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Conference Guide

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Up Acacia Study Telecentres Telecentres in Moz Telecentres: observations
Venue: Kwa Maritane

Key Theme: Access

What prevents African people from accessing the new information technologies? Factors include the high cost of Internet access to the ordinary person, restrictive telecoms regulation, limited infrastructure and technical knowledge, and sometimes, community politics. Numerous controls imposed by government or business need to be done away with and African states should develop scaleable and maintainable telecommunications infrastructures. Peer points and Internet exchanges need to be provided in main centres, serving regions that until now have had little or no access. And aid programmes should work closely with corporate business to ensure that services are delivered to communities at reasonable cost.

For useful background briefings, read these articles:

Public Telephone and Internet Services in Africa

Telecentres exploit the convergence of technologies to provide cost effective services where most people cannot afford their own PC, phone line or Internet connection. Articles by Mike Jensen.

Internet Access for African Countries
Exploring the factors that hinder and help the development of Internet access in Africa by Fred Kofi de Heer-Menlah (via the Communication Initiative website).

Into or out of the digital divide?
A Panos Southern Africa publication providing a set of perspectives on ICTs and Development in the Region, looks at key issues in the communication technology and development debate through 7 country-specific case studies.