[A12n-forum] "Africa's Internet gap getting wider, says study"

["Don Osborn" <dzo@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

FYI, this Reuters item may be of interest (seen on Kwintessential &
DigAfrica)...  DZO


Africa's Internet gap getting wider, says study
Mon Feb 5, 2007 12:50 PM GMT16
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2
007-02-05T125037Z_01_L05551468_RTRIDST_0_OUKIN-UK-AFRICA-INTERNET.XML
By Rebecca Harrison

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Broadband Internet connections in Africa are
expected to more than double by 2011, but the continent is falling further
behind the rest of the world as governments fail to open markets and drive
down costs.

High-speed Internet connections in Africa -- including DSL, WiMax and
wireless technologies such as 3G -- are likely to rise to 7 million by 2011
from 3 million now, according to a recent report by South African research
group BMI-TechKnowledge.

That compares with almost 70 million connections already in European Union
countries. The gap means broadband services will be inaccessible to all but
a few rich and privileged Africans, which is likely to deter needed foreign
investment.

"Africa is very far behind the rest of the world, and it seems that the gap
will only get bigger unless something is done," BMI telecoms analyst Richard
Hurst, who co-authored the report, told Reuters.

Less than 1 percent of Africans have access to broadband services due to a
lack of international connectivity and unwieldy monopolies, compared with 22
percent of Americans and 30 percent of western Europeans, Hurst said. More
than three-quarters of Internet connections in Africa are dial-up.

North Africans are the most Internet-savvy on the continent, because
governments have liberalised telecoms sectors, while Internet service
providers can get access to a number of undersea cables thanks to their
proximity to Europe.

But in East Africa, broadband is virtually non-existent, because there is no
undersea cable linking countries to the rest of the world, forcing ISPs to
rely on expensive and unreliable satellite connections. 

EAST AFRICAN CABLE DELAY

East African countries are meant to be building an undersea cable, but the
project has stalled. While other companies, including India's Reliance
Communications, have expressed interest in laying a rival cable, the project
will take time.

Poor Internet access and high costs are preventing countries such as Kenya
from nurturing call-centre outsourcing industries, which could provide
thousands of jobs.

Even in South Africa, the continent's economic powerhouse, state-controlled
fixed-line operator Telkom has a stranglehold over the telecoms market,
keeping DSL connections -- a technology that enables broadband access
through standard copper phone wires -- to some 200,000, just 0.4 percent of
the population.

Hurst said there was some hope, noting that a lack of fixed-line
infrastructure had forced African countries to adopt new technologies
relatively quickly.

South Africa already has about as many wireless broadband Internet
connections -- mostly via mobile operators Vodacom and MTN -- as DSL
subscriptions.

And of the 7 million broadband connections forecast across the continent by
2011, 3.3 million are expected to be wireless or fixed wireless -- using
technologies such as WiMax.

"Africa is unique in the sense that almost half of broadband connections are
wireless or fixed wireless," said Hurst. "Key (for growth) is creating an
open environment where operators of these new technologies can drive costs
down." 

C Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved. 

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