Africa in Global Communication Networks: from networks to concrete uses

Abstract

Paper presented at the 9th General Conference of the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) Paris, France, 22–25 September 1999, in a session of the EADI Information Management Working Group. The growing integration of Africa into the worldwide information and communications system gives rise to hopes that the continent will achieve a technological leap which will help resolve the problems linked with development. In Africa, the networks that form a country’s basic structures are usually poorly maintained and controlled. There is a territorial divide between urban areas, connected to modern networks, and rural areas which are completely remote. This duality is a fundamental obstacle to development, but is rarely taken into account when projects are prepared. Presents a global view of basic communication services in Africa and the evolution of new networks based on new technologies. Concludes that, whatever technical solutions are adopted, African countries will be unable to control either technology or costs and risk being submerged by input from the North. The real challenge is therefore the appropriation of information content and control over technology.