ICT in West Africa

Uwe Afemann Universität Osnabrück

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

My name is Uwe Afemann. I am from the Computer Centre of the University of Osnabrück. I do research on Internet usage in developing countries for about ten years. At the present time I'm the speaker of the special interest group "Informatics and Third World" of the German "Gesellschaft für Informatik e. V.".

Today I'm going to present you some statistical data about usage of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) in West Africa.

I will focus on the digital divide between countries and within countries and on some of the reasons for the digital gap.

I will also indicate how poor people can get access to ICT sharing resources.

If you speak about ICT, you must be always limited to some aspects of this topic. Thus I will not be able to deal with all aspects.

Internet and Phone Access

When Internet was starting the digital gap between industrialized countries and developing countries was abysmal. Internet access was absent in Third World and the number of phone lines was tiny.

Many multilateral donor initiatives were started to improve access to the new information and communication technologies. ICT was seen as a panacea to underdevelopment.

With respect to access to ICT developing countries caught up with industrial countries. But as you can see by the following figures the growth rates slowed down. The digital divide still exists and despite declining costs to the user most Africans are far from the experience of telephone calls by fixed lines and Internet access and in a fewer degree from mobile phone.

Source: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/ict/graphs/internet.jpg last visited 3-Aug-06

Source: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/ict/graphs/mobile.jpg last visited 3-Aug-06

Source: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/ict/graphs/fixed.jpg, last visited 3-Aug-06

What also characterises these global developments is the gap not only between countries – historically between those of the North and those of the South – but within countries, primarily between the urban centres and the rural periphery. Domestic digital divides often mirror existing inequities within developing and developed countries and are therefore likely to reinforce them. The characteristic user of the Internet and other ICTs, for example, is often young, male, well-educated, and relatively wealthy, tends to live in the capital city of their country, and is likely to be a member of the dominant ethnic group of their country.

Today everyone knows ICTs are not a panacea to underdevelopment and will have a range of side effects. Thus, it is important to evaluate the factors that will have the greatest impact on not only ensuring access to ICTs, but also in maximising the positive impact for development of those technologies put in place.

Basic ICT-Data Population Radio Television Region HDI (Position) GINI-

Index

Total Density

Main telephone lines per 100 inhabitants

Cellular mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants

as % of total households

Population coverage

as % of total households

Population coverage

Internet Users per 100 inhabitants

PCs per 100 inhabitants

Digital Access Index DAI

Benin 0.431 (162) ... 7.50 67 1.02 5.33 (2004) 90.6 85 19.7 80 1.38 0.41 0.12

Burkina Faso 0.317 (175) 48.2 13.23 48 0.74 4.33 65.4 95 6.8 70 0.40 0.21 0.08

Cape Verde 0.721 (105) ... 0.51 126 14.09 16.12 65.8 84 40.0 78 5.30 10.17 0.39

Cote d'Ivoire 0.420 (163) 44.6 18.15 56 1.43 12.06 78.9 100 34.5 100 1.44 1.55 0.13

Gambia 0.470 (155) 47.5 1.52 142 2.90 16.31 72.9 100 12.4 100 3.35 1.57 0.13

Ghana 0.520 (138) 40.8 22.11 93 1.47 7.98 57.0 100 21.4 95 1.72 0.52 0.16

Guinea 0.466 (156) 40.3 8.00 33 0.34 2.36 56.0 96 9.5 90 0.59 0.56 0.10

Guinea-Bissau 0.348 (172) 47.0 1.34 37 0.82 5.01 27.5 75 25.7 ... 1.99 ... 0.10

Liberia ... ... 3.28 29 0.21 4.87 0.03 ...

Mali 0.333 (174) 50.5 11.35 9 0.66 7.66 71.2 95 14.8 90 0.45 0.38 0.09

Mauritania 0.477 (152) 39.0 3.07 3 1.31 20.04 50.3 100 20.5 44 0.47 1.41 0.14

Niger 0.281 (177) 50.5 13.96 12 0.19 1.63 32.7 85 5.4 70 0.19 0.07 0.04

Nigeria 0.453 (158) 50.6 131.53 142 0.93 14.14 62.1 ... 25.6 ... 1.39 0.68 0.15

Senegal 0.458 (157) 41.3 11.66 59 2.29 14.84 73.5 100 28.5 90 4.66 2.34 0.14

Sierra Leone 0.298 (176) 62.9 5.53 76 0.48 2.28 53.3 100 6.7 ... 0.19 ... 0.10

Togo 0.512 (143) ... 6.14 108 1.21 11.23 86.2 100 51.2 100 4.41 3.41 0.18

HDI, GINI-Index and population statistics are from Human Development Report 2005, data for main telephone lines, cellular phone, Internet usage, number of PCs from ITU (http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/) for the year 2005, data for radio, television and Digital Access Index are from "African Telecommunication Indicators 2004", ITU, May 2004.

