Expanding Africa’s Broadband Capacity: The Connect Africa Summit

By the end of the two-day summit, investment commitments worth USD 55 billion had been secured and 2012 had been targeted for connecting all African capitals and major cities and strengthening their connectivity with the rest of the world.

The Connect Africa summit took place in Kigali, Rwanda from 29-30 October, under the patronage of Mr Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda and Mr John Kufuor, President of the Republic of Ghana. Its over-arching aim was ‘to mobilise the human, financial and technical resources required to close the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) gaps throughout Africa'. Setting the agenda for the three-day conference President Kagame asserted that “ investment and trade – not charity and aid – must drive the transformation of [Africa's] economies ”. He added that ‘in order to realise the much-needed economic revolution, we have to forge productive relationships between the government and business'.

The commitments

The European Commission announced financial commitments to support trans-African networks that facilitate interconnectivity amounting to around 360 million euros. A combination of various grants and loans, The EU Trust Fund for Africa - established to finance cross-border projects or national projects with regional and continental impact that include ICT – is set to be ‘substantially replenished' at the end of 2008. The commission has also committed 6 million Euros to support the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) regulatory reform initiative in Africa. The ITU is the leading United Nations agency for ICT issues.

Financial commitments also came from the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank (AfDB). The World Bank announced that by 2012 it expects a doubling of its commitment to ICT in Africa, to a new figure of USD 2 Billion. The AfDB expects to invest 60% of its concessional resources on infrastructure, which will include ICT, over the next three years.

Other developments arising from the summit included the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between ITU and Microsoft through which the two parties will support skills development and capacity building alongside the provision of applications and services in Africa. In recognition of the importance of education in ICTs for young people, Microsoft and ITU will provide access to computer technology training as well as opportunities to receive valuable work experience in the industry. On top of this, the two parties will collaborate on global cyber-security issues and provide support to regulators in developing countries.

From mobiles to broadband

In addressing the importance of connectivity in Africa, key speakers highlighted the development of the mobile telephone. Over the past few years, Africa has seen exponential growth in mobile phone usage and, according to Dr Hamadoun Toure, head of ITU, Africa has “ the highest growth in mobile use globally – twice the global average over the past three years ”. It is also interesting to note here that mobile phone usage in Africa has not simply followed the patterns of Europe, America and Japan. Projects like M-Pesa in Kenya – set up by network provider Safaricom - have seen the phone developing into an alternative ‘cash card'. Users are able to by-pass the infrastructural weaknesses in other sectors through creative uses of this more almost ubiquitous mobile network. Other innovations have seen the transmission of weather reports to fishermen in Tanzania via SMS, as well as job alerts to subscribers in Kenya.

The unparalleled uptake of the mobile telephone is hoped to form the blueprint for the development of broadband connectivity across the continent. The impact that has been evidenced through the example of investment in mobile telephony across the continent highlights the importance of investment in ICT infrastructure in human resource development and economic growth. Echoing the theme of the summit, Dr Toure said that the solution to development was investment. “ African countries need a modern, reliable broadband ICT infrastructure to attract investment for jobs and economic growth ”.

The Connect Africa Summit was organised by the International Telecommunication Union , the Africa Union, the World Bank Group and the Global Alliance for ICT and Development, in partnership with the African Development Bank, the African Telecommunication Union, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, and the Global Digital Solidarity Fund.