Digital convergence will change Africa
Mar 24, 2010
What is your overview of the telecommunication industry in Africa? The telecom sector in Africa is most promising.
You can get TV, internet and telephone on one device
Uganda recently hosted the Digital Africa Summit, which is a premier gathering of global key players in the ICT sector, at the Speke Resort Munyonyo.
Business Vision’s David Mugabe caught up with the Africa head of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Brahima Sanou.
What is your overview of the telecommunication industry in Africa? The telecom sector in Africa is most promising.
When I hear people say teledensity is low and we do not have enough internet, all this is as an opportunity. We are now having 90,000km of fibre optic around Africa.
When you are leaving in a continent like that, the future is bright. Remember, some African countries got digital systems before the developed countries that still had analog.
What is the ITU and what is your role?
The ITU was established as the first inter-governmental organisation in 1865 in Paris by 20 countries.
Today 191 countries are members. It was created by the necessity to connect.
How do you rate the regulation regime across the continent? There are arguments that big telecoms take advantage of an ignorant population who are unaware of their rights to provide expensive but inferior service?
I think that we can do better.
I can understand if you are impatient with the regulator but you also know that all the success stories are because of the regulator.
This is a sector that is evolving very fast. In Uganda, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) is one of the most effective regulatory bodies in Africa.
The issue may not be particular to telecoms and it may be the same in electricity, water or even hospitals.
One component of the utilisation of ICT is literacy.
This is why ITU is developing the ICT development index that considers infrastructure and the level of literacy.
Across Africa, what are the common challenges reported to you by the communications commissions?
We went through the first phase of liberalization.
Now we are going into an area where all services are converging.
We no longer make a difference between who is providing what service, infrastructure.
This is a big challenge. How can we have a transparent and predictable environment that can help Africa take advantage of the convergence.
How will convergence help change Africa?
It means that for the end user, convergence will bring to us a lot of services with only one device.
Today you can get TV, internet and telephone with only one device.
Instead of running 15 contracts, you just sign one contract. This will change our lives.
I see all these services in which micro SMEs will start to market and create their own businesses.
Africa currently has only 2% internet users, how are we going to make the big leap to a critical mass?
Internet users are linked with infrastructure and the question of literacy and affordability.
We are now going from graphic interphase to human interphase where instead of English, French or Portuguese you just use your finger.
ITU is supporting initiatives like connect a school and connect a community which we have just launched where whenever you have a primary school, just connect them to the internet.
ITU or the communications commissions are not in charge of in-country infrastructure, how do you guarantee quality service for the population across Africa?
The ITU has got a department called the standardisation unit which makes telecom standards and issues recommendations on the quality of services.
The question is how do you comply with this when it is left at the country level.
Do you go for the highest quality, very expensive that is only for a few people or for medium quality for all the people? This is a dilemma. But we leave each country to decide what it wants to do depending on the situation.
What is your opinion of Uganda’s telecommunication sector?
Uganda is one of the very best in Africa.
In ICT there are always challenges because things change everyday and this is a challenge for stakeholders to cope.
But Uganda is doing very well and you just have to continue. We have just provided 20 satellite phones and airtime to assist our brothers and sisters who were struck by the disaster in Bududa so when you think about ITU, do not just think about a body of nations but also a human body.
Uganda recently hosted the Digital Africa Summit, which is a premier gathering of global key players in the ICT sector, at the Speke Resort Munyonyo.
Business Vision’s David Mugabe caught up with the Africa head of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Brahima Sanou.
What is your overview of the telecommunication industry in Africa? The telecom sector in Africa is most promising.
When I hear people say teledensity is low and we do not have enough internet, all this is as an opportunity. We are now having 90,000km of fibre optic around Africa.
When you are leaving in a continent like that, the future is bright. Remember, some African countries got digital systems before the developed countries that still had analog.
What is the ITU and what is your role?
The ITU was established as the first inter-governmental organisation in 1865 in Paris by 20 countries.
Today 191 countries are members. It was created by the necessity to connect.
How do you rate the regulation regime across the continent? There are arguments that big telecoms take advantage of an ignorant population who are unaware of their rights to provide expensive but inferior service?
I think that we can do better.
I can understand if you are impatient with the regulator but you also know that all the success stories are because of the regulator.
This is a sector that is evolving very fast. In Uganda, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) is one of the most effective regulatory bodies in Africa.
The issue may not be particular to telecoms and it may be the same in electricity, water or even hospitals.
One component of the utilisation of ICT is literacy.
This is why ITU is developing the ICT development index that considers infrastructure and the level of literacy.
Across Africa, what are the common challenges reported to you by the communications commissions?
We went through the first phase of liberalization.
Now we are going into an area where all services are converging.
We no longer make a difference between who is providing what service, infrastructure.
This is a big challenge. How can we have a transparent and predictable environment that can help Africa take advantage of the convergence.
How will convergence help change Africa?
It means that for the end user, convergence will bring to us a lot of services with only one device.
Today you can get TV, internet and telephone with only one device.
Instead of running 15 contracts, you just sign one contract. This will change our lives.
I see all these services in which micro SMEs will start to market and create their own businesses.
Africa currently has only 2% internet users, how are we going to make the big leap to a critical mass?
Internet users are linked with infrastructure and the question of literacy and affordability.
We are now going from graphic interphase to human interphase where instead of English, French or Portuguese you just use your finger.
ITU is supporting initiatives like connect a school and connect a community which we have just launched where whenever you have a primary school, just connect them to the internet.
ITU or the communications commissions are not in charge of in-country infrastructure, how do you guarantee quality service for the population across Africa?
The ITU has got a department called the standardisation unit which makes telecom standards and issues recommendations on the quality of services.
The question is how do you comply with this when it is left at the country level.
Do you go for the highest quality, very expensive that is only for a few people or for medium quality for all the people? This is a dilemma. But we leave each country to decide what it wants to do depending on the situation.
What is your opinion of Uganda’s telecommunication sector?
Uganda is one of the very best in Africa.
In ICT there are always challenges because things change everyday and this is a challenge for stakeholders to cope.
But Uganda is doing very well and you just have to continue. We have just provided 20 satellite phones and airtime to assist our brothers and sisters who were struck by the disaster in Bududa so when you think about ITU, do not just think about a body of nations but also a human body.