As mentioned, ICT-infrastructure has improved in the last years but the growth rate is slowing down. Only cellular phones are on the rise at the cost of fixed telephone lines.

However growth is not evenly spread over the continent. Sub-Saharan Africa‘s progress was dismal in comparison with North African countries. Benin recorded 4.5 percent, Burkina Faso 3.5 percent and Ethiopia only 0.35 percent. (Source: "Mobile Telecoms Up 39 Persent", Business in Africa (Johannesburg), May 19, 2006)

Today there are more users with mobile phones than with fixed line telephones all over West Africa.

But radio remains the main source of information for the great majority of Africans. It covers nearly the whole population. TV is still a luxury for many people, because of the poor income of most people.

All West African countries are Least Developed Countries with high disparities in income as you can see by the GINI-Index. Only Latin America has similar disparities. With the exception of Cape Verde and partly Ghana all West African countries are low human development countries with low income.

ICT-gap within countries

The following figure reflects the digital divide within African countries. The situation of Cameroon, Ghana and Mozambique is similar to other states.

Source: “Towards an African e-Index, Household and Individual ICT Access and Usage across 10 African Countries”, edited by Alison Gillwald, 2005, The LINK Centre, Wits University School of Public and Development Management, researchICTafrica , page 20

Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators Database.

To profit from Internet one needs high band width, e. g. a broadband connection to the Internet. Especially multimedia applications like internet radio or TV are not feasible with a slow modem connection. But Africans do not have DSL access. African internet access is only feasible for text oriented application as simple email without attachments.

But many people of Africa can‘t read and write, and aren‘t able to use Internet in this way.

But there are new efforts to improve bandwidth. Gambia for example recently increased its internet bandwidth from 9 Meg to 45 Meg (Source: "Gambia: Gamtel Announces Internet Upgrading", 21 May 2006, The Gambia Journal), and Nigeria announced the launch of a new communication satellite for next year (Source: Dayo Johnson: "Nigeria to Launch Communications Satellite Next Year", Vanguard (Lagos), July 11, 2006).

But sometimes bandwidth is theoretical available but not used as is the case of Nigeria with SAT-3 Cable. Because of high pricing only a mere fraction of the 5 Gb/s is used. The sole customer until February 2004 was Shell. (Source: Harry Goldstein: Surf Africa, in: IEEE Spectrum, Volume 41, Number 2, February 2004)

Today Nitel, Nigerian‘s telco, sells 1 megabyte per month at about $3500 to ISPs, and the same amount of bandwidth to individuals at $6500 (Source: Remmy Nweke: "SAT-3 And Affordable Bandwidth", Daily Champion, Lagos, Nigeria, February 9, 2006).

Literacy

To profit from Internet there is need of basic skills as read and write. Adult literacy rates are low in West African countries, especially in rural areas and among women.

Electricity

Source: Ogunlade Davidson and Youba Sokona: "A new sustainable energy path for African development: Think bigger act faster", ENERGY AND DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH CENTRE Cape Town and ENVIRONMENTAL DEVELOPMENT ACTION IN THE THIRD WORLD Dakar, 2002, pg. 62

A pre-requisite to use ICT is a stable power supply. But this is the expeption in African countries. Rural areas are in disadvantage. An electricity power grid is almost absent in rural villages.

