 (South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 4) and Atlas Offshore (running between France and Morocco)—reinforce the presence of southern and eastern Africa, and even that of northern Africa (Mozambique, Tanzania, Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, etc.), in the world of high-speed connectivity. The island of Madagascar, besides benefiting from EASSy, is equally well served by the LION (linking the island to the SAFE cable) and LION 2 (extension of the former to Kenya by way of Mayotte) cables, while the SEAS (Seychelles East African Submarine) cable connects the Seychelles to Tanzania. In all, roughly 15 underwater fibreoptic cables offering a combined capacity of just over 32 Tbps surround the continent, giving it a remarkable presence in the universe of high-speed data transfer, both in terms of Internet traffic (videoconferencing, teleservices, digital television, online training, and so on) and VoIP (Voice over IP) applications.
In all, roughly 15 underwater fibre-optic cables surround the continent, giving it a remarkable presence in the universe of high-speed data transfer.
3/West Africa Submarine Cable), the first fibre-optic link between Europe and West Africa. Inaugurated in 2002 in Dakar, the Senegalese capital, it is an underwater backbone with various branches linking Portugal, Spain, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon and the Republic of South Africa. With a capacity of 1.20 Tbps (terabits/second), it is part of a greater whole, the SAT-3/ WASC/SAFE, which connects Europe to Asia, an initiative of 36 operators from 32 countries, including 12 African nations, 7 Asian countries, 2 from America, 10 representing Europe and 1 from Oceania. The estimated cost of the project is $600 million. Main One is another underwater fibre-optic cable stretching 14,000 kilometres along West Africa’s coast. With its 1.28 Tbps capacity, it runs from Portugal
East, South and North Africa not to be outdone The southern and eastern coasts are also turning to high-speed connectivity through several underwater fibre-optic cable projects. At a cost of $600 million, the 17,000 kilometre long SEACOM is the first such cable to be installed. African investors hold a majority (76.56%) stake in the 1.28 Tbps cable. Launched in 2009, SEACOM connects South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique to Europe and Asia. The 4.72 Tbps EASSy (East African Submarine Cable),
2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine 33
Cybernetics
to South Africa, with landing points in various West African countries between the two endpoints. The two-phase project was completed in May 2010. Phase 1 saw Nigeria, Ghana and Portugal being connected, while Phase 2 enabled Morocco, the Canary Islands, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Gabon, Angola and the DRC to come on board. The GLO-1 (for Globacom-1) cable became operational in 2010. It too runs along Africa’s west coast, between Nigeria and the United Kingdom. Stretching 9,800 kilometres and with a capacity of 2.5 Tbps, the project was an undertaking of Nigerian operator Globacom. Landing points are Ghana, Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco, Portugal and Spain. WACS (West Africa Cable System), a $600 million undertaking, rounds off the array of underwater fibre-optic cables along Africa’s west coast. Fourteen thousand kilometres in length, it links the United Kingdom to South Africa, with 15 terminal stations and a 5.12 Tbps capacity. The future promises to be even brighter for West Africa with the commissioning of the ACE (Africa Coast to Europe) cable slated for 2012. Through direct and indirect links, the 1.92 Tbps cable will connect 23 countries between France and South Africa. With an underwater component (Uhurunet) and a terrestrial one (Umojanet), ACE will truly help bridge the digital divide and bring African nations into the global knowledge economy.
INTERNET CAFÉS THE NEW ADDICTION
A
Internet access in Africa is becoming widespread. The information highway has succeeded where the State has failed in reducing the isolation of the most backward regions of the continent. It now remains for this tool to be used in the right way.
t the Net+ Internet café in Soa, Cameroon, a small university town 15 kilometres outside the capital, Yaoundé, customers no longer jostle one another like they used to. The novelty of the Internet has worn off, to be sure, but above all, the three largest mobile telephony operators now sell USB keys that provide Internet access. Whether with one’s cell phone or laptop, connecting to home is now easier than ever. But café owner Bertrand can still count on some loyal customers, mostly female and looking for a soul mate on the Web. “Business was in a slump,” he says. “Then I came up with the idea of adding webcams, and small booths so that the girls can have a bit of privacy.”
