From: http://www.smartmoney.com/news/on/index.cf...031-001264-1911

KIGALI (AFP)--Africa will receive investments worth $55 billion to boost its goal of securing universal Internet access by 2012, the International Telecommunication Union said Wednesday.

The international commitments were made at the two-day "Connect Africa" summit that ended in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, Tuesday, with a pledge to speed up technology in the continent, the ITU said in a statement.

The ITU and African Development Bank jointly vowed to cooperate in connecting all African capitals and major cities with a broadband infrastructure and strengthen connectivity to the rest of the world by 2012.

The pair will invest at least $300 million in information and communication technology projects in five years and further mobilize more partners and funds.

"By 2015, broadband and ICT services will be extended to all African villages," the statement said.

Six African heads of state and technology experts agreed at the conference that Africa, the world's most marginalized continent, should get universal Internet access to aid development.

"Africa is open for business," said Hamadoun Toure, secretary general of the ITU, which organized the conference with support from international bodies including the African Union and the U.N.

The U.N. telecom group urged governments to work towards cross-border integration in large-scale projects.

"With the entrepreneurial spirit of the African private sector working with their international partners, the support of the international community and the commitment from governments, universal connectivity in Africa is no longer a utopian dream," said Sha Zukang, Under Secretary General for the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in Wednesday's statement.

Mobile telephony in Africa overtook fixed lines in 2001 and now outnumbers them by nearly seven to one, with nearly 193 million mobile cellular subscribers in 2006.

This figure is projected to grow to more than 270 million by the end of this year, according to GSM Association, which plans to invest $50 billion over the next five years and provide mobile coverage to more than 90% of the population.

Currently less than 4% of Africans have Internet access whilst the rate of broadband penetration barely reaches 1%, according to the ITU.

According to the World Bank, the cost of connecting to the Internet in Africa is the highest in the world, at some $250-$300 per month.

So yeah, if they would like to get on this ASAP so that I can use my VOIP to call my fiance that would be great

Connectivity is one thing but how about reliability. I would rather they work on things like "lights off".

I mean, what is the internet without electricity?

Just my $0.02.

Yeah, so I'm out of the loop.....what's VOIP?

Light off is crrrrraaaazy! They need to seriously do something about it. It has gotten progressively worse over the past year or more. When I was there in the summer of 2006, it was not bad at all. The power went out a few times but only for a few hours once in a while...granted it was rainy season so that definitely contributed to better power conditions. When I returned to Ghana at the end of January, 2007, things were far worse. I seemed like there was light off everyday! It was one thing to have a planned period of light off, but when it was your area's time to regain power, There would be unexpected/unplanned light off. There was a lot of food spoiling, dead cell phone batteries and frustration.

This power situation has a negative affect on businesses (who can't open if their sewing machines or barbering clippers can't work because there is no power and no light for them to see. You can't even get a cold drink most times especially when you need it the most...during dry season).

They need to make fixing this power situation a main priority, because the country as a whole is losing money. Ghana has a lot of beautiful beaches and would fair well in tourism, but not with this on going power issue. Its sad because Ghana has so much potential. Its a very beautiful country....and you know what...despite the light off, I still miss it and would give anything to be there right now

VOIP = Voice over IP

Basically making phone calls using your internet, like Vonage.

Ok. Ive heard of it...just did not know the correct term

So I realized I went off topic....slightly ok...a little bit more than that
Using the internet would be so much more ideal, not to mention cheaper than using the phone all the time. Like I mentioned to Zee in a former thread, international text messages are cool, but so darn costly. Verizon charges 15 cent to receive and 25 cents to send. I have spent as much as $85 dollars a month in international text message bills alone . There has to be a better way.

Don't they have packages for text msg ? I pay $ 9.99 for 100 international text msg. with AT&T ( Cingular ) wireless.

The electricity problem would definitely have to improve before the internet gets better infrastructure.
Sierra Leone has extremely long outages.
When the lights come on it is like Christmas and everyone is happy, running for the radio, TV and iron.
Power is a basic need and the business is poor because of the high cost to run generators.

A lot of places in West Africa are working with developing solar panels that will power the computers. It's too expensive for the average African to use right now though.

My husband used to own and run a cyber cafe in Nigeria (no scammers allowed, don't worry) but the cost of the ISP was WAY to high compared to the income. It just wasn't feasible. The ISP was based in Israel.. when the wars got intense the ISP was knocked out and that was the end of his and many other businesses. Africa could def. stand to have many more of their own African based ISPs and def. VOIP! That's great, thanks for sharing that info ZeeNusah!!

