Africa-Press – Eritrea. Dar es Salaam. One continent that seems to be lagging behind when it comes to the uptake of technology is Africa… And there are many reasons why that is happening.
While the Covid-19 pandemic is said to have accelerated digital development across many regions in the world; in Africa nearly 70 percent are yet to be connected with the Internet.
Some of the issues that delay digital uptake in Africa include undeveloped Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure, low mobile network connectivity and limited digital skills.
Other challenges are the expensiveness of digital devices like smartphones, computers and access to reliable and affordable power supply especially in rural areas where majority of the people dwell.
According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the proportion of individuals using Internet in 2019 was 28.6 percent in Africa compared to 51.4 percent globally.
The organisation is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for all matters related to information and communication technologies.
In its report titled ‘Information and communication technology trends and developments in the Africa region, 2017-2020’ ITU assesses that there is still a big gap of Internet access to Africa than any other part of the world.
“Lack of infrastructure is not the main reason for the relatively low numbers of individuals using the Internet, that much bigger gap is associated with individuals living in areas covered by a mobile network, but not using the Internet,” the report reads in part.
At the end of 2019, 272 million people were connected to the mobile Internet across sub-Saharan Africa, while 800 million were still offline, mainly because of the high cost of smartphones, relative to average income levels, and limited digital skills among rural and less literate populations.
Access to reliable, affordable electricity is a major constraint because the lack of electricity results in higher costs of Internet access through, for example, having to use diesel generators to power mobile base stations, or requiring users in rural areas to travel to recharge their devices.
Local innovator and Smart Class Tanzania co-founder Mr Adam Duma commented that having a reliable source of power is very important for digital development because it will influence people in the particular household to procure digital devices such as smartphones or computers.
“The process to ensure reliable power is possible can be done by not relying only on the government but also through supporting local energy startups who sell renewable energy technologies such as that of solar or wind systems,” he said.
Mr Duma said just like how people picked up the use of mobile money services, the mission to connect everyone in Africa through the Internet is also attainable.
However he suggested that the connectivity of the Internet to people should also go hand in hand with affordability of bundles from the telecommunication service providers.
Another issue of concern in adaption of Africa into the digital technology is the digital divide, as according to the UN agency ITU, there is still a significant gender gap in the Africa region, one of the largest globally.
While, on average, 48.3 percent of women and 55.2 percent of men used the Internet globally in 2019, in Africa the ratio was 20 percent of women and 37 percent of men.
This problem of gender is cultural and mostly because most of the traditional African communities prioritise the education of men over that of women, thus men became more exposed and skilled to digital technology than females.
Governments’ efforts
Speaking to The Citizen the director general of the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (Costech), Dr Amos Nungu, said there is a significant room for development to address setbacks to digital transformation in the country.
Though we have done well enough as a country, there are still issues such as cultural malpractices that are attributed to the challenges like digital divide in gender.
Dr Nungu said awareness on the significance of digital adaptation is one way to go, and this is done by creating frameworks that would ensure the availability of relevant content to rural communities such as that of agriculture.
“The government through Costech has also created innovation hubs across the country and in many regions these hubs are used as connection centres where the Internet is available and they can access information online,” he said.
The formation of the Universal Communications Fund (UCSAF) by the government with the aim of delivering and facilitating communication services to citizens living in a few urban areas and in many away from rural areas also will accelerate these efforts.
He says, another good effort is the formation of the new ministry of Information, Communication and Information Technology last year which shows how committed the government is in creating an effective regulatory and operational framework for ICT development.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan created the ministry on September 12, 2021 and mandated it to formulate and monitor implementation of policies on information and communication technologies, and Postal services.
The ministry is envisaged to drive the digital transformation agenda in Tanzania amid the global fourth phase of industrial revolution.
More to be done…?
Though at a slower pace compared to the rest of the world, most of the African countries have begun to see increasing intake of the Internet of Things (IoT).
This includes the increasing usage of wireless equipment, smart home security systems, connected appliances, wireless Internet, tracking devices etc.
ITU suggests that as more telecommunication companies upgrade their networks to handle 4G and 5G, the prospects of having a robust IoT sector holds more promise now than ever before.
The agency says when infrastructure is upgraded to handle more data, the opportunity for the IoT sector will only increase, as Africa is expected to have 600 million mobile subscribers by 2025.
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