Aiming for a telecommunications revolution

South Africa is leading the way in formulating a strategy for a telecommunications revolution in Africa aimed at providing the political infrastructure to attract investment and boost development across the continent, government officials told IRIN. The ‘Africa Connection’ strategy emphasises the link between communications and economic growth. The approach is based on the realisation that, with only 12 telephone lines per 1,000 people on the continent compared with 414 per 1,000 people in the industrialised world, “if we don’t connect up Africa we will really get left behind,” Mandy Woods, personal assistant to former communications minister Jay Naidoo told IRIN. “The strategy we have is about harnessing all telecommunications projects in Africa to roll out the physical infrastructure,” she said. “The strategy says ‘what are the things we can do to attract investment’ by creating the necessary political climate on the continent to increase universal access. “It’s the private sector that pays for the infrastructure and puts it up and runs it,” she added. “What is limiting investment at the moment is the uncertainty.” The project follows on from last year’s Africa Telcom conference in South Africa. At the political level it seeks better inter-state coordination and harmononisation of the regulatory environment through a restructured and reinvigorated Pan-African Telecommunication Unions (PATU) of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). A strengthened PATU is to include regulators, operators and governments. At the heart of the strategy is a business plan aimed at attracting the investment to implement the various telecommunications projects. It aims to provide the necessary research and alternative financing models covering the whole of Africa to be presented for approval to this year’s OAU June summit, and then donors at a planned roundtable meeting next year. “We are seeking validation from the business community so the roundtable is not just a talk shop,” Konny Molufe, working on the business plan in the ministry of communications told IRIN. “Unless we do something quite radical we are not going to offer any basis for renewed economic recovery or growth.”