The absence of electricity has not been a major barrier to access and use of mobile phones. For example, the popularity of ‘Simu ya Jamii’, a community-based mobile telecommunication in Kenya, has increased because it can be used even where there is no electricity; charging can be done using solar or car batteries. Users recharge batteries at the nearest town or locally using a car battery or generator. (Source: Catherine Nyaki Adeya: "Wireless Technologies and Development in Africa", 2005, pg. 16, http://arnic.info/workshop05/Adeya_WirelessDev_Sep05.pdf)

Fixed and mobile phone charges Residential

(2002) Per minute local call

2003 Region Main

telephone lines per 100 inhabitants 2005

Connection (US$)

Mothly subs. (USA$)

Local call

Cellular mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants 2005

Prepaid subscribers 2003

Population coverage 2003

Connection charge 2003

Peak Off-peak

Internet Users per 100 inhabitants 2004

PCs per 100 inhabitants 2004

Digital Access Index DAI

Benin 1.02 138 4.2 0.09 5.33 (2004) ... 23.0 28.69 0.34 0.16 1.38 0.41 0.12

Burkina Faso 0.74 42 5.1 0.10 4.33 47.6 60.0 43.62 0.29 0.29 0.40 0.21 0.08

Cape Verde 14.09 26 2.1 0.04 16.12 99.6 90.0 34.50 0.30 0.21 5.30 10.17 0.39

Cote d'Ivoire 1.43 29 7.2 0.22 12.06 93.7 46.6 35.87 0.65 0.65 1.44 1.55 0.13

Gambia 2.90 41 1.5 0.03 16.31 98.4 70.0 ... 3.35 1.57 0.13

Ghana 1.47 50 1.3 0.03 7.98 82.5 ... 34.04 0.32 0.24 1.72 0.52 0.16

Guinea 0.34 110 3.0 0.08 2.36 74.9 ... 37.45 0.20 0.15 0.59 0.56 0.10

Guinea-Bissau 0.82 67 ... ... 5.01 ... ... no network 1.99 ... 0.10

Liberia 0.21 ... ... ... 4.87 ... 16.4 ... 0.03 ...

Mali 0.66 81 2.8 ... 7.66 ... ... ... 0.45 0.38 0.09

Mauritania 1.31 39 5.4 0.13 20.04 ... ... ... 0.47 1.41 0.14

Niger 0.19 41 3.8 0.10 1.63 ... 13.0 ... 0.19 0.07 0.04

Nigeria 0.93 75 4.1 0.11 14.14 ... 38.0 49.76 0.41 0.33 1.39 0.68 0.15

Senegal 2.29 62 3.5 0.17 14.84 96.0 85.0 21.81 0.32 0.17 4.66 2.34 0.14

Sierra Leone 0.48 47 0.5 0.03 2.28 ... ... 15.00 0.18 0.16 0.19 ... 0.10

Togo 1.21 156 2.5 0.10 11.23 98.8 80.0 28.55 0.24 0.24 4.41 3.41 0.18

Data to fixed and mobile phone charges and Prepaid subscribers are from "African Telecommunication Indicators 2004", ITU, May 2004

With the dramatic improvement in telecommunications indicators reflecting the successful introduction of mobile services on the continent in the last decade, it is important to remember that the average total telephone penetration across the countries surveyed is over 3 % per hundred inhabitants with fixed line phones and over 11% per hundred inhabitants with pre-paid mobile phones. This means that vast numbers of Africans still do not have access to affordable communications.

Costs in Africa represent up to 10% of income, compared to the developed world average of between 2-3%. The high call charges reflect the weak regulatory regimes in place in many countries. Call charges are higher than in European countries although income is only a fraction of that in Europe.

Mobile and fixed line possession are clearly linked to income. Households with a fixed line phone had an average household income of just over US$640, compared to US$246 for those without.

Apart from having turned into a lifestyle product, it is notable that the real breakthrough of mobile telephony has been the introduction of pre-paid services. This survey confirms the figures in the latest ITU report (African Telecommunication Indicators 2004) which states that more than 90% of all mobile phone users in sub-Saharan Africa are pre-paid subscribers.

Households with contract mobile phones have far higher household incomes than pre-paid phone users. Households with contract mobiles have, on average, an income of US$1,911 and households with pre-paid US$487 (PPP).

Source: Alison Gillwald: “Towards an African e-Index, Household and Individual ICT Access and Usage across 10 African Countries”, 2005, The LINK Centre, Wits University School of Public and Development Management, researchICTafrica, pg 23

While the growth of mobile has been dramatic and the trend is towards it being a substitute for fixed line access, it is striking that 80% and above of respondents believe that the major obstacle to increased mobile use is the cost of calls.