No packages for Verizon yet. I make the suggestion every time I speak to them, however .

The same happens in Ghana when the power is on....everyone gets so happy. Most times I knew the power was back on when I heard clapping and laughing, followed by some music playing.

And you are so right about the generators...only those that are a little more fortunate can afford one. It's a shame. People work hard to start their business only to lose money to the power situation. But you know what...you may hear some one complain once in a while, but everyone deals with it graciously. They still go to work and do the best that they can with what they have. That's shows lots of character that we don't often see here. I miss Ghana a lot

Wow. Good points everyone

Omoba, I had no idea about the international text messaging package from AT&T...I am going to look into that now.

Now, onto my soapbox.

Quite frankly I think these people have their priorities mixed up big time!

Like everyone else I think that the issue of a continuous, reliable electricity supply is more important than getting the internet. Personally, I think that people would appreciate that a lot more and it would be more of a help to the general African person that internet access. Unless this money is going to try and revamp the poor electrical infrastruture we have in addition to getting us internet, I think it is going to be a waste.

Solar panels are freaking expensive. My dad is looking to get some for our house and the set up costs are about $2500. While it is a lot of money, I think that the investment is well worth it. Akosombo is not cutting it anymore (and I have my issues with that --- which is a topic for another thread ) and the construction of other dams is so slow that I doubt we are going to see the results of that soon.

Where did these African leaders and technology experts come from anyway? I wonder what country/countries they did their feasibility studies in.

Interesting bit of information. My fiance and I were talking about the "oil discovery" in Ghana (this was a few months ago) and he told me some interesting facts about the "lights off" phenomenon. He works with renewable energy resources (I think I got that right ) and he said that this whole issue of lights off happens about every 10-11 years in Ghana. Something to do with rainfall, cycles, and other stuff that was way over my head. So it is getitng better now.

And all the talk about mobile phone service....whatever. It sucks big time!!! I'm sorry but my experience with the stupid networks has driven me to the point that I have written to MTN in Ghana and the head office in South Africa. I am grateful that I can get a hold of my fiance but I detest the fact that either the connection sucks, you are constantly getitng cut off or it just plain doesn't work. I am sure those of you from Ghana who have SOs that use MTN have gotten that annoying message "The MTN number you have dialed cannot be reached at this moment. The phone is either switched off or out of coverage area." Umm, not when I was just talking to someone 2 seconds ago . And, unfortunately, the quality is the same whether you are calling Accra or the middle of nowhere.

Unfortunately, pouring all this money into Africa is not going to do much good unless all African nations learn one thing: how to maintain it. African countries are notorious for using, using, using and not maintaining. We use what we have until we can use it no more and then go and borrow a gazillion dollars to go and build something newer and high tech.

And, the image of getting internet in my village is just too funny for me to even think about. When 95% of the population cannot read and of the 5% who can, 4.999999% have never seen a computer, what is the point there? Not to mention that we don't even have electricity or phone reception yet (despite all the promises). I know what the responses are going to be (we need a school, we need a new market, we need a road, we need a bridge, we need a clinic --- those are actual answers from this project we were doing, another topic for another thread ).

OK, getting off my soapbox now.

That is a good soapbox to stand on
The feasibility studies may not have so much to do with actual feasibility but certain shady political leaders from other countries
romancing Africa, making promises, sounding appealing and well you know how it goes......trying to buy them for future dealings.
If corrupt leaders within Africa stop filling their own pockets we may have more reliable infrastructure.
Isn't it often about whose pockets get stuffed from a too good to be true business venture to 'improve' ?

Exactly....you've got investors still pouring money into the electricity industry in Nigeria and look at the electricity system in Nigeria...one of the worst in africa. When I visited in May, my aunt didn't have power for four days in Lagos. Its an excellent effort on their part, but they might want to start off investing a smaller amount than 55 billion bucks. I mean some countries are still trying to develop other more meaningful areas....hospitals...schools...still even mobile phone coverage. My village in eastern Nigeria just got cell phone coverage two years ago. So yeah...I totally agree with the investment, but not that much for goodness sakes....

I agree with what everyone here said and can't help but note that they always give money to "Africa". "Africa" isn't a country. Who takes accountability for how, when and where this money is spent? It seems that throwing money at a problem is pretty useless if the money never makes to to fix the problem.