tion and sex trafficking rings that recruit fresh flesh through the Internet. Clearly, however, such hazards do not dampen the resolve of these adventurers. “My girlfriend found happiness on the Internet,” says Odette, a 19-year-old law student at the University of Yaoundé II in Soa. “She met a German man, and they just recently got married. I know it can be dangerous,
Marc Omboui Evelyne Mengue à Koung
forces, on the whole, are neither prepared nor equipped to deal with it. Cameroon’s law on Internet crime and Internet security was only passed in December 2010! ANTIC (National Agency for Information and Communication Technology) is Cameroon’s watchdog in the sector. Although the decree which founded it was promulgated in April 2002, in actual fact it began its activities in earnest in 2010 with the creation of a Directorate-General with Ebot Ebot Enow at the helm. ANTIC’s mission is to popularize information and communication technologies (ICTs), establish a regulatory framework to govern practices, and ensure the security of individuals and property. A gargantuan task indeed.
For many rural and even urban communities in Africa, the computer remains a tool to be tamed.
User profiles The girls are for the most part students who dream of the West and of marrying a white man. Behind the curtain of the booth, they are not shy to reveal their most intimate charms to the camera. A leap into the unknown, definitely, and certainly a huge risk of chancing upon anyone and anything, like those prostitu34 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
but with some perseverance, it pays off.” Another sort of individual has been mixing with café regulars for some time now: the cybercriminal. The Web is his theatre of operations for various acts of hacking and fraud. Working at his computer, he is capable of infiltrating the interfaces of computer systems and networks in order to redirect any operation. Internet cafés are the ideal locations from which to perpetrate such illegal activity because of the anonymity they afford. In Lagos, Dakar and Nairobi, such pernicious computer whizzes are growing in number. Internet crime is spinning its web on the continent all the more because security
Multiple access points The Internet has become part of the daily lives of Africans. Fortunately, it serves the purposes of more than just “husband hunters” and hackers. For one, it compensates for the dearth of libraries available to young researchers and university students. Moreover, it is a portal for access to career opportunities. Jacques has recently been granted a Commonwealth Bursary to pursue his doctorate degree. He has become one of the regulars at
Cybernetics
Bertrand’s Internet café. “Can you imagine,” he says, still astonished. “Me! I’ve never even set foot outside Cameroon before.” Once exclusive to large cities, Internet access has since, thanks to the construction of community telecentres, opened up the backcountry. These centres supply telephone, Internet and money transfer services. Each telecentre comprises an Internet café with a half-dozen computers. The centre is cooperatively owned and managed by a committee of members from the community. Mali, Niger and other countries from western Africa were the first to introduce these centres, which have become the place of preference for communicating with the outside world. Common Initiative Groups and other associations use them to make their work better known and to conduct their advocacy efforts. Of course, user skills need to be improved. For many rural and even urban communities in Africa, the computer remains a tool to be tamed. Besides this hurdle, there is another, more complex, one: the integration of the Internet into the cultural practices of village communities. This “white man’s invention” will have a hard time finding its niche on the mat, next to the earthen water pot or
the hoe. Most regions with community telecentres are faced with this difficulty. From Timbuktu to Mopti in Mali, the track record for this type of infrastructure has been negative. User traffic has been dismally low insofar as the utilization of the Internet as a tool for research and communication is concerned. On the other hand, there is keener interest for its use in money transfer operations. With its abundant forests, the locality of Nguélémendouka is one of Cameroon’s most landlocked regions. This past April,
the small city inaugurated its brand-new telecentre. From all the speeches delivered to mark the occasion, old man Zambga chose to remember just one thing: that from now on, he can receive on the spot the money his son regularly sends him from Douala. “In that case,” he concludes with a half-smile, “the Minister has done something good for us. What a relief. We thought that everyone had forgotten about us here.” Other parts of the country may benefit from telecentres with the installation of a type of shield enabling high-speed data transmission. 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine 35
Cybernetics
multimedia AFRICA’S SHIFT TOWARD CONVERGENCE
Increased concentration of media ownership, digitization, and deregulation have all contributed to today’s convergence of media. While the phenomenon is present in Africa as well, its progress is hampered by inadequate telecommunications infrastructure.
D
igital technology is sweeping across Africa in full force. This is in fact the era of digital convergence and multimedia. Convergence may be defined as the capacity of platforms to deliver different services, such as Internet, television and telephony. In keeping with this trend, a growing number of enterprises across the continent are imitating the business model of their American and European counterparts by offering innovative products such as “triple play” to meet the distinct needs and uses of a new generation of Africans.