Internet costs Total Internet price4 Windows XP Cost2 Region Internet

Users per 100 inhabitants 2004

ISPs1

20 hours of use US$

As % of GNI per capita

PCs per 100 inhabitants 2004 Effective $ GDP

months

Piracy rate 20053

Digital Access Index DAI 2002

Benin 1.38 814 46.40 146.5 0.41 53613 18.24 0.12

Burkina Faso 0.40 373 45.38 247.5 0.21 91801 31.23 0.08

Cape Verde 5.30 155 30.51 28.4 10.17 14998 5.10 0.39

Cote d'Ivoire 1.44 2015 67.15 132.1 1.55 31140 10.59 82 0.13

Gambia 3.35 13 27.11 116.2 1.57 67847 23.08 0.13

Ghana 1.72 384 43.83 194.8 0.52 73442 24.98 0.16

Guinea 0.59 364 63.26 185.2 0.56 50090 17.04 0.10

Guinea-Bissau

1.99 5 105.09 840.7 ... 121634 41.38 0.10

Liberia 0.03 5 ... ... 121417 41.30

Mali 0.45 270 57.96 289.8 0.38 82801 28.17 0.09

Mauritania 0.47 21 38.64 113.1 1.41 53959 18.35 0.14

Niger 0.19 137 96.85 683.6 0.07 113078 38.46 0.04

Nigeria 1.39 1535 85.48 353.7 0.68 62014 21.09 82 0.15

Senegal 4.66 569 40.63 103.7 2.34 41539 14.13 82 0.14

Sierra Leone 0.19 277 12.01 102.9 ... 135380 46.05 0.10

Togo 4.41 205 30.36 134.9 3.41 73033 24.84 0.18

1 Web Usage Climbs in Africa, Enid Burns, May 3, 2006 2 Windows + Office XP equivalent US$ cost calculation = $560 * (U.S. GDP per capita/Country GDP per capita). Licence fees and GDP per capita: The case for open source in developing countries by Rishab Aiyer Ghosh First Monday, volume 8, number 12 (December 2003), URL: http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue8_12/ghosh/index.html 3 Average piracy rate for Africa: 84 %. Source: Third Annual BSA and IDC Global Software Piracy Study May 2006 4 African Telecommunication Indicators 2004, ITU, May 2004

Mobile telephony provides some ray of hope for the development. The Internet – the value layer of the global information infrastructure – is close to non-existent. The relative rarity of Internet usage (outside of work and the upper income households) is indicative of a world where access to the Internet is low and expensive, and people continue to rely largely on traditional information sources – popular press, magazines, radio and television – for information.

Because of low fixed line penetration rates and the generally high cost of both fixed and mobile services, the penetration of the Internet is exceptionally low.

As you can see the total cost of 20 hours internet access exceeds average monthly income. Buying a computer with software is a high multiple of monthly income. So it is not surprisingly that piracy rates of software are high.

I want to make a note on income statistics. Median household income is generally lower than official GDP per capita because of lower income of the vast informal sector.

The most useful measure of Internet penetration is email addresses, since access at home is entirely dependent upon fixed line access. Due to high fixed line costs, few African homes have access to the Internet, but many people use email at cyber cafés. Because of lack of data from West African countries I want to present some data from other African countries. The statistic data originate from an investigation of ten African countries. (Alison Gillwald: “Towards an African e-Index, Household and Individual ICT Access and Usage across 10 African Countries”, 2005, The LINK Centre, Wits University School of Public and Development Management, researchICTafrica) The highest penetration rates were recorded in South Africa at 5.7%, Tanzania with 2.4%, Namibia with 1.6% and minimal penetration rates for Uganda (0.4%) and Ethiopia (only 0.1%, where local calls are the cheapest.

Source: Alison Gillwald: “Towards an African e-Index, Household and Individual ICT Access and Usage across 10 African Countries", 2005, The LINK Centre, Wits University School of Public and Development Management, researchICTafrica, page 23

Because of different income situation it is not surprisingly that there are great difference in email possession between the major towns and rural areas.

Again, within these very low Internet penetration rates, the distribution of email addresses was significantly concentrated in urban areas. Close to 30% of metro households have one email address, twice the level of other urban areas. Less than 5% of households in rural areas had an email address.

Solutions to widen access to the Internet

Internet cafés are wide spread in all major cities where a sufficient mass of clients is available and willing to pay. Internet cafés charge about 1 $ per hour, but bandwidth is not sufficient. Connections to Internet are realized by Satellite access.

