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Beating the Drum of Access
By Paul Furber Freelance IT Writer |
THE ACACIA conference began and ended in much the same way: with delegates
beating drums in time. On Sunday night it was physical drums as the
conference attendees followed along with non-verbal communications expert
Steve Barnett. By Wednesday afternoon the image was more metaphorical as the
IRDC and delegates from across Africa finished three days of intensive
dialogue on how ICT could enable African upliftment.
The array of presentations and reports produced by
researchers in the field showed that immensely creative solutions to ICT
enablement of the continent exist – and are viable and sustainable. The
conference itself provided a striking example. Kwa-Maritane, the venue, was
superbly equipped with communications technology, most of which was
installed in a matter of hours. A number of high-capacity satellite Internet
links were made available to delegates as well as a wireless network
“hotspot” that covered the conference area with an invisible and high-speed
means of using it.
As communications technology commentator Mike Jensen put it,
“the Acacia conference had more bandwidth than most large African cities.”
The network is one of the first of many
Three of the four satellite dishes on
view and in operation at the venue, Kwa Maritane. Quickly installed,
they showed that compact, high-capacity satellite links, combined with
other mobile communication technologies, could be Africa's ICT future. |
such hotspots to be installed in
South Africa, a foretaste of convenient pay-as-you-go public wireless
Internet access. In South Africa, Telkom has been badgering the companies
providing WiFi with vague complaints of exclusivity, as though it somehow
now has a monopoly on each and every network cable in the country.
But just as the pay-for-play versions of cellular technology
enabled rural areas to get access far more quickly than Telkom's efforts, so
WiFi looks set to do the same thing. Carel van der Merwe, head of Wi-Tel,
the provider of the hotspot technology says the company is working on a
wrapper for the GPRS protocol that will enable cellular users to enjoy the
benefits of hotspots as well.
Mobile technology
There is little doubt that mobile technology will be Africa's
true enabler. The president of the IRDC, Maureen O'Neil says that mobile
technology has shaped the goals and focus of Acacia since it was launched by
the organisation in 1996.
“Acacia began with an emphasis on the Internet and Internet
access but it has expanded and changed just as the technology has changed.
Mobile technology has definitely changed the way we look at certain issues.”
Indeed, as pan-African research commissioned by the IRDC
showed, the quality, reliability and cost of communications links were a
common source of problems with rural ICT projects. Could mobile technology
be the answer? O'Neil again.
“Policy makers and regulators across Africa have not been
keeping up with technology and the general public is starting to ask: what
is the purpose of a regulatory framework? All such frameworks can be dressed
up in 'public good' clothing but more often that not, telecoms regulations
just provide a source of income for officials on the other side of the
table.”
The IDRC has been putting its money where its mouth is.
Connectivity Africa, a major initiative of the Canadian government aimed at
improving access to ICTs in Africa, was launched at the Acacia Conference on
Monday night. The initiative has launch budget of US$8.2million with planned
annual increases until the year 2010.
Sunday night saw the absence of the Minister of
Communications due to personal commitments. Chairman of Sentech Stephen
Mncube, who delivered Minister Matsepe-Casaburri's speech in her absence
said that the community drumming experience conveyed the joy and happiness
of the participants in much the same way as Internet connectivity enables
people across the globe. By the end of the conference, it was clear that the
main impediment to African upliftment was the absence of constructive
participation from the Ministry of Communications and its ilk further afield.
Given the current limbo that South African telecoms finds itself in, it is a
pity that the Minister couldn't make it to the conference. If Government
learned to beat its drum in time with the rest of us, it wouldn't take long
to bridge the digital divide.
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