Options still limited The concept of “triple play” first saw the light of day in Europe in the early 2000s as a result of unbundling. Simply put, a telecommunications operator provides subscribers three different services under a single service agreement, typically high-speed Internet access, fixed telephony, and a package of television channels. In France, where this formula
36 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
has met with tremendous success, the operator Free was the first to introduce such an approach with its now-famous Freebox. Freebox’s success enabled Free to make a breakthrough in the market and establish itself as a leader in France’s telecommunications sector. In some African countries, private and public corporations alike have begun offering such packages. One such company is Mauritius Telecom, Mauritius’ national operator. It launched its My.T in 2006. One of its main rivals, Nomad, filed a complaint for unfair trade practices, having itself launched an identical package on the Mauritian market one year previously. Meanwhile, in Morocco, it was only in 2009 that Maroc Telecom moved into this market niche with its MT Box. One year later, Méditel, the kingdom’s second-largest telecommunications operator, followed suit with its own triple play offering, the Méditel HD-Box. In 2010, Algeria’s traditional telecommunications operator, Algérie Télécom, offered its many clients Internet television along the same lines. Called Safir Box, the first package, launched in collaboration with France’s Netgem, a specialized supplier of technological solutions for Internet television intended for telecommunications operators, had been launched to considerable fanfare in
Vitraulle Mboungou
the national media. Some Algerians were very skeptical of the product, however, as Algérie Télécom was not at the time getting particularly good press, due to its ADSL offer, launched not long before, which was faced with recurring problems attributable in large part to low connection speed. To fix the connection problem, which is not unique to either Algérie Télécom or Algeria, Africa is relying on underwater cables along its coasts. Thus, in early 2011, the Economic Community of Central African States, or ECCAS, was exultant following the successful installation of the 14,000-kilometre fibre-optic cable connecting Europe and South Africa. The cable is the first such direct link and will enable the transmission of both traditional communications and high-speed Internet. A veritable bargain for the Central African countries that will now be able to access the latest technologies, such as the much-ballyhooed triple play (expected in late 2011), at very reasonable prices. Till then, this new multimedia convergence service being offered to Africans seems relatively attractive. However, though the telecommunications companies refer to it as a “major technological innovation,” it is subject to numerous limitations on a continent where Internet access remains a recurring difficulty.
AFRICAN EXPORT-IMPORT BANK BANQUE AFRICAINE D’IMPORT-EXPORT The African Export-Import Bank (the “Bank” or “Afreximbank”) was established in Abuja, Nigeria in October, 1993 by African Governments, African private and institutional investors as well as non-African investors for the purposes of financing and promoting intra-and extra-African trade. The Bank was established under the twin constitutive instruments of an Agreement signed by member states and multilateral organizations, and which confers on the Bank the status of an international organization; as well as a Charter, governing its corporate structure and operations, signed by all Shareholders. The authorized share capital of the Bank is Seven Hundred and Fifty Million United States Dollars (US$750 million). The Bank, headquartered in Cairo, the capital of the Arab Republic of Egypt, commenced operations on September 30, 1994, following the signature of a Headquarters Agreement with the host Government in August, 1994. Afreximbank offers the following major trade and trade-related project finance products: • Line Of Credit Programme • Syndications Programme • Note Purchase Programme • Financial Future Flow Pre-Financing Programme • Direct Financing Programme • Project Related Financing Programme • Asset-Backed Lending Programme • Receivables Purchase/ Discounting Programme • Special Risk Programme • Country Programme • Carbon Financing Programme • Investment Banking Programme • ECA Loans Facilitation Programme HEADQUARTERS 72(B) El Maahad El Eshteraky St. Heliopolis, Cairo 11341, Egypt P.O. Box 613 Heliopolis Cairo 11341, Egypt Tel: +20 2 24564100/1/2/3
ABUJA BRANCH OFFICE No. 2 Gnassingbe Eyadema Street Asokoro Garki, Abuja Nigeria Tel: +234-94620606
HARARE BRANCH OFFICE Eastgate Building 3rd Floor Gold Bridge (North Wing) Gold Bridge 2nd Street Harare-Zimbabwe Tel: +263-4-700904
Website: www.afreximbank.com
The Trade Finance Bank for Africa
With the progress of telecommunications in Africa, particularly in the fields of mobile telephony and the Internet, a growing number of countries have begun a move toward the dematerialization of public services, an approach which has proven successful in the northern countries where it has long been part of the technological landscape.