I know right! I'd like to see the leaders of these african nations sit down and decide who gets what portion of the money....fight might break out.

And the saddest thing about the whole ordeal is that the little people suffer.

People come into government, make false promises and sit there, bank accounts getting bigger by the minute, trips to London, Paris, Rome, with 36 of your closest friends . Who wouldn't want a life like that?

Its sad.
One thing I noticed is that African nations are allowing people from outside the country to profit off their own lands. All of the supermarkets in Ghana which are aimed towards "foreigners" (due to the variations of product normally found in developed countries) are not owned by native Ghanaians. I can't even tell you how the workers in those stores are watched by the owners as if they may steal something. It pissed me off so badly when I was there!!! How could this be? There has to be a better way.

People of power in Africa often times take bribes and not fulfill promises made and the whole country suffers. Africa has to plan with consideration for the future and NOT just for now. A bandaid is only a temporary cover...it does not heal.

I would not be so upset if Africa did not have soooooo much potential. Africa is a beautiful nation and there is so much that can be done.

My fiance and I talk about this issue all the time and I am glad that he has made a commitment to go back to Ghana after he has settled himself in the US, to continue investments and enter into new ventures...all with the idea of being a part of Ghana's development. I encourage everyone to do the same for their home country .

Yeah so I went off in a tangent.... Sorry guys....I'm a bit passionate

I feel you Asante Maroon. My plan all along has been to go back to Ghana to live. I sort of have no choice (long drawn out boring story about my family). Because of how I grew up and other influences in my life I have always identified myself as Ghanaian before American.

As for doing something to serve in terms of development and well being of the people back home....my sisters and I are already doing that .

I guess you guys can see how passionate I am about all this I am my grandfather's grand-daughter after all (don't ask unless you want another soapbox )

It just irks me that all this is in the hands of the few in power (kinda like dealing with this immigration mess ).

It is just so disheartening to see so little progress when you have seen things being done. And I have seen changes happen without all the bribery and money under the table.

Yeah, totally off topic but related to the topic though.

Well, girl....I don't mind the soapbox....send me a PM if anything !

I would totally live in Ghana...I said that on my first trip there. Me and my SO discusses this all the time. I really feel that we all can go back and do something great for Ghana, whether ir be investing or opening businesses. I think if the country sees a lot of its native people from abroad having interest in building up Ghana, they may feel pressure in doing their part.

Like I said.....Ghana has soooooo much potential!

I guess I will be seeong you in Ghana!

The progress does seem slow, but when you compare our countries' ages to age of America for instance, we're still young...Nigeria that is. I know Nigeria is only 47 years old, from when they gained full independence that is. Compare that to America that is hundreds of years old. So I think we're getting there. Not to mention how Nigeria just started treating the presidential elections with a more democratic touch this past year....off topic...lol. So it may seem slow, but our countries are getting where we want them to be. When did Ghana gain independence, if any? (I know I could google it...but you ladies probably already know ).

My SO also wants to come here (had to twist his arm), pretty much stack some money, and return back to Nigeria to help with positive contributions. I mean who wouldn't? Our countries are freakin gorgeous like Asante said! I would totally live in Abuja all day...and love it! But anyway...I think our countries are progressing...yes somewhat slowly...but give us some time. When Nigeria is hundreds of years old like America...people will be running to live there.

Amen Nixz Chi BTW: Ghana gained independence March 6, 1957 (Yay for 50 years ).

I remember someone telling me that we cannot compare development in Africa to development in western countries because African countries are just so much younger than other countries and need time to transition.

I just feel like the actual needs of the people are being ignored. If they did a survey, do they really think that the average person in any African country would really want the internet? We are talking about $55 billion here. And while it is being utilized by an organization that works in telecommunications I can think of so many other useful projects for the money.

A lot of politicians are so worried with bringing the countries up to what is considered "modern" standards because they want to be able to compete with western companies but we need to take pride into what we can offer people that is unique to us. If some of these people took time to sit down and learn about their own countries (they all need a history lesson) they would see that it is not all about making it westernized and new and high tech. We have our own qualities that makes us marketable and interesting to outsiders.

The internet is not going to solve our problems. There is too much unrest and fighting going on in different countries to make it a success. How are they going to get the internet to Darfur or the Congo????? Even humanitarian workers are refusing to go to some of these places. This money is just going to make it all worse because WE KNOW that at the end of the day, so much money is going to be skimmed off the top that only a blessed few will see the fruits of this labor.

