[UgaBYTES] Upwardly Mobile Africa (report on ICTs Summit in Rwanda, w/focus on mobile phones

[Peter Burgess]

Dear Colleagues

During the recent discussion there was some dialog about Internet
access. I think this adds to that dialog.

But of course, it does not talk much about the costs in concrete terms
... merely that costs are high in Africa ... but how high? ... and
another question is why high?

Obviously investment has to be paid for ... but some of the charge
rates suggest that a lot more than return on investment is in play.

Sincerely

Peter Burgess

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: G <glenn at glennstrachan.com>
Date: Nov 2, 2007 8:37 AM
Subject: [mendenyo] Re: Upwardly Mobile Africa (report on ICTs Summit
in Rwanda, w/focus on mobile p
To: mendenyo at yahoogroups.com





Excuse me for entering into this conversation. This is a first time
post from me. I work in Africa, Eastern Europe and Central America on
broadband wireless activities and have been working with Intel to
place their low power consuming Classmate computers in Eastern Europe.
Anyway here is an Interesting tidbit from Intel -

Intel backs wireless Africa plan

Africa needs to embrace wireless broadband as a potential solution to
the digital divide, the chairman of Intel Craig Barrett has said.

"It's cheaper, easier and more efficient to communicate wirelessly,"
he told the BBC News website.

Less than 1% of Africans have access to broadband and only 4% use the net.

The International Telecommunications Union has predicted that the
Intel-backed Wimax system could become the dominant mobile standard in
Africa.

The continent's geography and political barriers have made it
difficult to roll out wired broadband.

There is a shortage of fibre cable links between African countries and
very few states have extensive copper wire networks for ADSL broadband.

Mr Barrett, who is in Africa as part of the Intel World Ahead
programme, said: "In every African country, except some of the more
established economies, cell phones vastly outnumber fixed line phones.

"You always have to put the backhaul channels in - which is why you
need an overlaid fibre network.

"Once you have that, forget about wires and twisted copper and go
directly to broadband wireless technologies like WiMax."

Wimax is a long range, low power wireless broadband system which can
be used to connect PCs and laptops, and in the future mobile phones,
to a broadband network.

One internet consultant working in Africa on improving access to
broadband, told BBC News that many countries had little choice but to
adopt a wireless solution.

"Nigeria doesn't have much choice about skipping to Wireless, there is
only one way to connect to the net and that is using wireless
technologies.

"There is absolutely no copper to speak of."

In Nigeria many people access cell phone networks and wireless
broadband by purchasing pre-paid scratch cards.

Users can pay up to $300 for a modem and about $200 for a 30-day
scratch card, he said.

Despite the improving access to internet technology the cost for
wireless technologies remains a barrier to all but a few in Africa,
the consultant said.

Wimax is one of several competing technologies, which include Wibro
and Ultra Mobile Broadband.

Mr Barrett said Africa would not lose out if Wimax were not adopted
more widely around the world.

Just thought this might add to the present conversation. Intel is
looking to place their product in the developing world and Africa
would be a good test model for them.