W
hile Internet users in Europe and America have been familiar with e-administration for over a decade already, Africans only discovered it at the turn of the century at least the wealthiest Africans did, those with an Internet connection. Some African governments opted to emulate their Western counterparts and began using information and communication technologies (ICTs) in large part the Internet to make the services they offer more accessible to users, citizens in particular, and to improve their internal operations by ensuring their regular 38 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
functioning. This involves a completely electronic approach to managing the flow of administrative data and documents in dealings with citizens or economic partners.
First steps The aim of such a dematerialization of public services is to bring the Administration, the centres of power, and other institutions closer to the populace. As an example, when a French, Canadian or American citizen files his income tax return or signals a change of address to the social security department by Internet, he is availing himself, perhaps without knowing what such a process is called, of the public services offered by his State’s e-administration. The situation
Vitraulle Mboungou is somewhat different in Africa due to the almost total absence of infrastructures for both electric power and the Internet, although some countries are more advanced than others in this respect. With Internet users constituting only 5.5% of its population, and with a mere 7% Internet penetration (1% for high-speed), Africa is the region that lags farthest behind in this field. Moreover, Africa’s netizens are mostly concentrated in five countries: South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco and Tunisia. Some of these five countries where Internet penetration is at a peak, such as Morocco, rank between 30th and 40th in the latest survey of the state of e-government conducted in 196 nations by the World Market Research Center. E-administration, or e-government, although increasingly popular in African countries, is still in its infancy for many of them a dozen years after its first appearance on the continent. For those that have truly committed themselves to this approach, such as Morocco and Senegal, the initiatives undertaken thus far have been a resounding success.
PUBLIC SERVICES
Morocco and Senegal in the era of e-government One of Morocco’s more ambitious projects in the dematerialization of its public services is without doubt the creation in 2006, under the aegis of the Ministry of Public Sector Modernization, of its e-administration site (www.servicepublic.ma). Designed within the framework of IDARATI, a national program for e-administration, its chief objective is to facilitate administrative dealings with citizens and companies alike. Thus, users are offered, in three languages (Arabic, French and English), information on the various administrative procedures currently in effect in the kingdom. Clearly, the government has made the introduction and incorporation of ICTs in its administration a priority in order to enable and facilitate the emergence of an online Administration focused on citizens, with three axes of action: the first concerns all government and administrative authorities and the implementation of inter-ministerial and inter-administrative portals and similar applications. This includes the government portal, the official site for government tender calls, and any other
project whose scope involves a number of administrative entities. A second axis is to ensure the interconnectivity of all Moroccan administrations in a standardized, secure and transparent manner. Finally, the third axis pertains to ministerial intranets, which fall under the jurisdiction of each administration. As for Senegal, it entered the eadministration era with the PMSIA, the program for the modernization of the Administration’s information systems, a high-speed infrastructure project inaugurated in March 2005. The modernization of the Administration’s key services to improve their efficiency, accessibility and transparency for users: such was the chief objective of the project, financed by a four-year, $10.15 million loan from the World Bank. The country’s customs authority, postal service, Ministry of Finances and Gaston Berger University in Saint-Louis were the first to benefit from the initiative. An e-mail address for each civil servant, an average wait time in post office queues halved, customs revenue management capability more than doubled, online services to help users carry out their administrative dealings more rapidly.
