 Nelson Mandela, the last protagonist of African cause, observed after getting freedom from the apartheid – “Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another”. True, Africa has freed itself from the yoke of colonialism, still ‘The Dark Continent’ lags behind in infrastructure, industries and technologies to say the least.
The Internet facility, which is the mainstay of globalisation, still eludes some African countries. East Africa for example, still does not have fiber optic cable; instead they rely on satellite links, making their Internet access very slow and highly expensive – thus unaffordable. However, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki’s proactive initiative have resulted in installing three fiber optic submarine cables, which will not only benefit Kenya, but the entire region. The Internet connections will be speeded up in Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and parts of Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia. The venture costs $130 million and the money was spent from Kenyan exchequer.
Further down south, Zambia is also instating fiber optic link to improve the service, along with Namibia. It is a joint venture between Zambia Electricity Corp (Zesco), and South Atlantic West Africa Submarine Cable (SAT-3), a Namibian corporation. This will expropriate Nigeria as well, and has made it an Internet service provider's hub over there. The uncanny truth is that ever since SAT-3 entered the Nigerian market, it has thrown the local operators out of business. Notwithstanding the turn of events, sole dependency on SAT-3 may be over soon as there are couple of optic fiber projects coming up. Nigeria is determined to penetrate the Internet service deep into the hinterland, for improvement of communication, business efficiency, education and healthcare.
In the sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria has the highest number of Internet users, the figure being 10 million. In spite of the upstanding figure, the penetration is shameful 6.8 per cent. Nigeria is followed by South Africa, 4.5 million connections with 9.4 per cent penetration level. North African countries are better off in this respect. Egypt is leading the table with10.5 million users and Morocco with 6.6 million.
Although the great divide between the rich and poor countries on Internet penetration looks staggering, gradually and surely the gap would be closed by the developing countries. In an endeavour for digital advancement in developing countries, the universities of China, Malaysia and Hong Kong have come together to form a common forum. With a combined effort they will publish an online journal called 'Electronic Journal on Information System in Developing Countries'. Academicians, think tanks, and policy makers can use this journal free of cost. The funding is also coming thick and fast. A Japanese conglomerate, called Soft Bank is funding $200 million; where as World Bank International Finance Corporation is ready to shell out $500 million. According to World Bank president James Wolfenson, “Providing access to the Internet in developing countries is as important as securing housing and clean water”.
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