Community Multimedia Centres are created in rural areas with donor support. UNESCO is one of the main incentivator. ("150 new Community Multimedia centres to be set up in Africa", UNESCO, Press Release No.2003-1030) CMS unite the traditional media like radio, tv, and telephone with the new technologies. But sustainability remains a problem. If the full costs of CMC operations are calculated, it is clear that CMCs cannot be sustained solely upon charges paid by individuals. Since October 2004 40 CMCs were installed in Mali and Senegal and other countries. Some of them in Mali and Burkina Faso do not exist anymore by financial failure.

The Internet connection is managed by VSAT link to satellites. But this is very expensive.

Rural Internet access needs alternative ways of connection. Promising solutions are unwired access like Wimax with connection distances up to 50 km. Wireless access is cheaper than fixed line access by Fibre glass but bandwidth is by far lower. Access by mobile phone isn‘t feasible because of its low bandwidth around 9.6 Kbit/s.

Telecentres are a success story from Senegal. They are wide spread especially near Dakar.

Radio browsing by Community Radio stations is another option. The radio station maintains an internet connection and surfs the net behalf of its listeners.

In Mali there are for example 86 community radios.

The Canadian-based Farm Radio Network for example offers information about successful, low-cost practise in sustainable agriculture, nutrition, and health and community development by radio. Farm Radio Network works all over West Africa (Source: http://www.farmradio.org/english/).

Using radio omits the problems with the different languages and the poor literacy rate.

Internet in Education

African Schoolnet Initiative

World Links for Development

SchoolNet Africa is one of Africa's first African-led, African-based non-government organisations (NGO) that operates across the continent in its endeavour to improve education access, quality and efficiency through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in African schools. SchoolNet Africa works mainly with learners, teachers, policymakers and practitioners through country-based schoolnet organizations across Africa.

Most West African countries are part of SchoolNet. Burkina Faso, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Togo are absent.

One of the partners is Microsoft.

World Links for Development is a former World Bank Project now independent. It aims to bring ICT to school. One positive effect is, that pupils are aware that not only teachers are in possession of knowledge. But overall results are mixed.

Sometime schools in Africa become beneficiaries of computers from the North. For example a British charitable association recently donated 16 PCs to a primary school in Banjul in Gambia. (Source: "Computers for Sanchaba Lower Basic School", by Pa Modou Secka, The Independent, Banjul, Gambia, March 12, 2004)

African governments try to improve teaching and learning by integrating ICT into the curriculum. In Ghana there are also plans to integrate computers in kindergarten and primary school. (Source: "Integrate ICT Into Lower Schools – African Gov'ts Urged", by David Allan Paintsil, Ghanaian Chronicle, Accra, March 9, 2004)

But it remains doubtful if computers in kindergarten and primary schools can improve education, when there is lack of teachers and failing in investment for schools.

Internet in universities

The African Virtual University (AVU) is an innovative educational organization established to serve the countries of Africa. After a successful pilot phase, AVU has been transformed

from being a project of the World Bank to an independent reputable Inter-governmental organization based in Nairobi, Kenya with over 57 Learning Centers in 27 African countries.

Financial Partners are from

* Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID)

* World Bank

* Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)

* Department for International Development (DfID)

* African Development Bank (AfDB)

* William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

and technical Partners are

* Microsoft

* Netsat

* Intelsat

Overseas Partner Universities come from USA, Canada and Australia.

Beside AVU there are numerous partnerships between universities from the North and Africa. One of is the partnership between East Carolina State University in Greenville, North Carolina and the University of The Gambia in Banjul.

To terminate my lecture I want to give some positive news about ICT in West Africa. As all countries are multiethnic and multilingual countries there is need to accommodate computer keyboards to this reality. Ghanaian Software Engineers constructed a Keyboard for the Ghanaian languages Akan, Ga, Adangbe and some other northern languages (Source: "A Boost for ICT in Ghana", by Joseph Coomson, Ghanaian Chronicle, Accra, May 4, 2004), and Nigerian Engineers constructed a keyboard for the three major Nigerian languages Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba (Source: "Computer Keyboard With Nigerian Languages Invented", by Onwuka Nzeshi, This Day, Lagos, January 23, 2006).