These are just some of the changes the PMSIA has brought to Senegal’s public administration. Further still, it has reportedly, according to Senegalese authorities, enabled the purchase of over a thousand computers to boost the public sector’s computer inventory, the training of more than 650 civil servants, and the interlinking of 72 Administration sites. It has also contributed, again according to government sources, to decentralization at the regional, departmental and local levels as well as to the improvement of the quality of services provided to citizens. Besides reducing telephone and paper expenses, the most significant impact of the PMSIA is the creation of a more effective public service and the resulting change in behaviour seen in civil servants and citizens alike. The dematerialization of government services in Africa and the shift toward e-administration, that is, the provision of e-services to all citizens, is a relatively vast undertaking and there remains a great deal of work to be done. However, an increasing number of African countries are ready to rise to the challenge, and to do so despite the hurdle posed by inadequate Internet connectivity. 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine 39
Cybernetics DOSSIER
GOVERNMENT DEMATERIALIZATION OF
AUDIOVISUAL
AFRICAN RADIO AND TELEVISION ON THE ROAD TO DIGITAL
Léopold Nséké
Africans no longer had a choice. Faced with technological upheaval and the demands of the global telecommunications regulatory bodies, the only option was to embark upon the path of progress. The switch from analog to digital is therefore underway throughout the continent, albeit unevenly. Many countries, Mauritius and Senegal among them, have nonetheless already laid considerable groundwork that will ultimately lead to increasing productivity to record levels.
M
ore developed on the continent as a medium than television, radio has given rural communities a new forum for expression. Intertwined with secular life, its deep roots in oral tradition and its proximity have made it an authoritative tool for popularization and for stimulating the collective imagination. The dawn of television, uneven across Africa, for its part helped put images to words. Africans, heretofore confined to a static view of information, now took in reality with an added dimension that opened out into the larger world. From the State monopoly on broadcasting to the liberalization of the airwaves, radio and television have served to spur on social reform, democracy, and civic education. Beyond these initial functions, the two media have become, over the decades, important tools for entertainment. The arrival of the digital age has brought with it new practices that not only provide better sound and image quality, but that also store data in a way that makes it, for all intents and purposes, instantly retrievable for consultation. 40 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
A beneficial transformation As Victorin Agbonon, advisor to Benin’s Communication and Audiovisual Authority (HAAC), explains, “this switch to digital constitutes a genuine industrial revolution on a global scale. It brings in its wake fundamental changes in the way we produce, distribute and consume radio and television content. The move from analog to all-digital technology will also free up the electromagnetic spectrum—an impact known as the digital dividend—and this will enable even more pluralism and cultural diversity.” For radio broadcasting, digital technology presents numerous benefits with respect to accessibility, comfort and interactivity. First among these, Terrestrial Digital Radio (TDR) should make crackling and other audio disturbances that frequently interfere with FM airwaves a thing of the past. Indeed, digitally reproduced sound is of better quality. Moreover, TDR has a multimedia component that can deliver a multiplicity of services. The LCD screens with which new receivers are equipped provide access to assorted information on the content currently being broadcast and will
integrate other services - free of charge such as weather forecasts, stock market reports, or traffic updates. Yet another advantage of digital radio is the possibility for the listener to access his favourite programming simply and at any time, thanks to “time-shifting audio”, a feature which allows pausing and resuming of the data stream, and to the selection of radio stations by their name and not their frequency. Although its transformation will be only a technological one at first, it is foreseeable that digital radio will evolve into a springboard for innovative projects and will offer listeners a broader choice of programming. The benefits are practically the same for television, and all the telecommunications authorities describe these in the same manner. Digital television means, first and foremost, better-quality sound and image. Beyond that, it enables reception of more programs, better management of broadcast frequencies, a natural shift from standard definition (SD) to high definition (HD), and the possibility of storing content (shows, films, and so on) on a hard drive or DVD as easily as a file is saved to a computer, with no loss of quality from the original. As well, all is preconfigured
Heavy investment required The “hunt” for this data constitutes a race that Africans must win, for at stake is the collective memory of the continent: nothing less than Africans’ ownership and control of their past and their present. Although the necessary investments required in infrastructure are high, they have fortunately been made a priority by many African nations. For the shift to digital is an expensive one. Very expensive.
One must interpret the delays taken by some countries as a simple matter of development priorities rather than as lack of will. Taking as an example the industrialized countries or the nouveaux riches that are the emerging BRIC countries, one notes that they have made huge investments, and not without sacrifices, in all the operations required for the transfer of technology. For Africa, the answer lies in establishing various partnerships, and companies from emerging countries such as China and India are vying to secure contracts.
Countries like Senegal have great ambitions in this field. The Senegalese government has implemented a strategy that covers legal, infrastructure, content and communication issues. According to the national committee set up to oversee the transition from analog to digital, established in August 2010, the bulk of the infrastructures will be financed by the State. What is more, Senegal intends to position itself as a manufacturer of the adaptor boxes needed by television viewers. Thus, decision makers, far from idle, are seriously at work on this major development that is digital communication.