As African countries, the first thing we need to do is OWN our independence. There is no reason why Haliburton or some other craptacular company needs to come in and build our bridges, mine our gold/diamonds, grow our crops and then TAKE THEM OUT of our countries. What is the point of that? What benefit do we get? Is this what we are going to keep doing until we are depleted of all our resources? When are we going to step up and say enough is enough?

Case in point: why was Akosombo built? Not to provide electricity to Ghana The primary purpose was to provide the electrical power to process bauxite for an American company. 2/3 of the electricity produced by Akosombo was sent straight to the factory and the rest to the whole of Ghana. Can you imagine? And then what heppens when they are done? We say "Thank you so much for building this massive dam for us and providing us with electricity. We hope you had fun taking our bauxite and exporting it to your own country with no benefit to us. Please come back and do the same with our gold, diamonds, cocoa and palm nut"

If I was the Ghanaian president (I could care less about our current leader ...definitely another topic for another thread) I would say "Thank you very much for offering to wire my country for the internet but at the moment I am more concerned about poverty, health care, education and good decent roads. We just feel there are more pressing issues than whether a select few can get internet in their homes."

Man, I should write a book

Sierra Leone has lost a decade of progress because of the brutal war from 1991 - 2001.
It has wonderful beaches and sights for tourism.
I hope that the new leader will do what he promised for the people.

This is such an interesting thread but unfortunately I have to get on a plane to Germany in a few hours and need to get off this computer.
Keep it going !

It is true that most African countries are much younger than the US, but I think that one of the main problems is that African countries are being controlled and dictated to by the "global powers that be". America didn't develop in an atmosphere where other highly developed countries were pulling strings and trying to manipulate and use every resources to their own personal advantage. Too many African leaders are making decisions that allow their resources and soveriegnty be compromised for the good of western countries. When China found itself so far behind europe and america and when Japan found itself falling behind, they did the opposite of what most african countries are doing now. They closed their doors. They closed their doors to all outside influences and cleaned up their own houses. Now they are opening back up their doors by their own choice and have so much more control. They focused on themselves and dictated their own development. Instead of looking at what their countries need African leaders are signing on to internet deals happily seeing dollar signs rather than trying to effectively lead. Uneducated citizens, lack of jobs, poor infrastructure, garbage covering the most desireable beach locations, lacking medical system.....hello, there are so many basic needs not being met for the majority of its citizenry. It takes a unique passion, love and respect for your country and your countrymen to stand up and do what's right in the face of million of dollars. Our African leaders aren't succeeding on that front at all.

I just wanted to say that almost word for word what you said above, I have said, read, or heard said about Jamaica. Just gave me some deja vu here. Thanks for the insight on another country.

I disagree. If some of these african countries would at least get an independent panel of politicians....people who have no ties to the country....UN...something...to head up projects like this one, corruption would decrease. Alot of the corruption issues stem from no checks and balances. President takes a billion of the top of that $55B for the internet, no one bothers to inquire what he did with it...or if the money is going where he said its going. Once they can get things like structure, checks and balance, actually enforcing laws in place....then they can move forward.

And America developed from ppl who aren't even real Americans....lol. If the native americans were running this country, it'd be a different story.

I don't know if that would truly end corruption or just change the people who profit from the corruption. But I think it's bigger than just the corruption, but the fact that an internet connectivity plan is such a big ticket policy issue when there are a lot of jobless people, hungry people, low levels of education. People want more, but don't have the resources to get more with the way the country is being run now. The basic infrastructure of the country needs to be built. People just throw trash in the street because there is no where else to throw it. The government dumps trash in the ocean because there is no where else to dump it. That very ocean should be a tourist beacon drawing people in, instead many of the beaches are like trash dumps that no tourist is going to pay to visit. Instead of an internet plan, how about a trash plan, how about land grading to deal with the annual flooding that makes the poor poorer, how about an electricity solution, how about small business development, how about decent low income housing, how about giving people the opportunity to make any income........

I love this!!! There are so many underlying issues here other than internet connectivity.

African government is synonymous with corruption, pure and simple. Its a crying shame. But I also think that people have their priorities screwed up. I really wouldn't have an issue if other areas were not in dire need of attention. One of 2 things tend to happen:

(1) They completely ignore the issue
(2) They beat around the bush and make false promises.

