Day one of the African Computing and Telecommunications summit (ACT 2000) kicked off with a plenary session entitled "E-commerce - Hype or Reality?" and featured presentations by Andile Ngcaba, director-general of the Department of Communications, Richard Lawson, CEO of Lawson Software, and Ayisi Makatiani, CEO of Africa Online Kenya.
E-commerce at the grassroots
The session focused on the way in which e-commerce can benefit the African population at the grassroots, and the essential steps needed to be taken by both government and private sectors to bring universal access to the people, at an affordable cost.
Ngcaba provided conference delegates with an overview of SA`s e-commerce legislation process, which saw light of day in November 1999. He discussed government`s role in empowering citizens in their understanding of the new economy, and the numerous benefits to be gained from the adoption of e-commerce. He also highlighted the critical issues of public key infrastructure and domain name regulation, as well the strategic use of knowledge management concepts to improve the economy in the long run.
"ICT is the bulwark of new developments... requiring us to develop strategies that respond to the challenges it poses to our cultural, social, economic, political and legal paradigms."
Ngcaba cautioned the more orthodox telecoms practitioners against ignoring the Internet`s potential to become the most prevalent form of communication. "Beyond 2004, mobile Internet will be almost above traditional telecoms in all aspects."
He predicts that e-commerce and e-communications will change the architecture of communications infrastructures. Ngcaba also believes it is imperative that government`s related policy development process provides a regulated framework environment in which this evolution may take place, with the ultimate goal to enable government to leverage off developments in the fields of smart card and information kiosk technology to provide better services to citizens of this country.
Calling for SA and its neighbours to work together in aid of a coherent policy balancing the interests of all stakeholders, Ngcaba stressed the theme of harmonisation across boundaries to improve people`s quality of life and grow the economy through the use of e-commerce.
Affordable access
This sentiment was echoed by Makatiani, who stressed the importance of affordable access as one of the primary ways to see tangible benefits of e-commerce. Makatiani, whose own business plans to roll-out a range of value-added services to its subscriber base by leveraging off several new industry alliances, exhorted industry players to swiftly take the right steps towards e-commerce.
"Africa must make huge investments in communications infrastructure. Whatever we do, we must do now."
A solution to the problems of access, said Makatiani, is the sharing of resources to create community computer centres. The goal, Makatiani believes, is ultimately making all the functionalities of a virtual office available to users, for the price of a postage stamp. It also requires the proponents of e-commerce in Africa to come up with solutions providing first world e-commerce functionality while working around inherently African problems such as the woefully low penetration of credit cards.
The issue of affordability brings with it challenges related to revenue generation. Makatiani believes the African situation needs new revenue models, which will enable industry players to realise the aim of affordable access, while at the same time making money through carefully targeted marketing.
But, he said, none of this will be possible without involvement from international players in the African market. "Don`t give up on Africa - it`s going to get better, and when it does, it`ll be much harder [for international companies] to establish a market."
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