2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine 41
Cybernetics
for multimedia ICT tools: telephone capabilities, SMS, e-mail, Internet access, telebanking, online games, and more. The major innovation of this third industrial revolution that is the switch to digital technology is the way it greatly increases communication possibilities. With access to a greater quantity of data at all times, people will be able to choose exactly when they wish to be informed, educated or entertained.
AFRICA’S INTERNET PRESS
TAKING BABY STEPS
Marc OMBOUI/Elvis Mbimba
African media may all have gone the way of the Web, yet Web content remains largely uncompetitive in a global environment characterized by a constant quest for innovation.
S
ome months ago, teams from multinational Google scoured the African continent in search of investment opportunities. Executives of the Web giant emphasize Africa’s enormous potential. Their assessment is based on a number of factors, just as a similar multiplicity of causes helps explain the mobile telephony boom on the continent. To demonstrate how little of this potential has been exploited to date, Google’s management points to the weak competitiveness of African Web content. According to experts, quality and quantity of content are mandatory to establish a Web presence and reap the benefits of the Internet. Content development relies on a community of Web developers and producers. The media generally participate in this content development. Africa has in fact seen a substantial increase in the number of information sites. The most visible traditional media (television broadcasters, radio stations and the written press) have invested in the Web.
42 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine
The rise of free sites Besides the sites of the established media brands, residents of the large cities have been getting accustomed to a certain number of free sites, among them guineeconakry.info or “Guinée News in Conakry, gabonews.ga in Libreville, and abidjan.net and connectionivoirienne. net in the Ivorian capital. Content from these sites is increasingly picked up by traditional media outlets. When the dailies are unavailable on the Web in the early hours of the morning, the reporter in charge of the morning press review on Radio France International is sometimes content to do a round-up of these sites. Quite often, his efforts are rewarded when he easily finds early dispatches and reactions to the previous evening’s developments. This signals a gradual increase in the frequency with which information sites are consulted. The so-called “pure players”, i.e., those sites not owned by traditional media outlets, are sometimes more successful than the latter’s sites. In Cameroon, popular sites include journalducameroun.com, mboa. info, Cameroon-info.net, camfoot.com, cameroonlink.com, camerounactu.net, camnews24.net, camerounreport.com, cameroonvoice.com and camerpress.net.
Few of these sites stand out for the richness of their content, thus betraying a rudimentary editorial capability. In fact, these outfits generally have few full-time editorial staff. Furthermore, information is not always updated or uploaded on a regular basis. A market study conducted prior to the launch of a site in 2008 in Cameroon showed that several media sites are content to reproduce the information contained in the headlines of the written press. Other sites have adopted the habit of copying entire articles published by certain dailies, a situation recently denounced during a meeting between the Minister of Communication and the publishing editors of the written press organs. This practice fuels apprehensiveness toward Web media and its deleterious effect on the print economy. The primitive nature of the operations of most Internet press organs is often the subject of scrutiny. Information sites are quite often one-person operations wherein the owner-promoter also wears the sole journalist’s cap, while a webmaster occasionally looks after site ergonomics. The weak content can also be explained by the lack of a model at the local level. A comparative analysis of various local sites reveals that none stands
A symbolic presence In such a climate, traditional media are present on the Net solely in order to maintain a certain degree of visibility. It is as though promoters were perfunctorily on the Net simply for prestige value. However, their investment in this Web presence is meagre, as industry practices typically do not include budgets allocated to investment in the Web. For the more ambitious ones that do expend more resources, results sometimes fail to materialize. Such is the case for the South Media Corporation, a privately held player in the written press based in the Central Africa sub-region. Upon arriving at the helm of the press group in 2009, Michel Lobé Ewane implemented what he believed was a bona fide Web policy. Unfortunately, the company’s financial woes very quickly dampened his
commitment. Prior to his troubles, his enthusiasm for the Net had found few supporters within the company. Print dominates the media landscape for the time being. Content developers accompany copy with photographs sourced from the Internet. Unfortunately, the images fail to adequately complement the articles. Audiovisual media sites provide a library of sounds and images culled from radio and television newscasts. However, downloading these products is not necessarily easy. Nor do these broadcasters always offer other popular shows from their programming schedule. There are few free videos to be found on the sites. The use of hypertext is yet another rarity, while that of computer graphics is non-existent. Information sites in Africa give preference to the written word. These are therefore not multimedia sites in the least. It will be some time before Africa’s Web community incorporates all the possibilities of Web publishing, such as hypermedia and rich media. Africa’s Web culture is burgeoning, and content development in Africa will assuredly be intertwined with progress in infrastructure.