Like the trash issue that Zainab brought up. As much as people love that plastic bags are ubiquitous in Ghana I think it is a curse. They are thrown every which way, are not biodegradable and are a place to collect water ---> mosquitoes breed -----> malaria abounds (like we need anymore of that). People use and reuse and reuse the plastic bags, serve food to-go in them(anyone ever bought cooked rice in a bag?). Not healthy. So, while it is convenient, it is not the best for us. People need to be educated about this, something the government could easily do, but it is not on their agenda.

The problem is the corruption but I think that no panel of indepenent politicians can do anything about it. With the fear of offending someone people are going to end up doing nothing but sititng on their behinds observing stuff. In this case the change needs to come within the borders of the African continent itself. I long ago lost faith in the UN in its ability to interfere in international matter. The bureaucracy of it all just means that they step in when it is too late (Rwanda).

There are so many more pressing issues other than the internet.

I agree about there being many more pressing issues. I read a quote in the news the other day where a Ghanaian official said throwing trash in the ocean doesn't hurt anyone because the ocean is big. I think that they often don't know how to fix many of the problems. It's overwhelming and more so when there is information out there but it's not being shared with them because the people with the information don't gain anything from helping improve the infrastructure or problems in the country. They step in too late for sure, because when it gets that bad it begins to affect them directly. That's when they bother to step in.

Amen!!!!!!!!!!

Zee, how many time can I say that you hit the nail on the head!

The water sachet bags plague the streets of Ghana! You can hardly see the rich red dirt under those plastic bags. When you go through areas where the tro tro's are parked (a sort of depot), there is crazy littering...yet there are no trash receptacles in sight!

What's messing with me is that those plastic bags are being reused ...I never knew that!!! Almost everyone buys food from those bags....Wow!

Like you said, Zee and Zainab, There are so many things that should take priority in Africa, before focusing on internet connectivity.

Zainab, you made a great point about the beaches....

Yes Africa on a whole is filled with young countries and needs time to catch up with more developed countries, but I feel like we need to make changes that matter, changes that are future oriented as opposed to making it appear as though big changes are in affect. I mean come on, which one would you prefer...clean streets or internet service?....electricity or internet service? better roads/pathways or internet service? What about proper street addresses (workable number address on houses) and neighborhood plans?

The governments in Africa need to step it up.

Asante Maroon, I absolutely love what you said

We need to get our priorities straight

For once I would love to use directions that are actual streets rather than "Turn left at the 3rd roundabout, go straight, hang a left at the Ghana flag kiosk and just past the house with the blue lights"

That is so funny I almost fell off my chair....

The intersting thing is; in some cities these improvements are already in place... For example Abuja has policies in place that are being enforced for now and there are street names and signs and traffic lights that work and drivers obey... That shocked me when I first noticed that during my visit.

I believe most of the problems are beyond the door steps of the government..... people need to be responsible for their own conduct.... many of these advancements that are soooo very avaliable in the western world can bearly be managed appropriately. As we go for faster DSL et al, there are people(myself included) that can bearly live hand to mouth(depending on the city u live in) .

I was in two cities in different parts of nigeria, I saw electronic billboards with live televised commercials in the overcowded market place. How is it that sch things are needed when Nepa can bearly keep the lights on???????

HELLO?!?!?!?!?

I mean give me a break already! It's a such a waste of effort and time and money in a country that doesn't have a reliable electricity grid. That kills me! What scares me is that the people are still smiling and friendly and loving.......what happens when they've had too much? I pray that they make changes before they break the people's spirit to keep fighting and keep trying to live a better life.

I would love to get directions that are not based on instinct! Going to the P.O box all the way downtown Accra is not cool.

We even forgot to mention the burning of garbage....having real/reliable street addresses would in aid in setting up a garbage collection/recycling system...having trash receptacles in heavily1 populated areas that will be collected would greatly improve the trash conditions. All these things that we have mentioned are more important than competing in the internet service world.

Ladies...I agree all these issues are important...maybe more important than internet. But I think the essence of this artcle is that africa needs to catch up. To be effective and part of the economic world, and to facilitate better business...they gotta step up their internet capabilities. Period. This is the era of technology. If african countries wanna compete on a global level, this is one of the things needed. Now that doesn't take away or discredit anything else that needs improvement, but this def needs to be added to the list.

But I agree...stabilizing electricity before revamping internet connectivity...duh! Its like crawling before walking.