To see my previous work go to: www.mkconnects.org.mk

--- In mendenyo at yahoogroups.com, "Janet Feldman" <kaippg at ...> wrote:
>
>
>
> Upwardly mobile Africa: key to development lies in their hands
>
>
> A summit in Rwanda today aims to boost economies through networking
>
> Richard Wray and Fahad Mayet
> Monday October 29, 2007
> The Guardian
>
>
> In the barren surroundings of Kwa Phake in the north-east of South
Africa, students from the town used to have to leave the families they
often support and travel many miles to attend the University of South
Africa. They can now study from home, even receiving exam results,
using their mobile phones.
> Fishermen in Tanzania, meanwhile, use mobiles to get weather
reports, and a service has been set up in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi,
that alerts jobseekers to potential work via text messages. While
many people in developed countries use their phones to stave off
boredom on public transport, in sub-Saharan Africa a mobile phone can
be a passport out of poverty.
> Today, the Connect Africa summit in the Rwandan capital of Kigali
will bring together the heads of 10 African countries, ministers and
experts from the mobile phone industry in an effort to put that
passport in the hands of more people, bridging the digital divide.
> The GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade association that
represents some 700 mobile operators across the world, will announce
that its members are investing $50bn (£25bn) in sub-Saharan Africa
over the next five years. The aim of this funding, according to the
GSMA, is to provide more than 90% of the population with mobile coverage.
> Famine
> The scale of the problem in sub-Saharan Africa is immense, not least
because 41.1% of the population are in chronic poverty, living on less
than $1 a day. The region has been plagued by famine, in countries
such as Niger, and deadly wars over the past few decades. According to
the UN, 62.2% of the population in 2005 lived in slums with
unemployment in the 15-24 age group reaching 18.3%.
> A growing body of research suggests communications are an essential
tool for economic regeneration. Telecoms have a dramatic impact on GDP
and lead to an increase in foreign direct investment.
> According to a study by Professor Leonard Waverman of the London
Business School two years ago, mobile phone penetration has a strong
impact on GDP. He argues that "investment in telecoms generates a
growth dividend because the spread of telecoms reduces costs of
interaction, expands market boundaries and enormously expands
information flows."
> His previous work suggested that in the OECD countries "the spread
of modern fixed-line telecoms networks alone was responsible for
one-third of output growth between 1970 and 1990."
> It is hoped that mobile phones will serve this same crucial function
in the developing economies of Africa for two reasons. First, there is
not sufficient existing infrastructure on the continent. In much of
sub-Saharan Africa there are few fixed landlines and sometimes none.
Uganda, for example, has fewer than five fixed lines per 100 people.
> Second, many African countries do not have enough resources to build
huge fixed-line infrastructure, much of which was state-funded in the
west. This is not least because economies of scale cannot be created
profitably in a region where population density can be as low as 25
people per square kilometre, as in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
> Handsets
> Africa needs industry to invest in telecoms infrastructure.
Non-governmental organisations agree. Tony Durham of ActionAid says:
"If Africa is going to develop, it needs investment in infrastructure,
and there is no reason why all that investment should come out of aid
budgets."
> There is already a significant amount of mobile coverage in Africa.
While there are expected to be just over 200 million mobile users in
Africa this year, a further 350 million live in areas where coverage
is available. What these people need are cheap handsets and cheaper
services.
> The GSMA has been working on this since 2005, under the Emerging
Market Handset initiative. It invited proposals from manufacturers for
handsets costing less than $30 at wholesale, eventually endorsing two
models from Motorola.
> Since then, the retail price has fallen to about $20. But for many
people, even this is too high. According to World Bank figures, 58% of
Tanzanians live on less than $1 a day.
> "One of the biggest barriers to the adoption of mobile communication
in emerging markets is the handset cost," says a recent report by the
mobile research firm Portio Research.
> For those Africans with access to a mobile, it has become
invaluable. A report commissioned by Vodafone found 25% of Tanzanians
questioned used their phone for business, such as calling suppliers to
get the best price for goods. Fruit growers can call contacts to
determine what is selling well or what is missing from the market.
Farmers can check weather reports and market prices for their crops
without having to travel.
> Mobile communications have bridged the gap between the affluent
"banked" and the "unbanked" populations of countries such as Nigeria.
Durham says: "The phone companies know that most of their customers
are broke half the time. You get standardised 'please call me'
messages from hard-up friends. When you call, the friend asks you to
buy a phone credit voucher and send them the code number by SMS.
> "People were already in effect sending money to each other by text
message, before the phone companies got the idea of providing a full
money-transfer service," he says.
> Mobile phones also help people living in very remote areas get
medical advice, while doctors in regional hospitals can get advice
from senior colleagues in cities. Such a system operates in Mali
through the IKON Telemedicine Project, sponsored by the International
Institute for Communication and Development, where three regional
hospitals are linked to the main hospital in Bamako.
> Africa's mobile-phone industry has also created middlemen who
provide services such as top-up and mobile recharging for a
commission. "In tiny rural hamlets where there is no mains electricity
you can pay 20 [Kenyan] shillings (15p) to have your mobile charged
from a solar panel or a car battery," says Durham. "Phone credit
vouchers can be bought almost anywhere ... It's probably a significant
sideline for many small traders."
> Power base
> There is a clear challenge posed by the lack of power and energy
infrastructure in Africa for the roll-out of mobile phone networks.
There have been many initiatives to find alternative sources of power
- at an industrial as well as a local level - with varying degrees of
success. The use of diesel generators to power mobile phone masts had
been popular in some parts of Africa. However, diesel generators and
the fuel to power them are not cheap and the fact that they can be
used to power other machinery made them prone to theft.
> Maintaining them in remote rural areas was also a major logistical
problem. Some mobile phone companies have been experimenting with
other fuels, such as a locally sourced biodiesel, to cut costs. More
recently, in Namibia, Motorola has been testing wind and solar-powered
base stations, following trials at Motorola's factory in Swindon. The
company is working with mobile network operators in other African
countries looking to use the technology.
>
> Fahad Mayet
>
 .
__,_._,___ ____________
Peter Burgess
The Transparency and Accountability Network: Tr-Ac-Net in New York
www.tr-ac-net.org
IMMC - The Integrated Malaria Management Consortium Inc.
www.IMMConsortium.org
917 432 1191 or 212 772 6918  peterbnyc at gmail.com