infrastructure in africa. ict indicators from itu 2007 main telephone lines – 3.77/100 people ...
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Infrastructure in Infrastructure in AfricaAfrica
ICT Indicators from ITU 2007ICT Indicators from ITU 2007Main telephone lines – 3.77/100 peopleMobile subscribers – 27.48/100 people Internet users – 5.34/100 peopleAfrica has some 280 million total
telephone subscribers, of which some 260 million (over 85%) are mobile cellular subscribers, representing the continent with the highest ratio of mobile to total telephone subscribers of any region in the world.
(ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators, 2007)
ICT Indicators from ITU 2007ICT Indicators from ITU 2007 It is the region with the highest mobile
cellular growth rate. Growth over the past 5 years averages almost 65% year on year.
It accounts for 14% of the world’s population, but for only around 7% of all fixed and mobile subscribers worldwide.
It has some 50 million Internet users, for an Internet penetration of just 5%. Europe’s Internet penetration is 8 times higher.
It has a broadband penetration of more than 1% in only a few countries. Broadband penetration in OECD countries exceeds 18%.
(ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators, 2007)
Bandwidth CostsBandwidth Costs
1997-2001 $ 20 Kbps
2002 $ 13 Kpbs
2003 $ 8.90 Kbps
2004 $ 5.0 Kbps
2004 $ 4.2 Kbps
2005 $ 2.33 Kbps
Future $ 1.00 Kbps or less
1717
22
77
6655
881616
1515
1414
1313
1212
1111
1010
99
33
11
44
1818
oo1919
2020
3131
3030
3232
2121
2222
2323
24242525
2626
2727
2828
2929
33/ E2233/ E22
3434
36/ E2036/ E20
37/ E1937/ E19
38/ E1838/ E1839/ E1539/ E15
43/ E843/ E8
4545
46/ E846/ E8
4949
4848
51515252
E5E5
Links:Links:
UbuntuNet Medium Term PlanUbuntuNet Medium Term Plan
ActualActual
UAUA
5656
4444
Funded/CostedFunded/Costed
4343
E2E2
4747
E4E4 4343
5050
E3E3E13E13
38/ E1838/ E18
Alternative/Later
What Does It Mean?What Does It Mean? The data makes it easy to apply a deficit model
to project planning, but we need to start with what we have and how we can build off it
OER projects must work with what is available now, not demonstrate what would be possible if only the constraints were different
BUT paradoxically we must hold in our minds a vision of a radically different future from the one that current trends project – change is always surprising because it takes so much longer to happen than people think it will but happens so much quicker than they expect
What Does it Mean?What Does it Mean?
OER projects will never resolve infrastructure gaps, but they can help to build demand
Given all of the above, the constraint is not infrastructure, it is institutional capacity
OER provides the tools to build that capacity from any starting point, and the problem is not a lack of human capacity, it is a lack of opportunity