ICTs to expedite Africa's growth

Improving Africa's ICTs is a precondition for improving its productive industrial capacity.

Speaking at the inaugural ICT Indaba yesterday, deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe said ICTs present an opportunity for Africa to expedite its growth and development.

However, he added that, in 2011, only 5.7% of the population of Africa had access to the Internet. In global comparison, while Africa accounts for 14% of the world population, only 3.6% of Internet subscribers are Africans.

"The above statistics should be a cause for concern for us as the leadership of Africa. Surely, we can do more to improve access to ICT by ensuring more connectivity to local schools, libraries, science centres, health centres, in both urban and rural areas.

"The hosting of this ICT Indaba on the African continent is a valuable platform upon which African countries and other developing nations can accelerate socio-economic development through ICTs as critical enablers."

The deputy president added that 70% of employees in the developed world are knowledge-workers in some form or another, and it is within the bounds of possibility for Africa to do the same by getting all basics right in order to embark on an irreversible pursuit of knowledge-based economy.

"To this end, this ICT Indaba is a critical platform for us to consider, among others, the development of Africa's knowledge-based economy, creating conducive conditions for foreign direct investment in information and communication technologies, developing ICT infrastructure and growing the ICT industry as part of Africa's growth and development strategies."

Motlanthe emphasised that the biggest commodity in the world today is knowledge, and the ability to generate, access, and distribute knowledge has become a key determinant for a higher developmental trajectory for any nation.

"In this case, we can learn a thing or two from the experience of South Korea whose GDP per capita in 1960 was equal to that of Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon. However, within 30 years, South Korea has managed to propel itself to among the top eight richest economies in the world by setting up a knowledge-based economy."

There is no doubt that ICT is the key to knowledge sharing and access to information, according to the deputy president.

He also said that, for this indaba, of immediate concern should be, among others, the low rankings associated with African countries when studying most reputable global indicator systems which measure the extent of penetration of ICTs.

With this in mind, African countries must try to find appropriate responses in areas such as reliability of policy environment; the strength and credibility of regulatory frameworks to facilitate cost reduction; the availability of appropriate skills; and adequate funding to ensure universal access to broadband and ICT services.

"Studies by the World Bank have also highlighted the positive impact that investment in broadband penetration can have on GDP growth. A 10% increase in broadband penetration generates an additional 1.4% increase in GDP growth for developing countries.

"A key challenge is, therefore, to increase broadband penetration so that we can realise the associated benefits for countries within Africa. We are required to accelerate investment in broadband infrastructure to achieve the higher growth in information and communications technology."

Motlanthe believes that strategic investment in the ICT sector will allow Africa to increasingly play an important role in the development of new applications and technological innovations that are relevant for the needs of the continent, and that this will ensure a continued multiplier effect on economic growth.

"African countries can provide the innovators for future technological development in ICT that can in turn continue to drive economic and social development on the continent, through developing innovations and applications relevant to the needs of our peoples."