Information sites are quite often one-person operations wherein the owner-promoter also wear’s the sole journalist’s cap.
2011 SPECIAL ISSUE� ������ AFRIQUE EXPANSION Magazine 43
Cybernetics
out in any clear fashion, whereas Western sites such as Slate Afrique seem to be doing just that, as is the site of pan-African weekly Jeune Afrique. For their part, African countries have yet to develop their own Rue 89 or Mediapart.
AFRIQUEEXPANSION.COM From September 5 to 8, 2011, complete information of the event will be available online, including exclusive articles and photographs of the organizers and participants.
AFRIQUEEXPANSION.COM provides in-depth, reliable economic information on the constantly evolving continent that is AFRICA. Also available on the Web, the electronic version of
AFRIQUE EXPANSION
MAGAZINE, enriched with exclusive, practical and informative reports on business in Africa.
1255, University, suite 401 Montreal (Quebec) Canada H3B 3B6 Tel.: (514) 393-8059, Fax : (514) 393-9024 E-mail : info@afriqueexpansion.com www.afriqueexpansion.com Executive Director : Gerba Malam Editor-in-Chief : Léopold Nséké General Manager : Amina Gerba Editorial Staff Gerba Malam Didier Oti Léopold Nséké Florent Bonnard Claude Gervais Vitraulle Mboungou Correspondents France : United States : Cameroon : Congo : Gabon : Ivory Coast : South Africa :
Isaac Ebwélé Aziza Albou Traoré Jean-Marie Watonsi Marc Omboui Badjang ba Nken Parfait N. Siki Thierry Sylvane Noungou Antoine Lawson Alexis Koumba Jean Samuel Kondo Amadou Touré
English translation: Nazzareno Bulette AFRIQUE EXPANSION MAGAZINE is edited by
GERAM COMMUNICATIONS INC
President and Executive Director Gerba Malam Vice-President Amina Gerba Director, Sales and Marketing Fernando Abad Subscriptions / Customer Service Mina Marie Bensouni Graphics and Illustrations Gladiola Castro Printing Beloin Graphique
Every day,
Web administrator Khadim Ndiaye
AFRIQUEEXPANSION.COM
Photos : Shutterstock, iStockphoto et DR
gives you a head start, with tips on doing business
* AFRIQUE EXPANSION MAGAZINE Copyright deposit : Bibliothèque nationale du Québec, 2011 National Library of Canada, 2011 ISSN 1488-0504 Canada Post Agreement no. 40033111
AFRICA and in NORTH AMERICA. in
AFRIQUE EXPANSION MAGAZINE is listed in CANADIAN ADVERTISING RATES AND DATA
CARD
All Reproduction Rights Reserved in all countries. Reproduction of any article or portion thereof is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of the editorial management. 45
NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
Legal Status The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) set up the African Business Roundtable (ABR) in 1990. ABR is Africa’s foremost and perhaps only continent-wide association of businesses and business leaders. It is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit private sector funded organization, committed to fostering African private sector-led economic growth and social development in Africa.
The ABR Mission The ABR is dedicated to achieving an African private sector led regional economic integration and sustainable economic development of Africa, based on good corporate governance and competitively open market systems. The ABR focuses on strengthening the African private sector, promoting intra-African trade and investment and attracting foreign investment into Africa to transform the Continent from ‘aid-receiving’ to private sector partnerships in economic development.
The ABR Vision The ABR Vision is to become the most important African association of businesses, committed to the development of a modern, globally competitive African economy
Membership Criteria. Membership of the ABR is either by invitation or by voluntary application by a company or an individual. Membership is based on acceptance of the ABR Core Values. A prospective member is required to complete a Membership Application Form.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON MEMBERSHIP, ACTIVITIES, ETC PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE :
www.abrnetwork.org