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NICI Indicators

An overview of the African ICT Sector - 1998/99

• Telecommunications sector

• ICT networking

• Telephone and cellular penetration by country

• Internet Connectivity by Country

The telecommunications network remains the backbone of ICT services and applications. According to Hardy, there is a positive correlation between economic development and telecommunications density, and some studies even claim that a causal relationship exists in both directions [1]. On a world-wide level, Africa has still the least developed infrastructure with only 2% of the world’s telephone and an average teledensity of  just over than 2 per 100 inhabitants (2.14 % in 1998). Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa) has an average teledensity of about 0.55 per 100 inhabitants and most of the lines (above 50%) are located in the urban areas. During the last few years, the African telecommunications sector has shown a more liberal policy to attract foreign investment and to improve its infrastructure and services [2]. By the start of 1998:

• A total of 20 countries had established independent regulatory agencies compared to two in 1990, and some countries are in a process to follow suit.
• A total of 17 African telecom operators had allowed some degree of privatisation and/or foreign ownership (this number was only 8 in 1995).
• The African mobile cellular market has shown a steady growth. Today, only 14 countries on the continent are without cellular systems. Unlike African telecom operators, most of the cellular services are introduced and run by private companies. "Access is mainly limited to capital cities, some secondary towns and major trunk roads but some cellular providers are implementing innovative approaches to the provision of phone shops and mini-telecentres in rural areas in South Africa"[3]

The following table provides a summary of the status of telephone and cellular networks in Africa. Detailed figures for each country are listed in Annex 1.

Table 1: Telephone and Cellular Networks in Africa – 1998

Sub-Regions *	Population for 1998 in ‘ 000	Main Telephone Lines	Main lines per 100 inhabitants	Cellular subscribers	Cellular subscribers per 100 inhabitants
North Africa	170,439	8,515,700	5.00	293,500	0.17
West Africa	225,991	1,156,700	0.51	200,100	0.09
Central Africa	29,270	161,400	0.55	18,100	0.06
East Africa	239,749	784,200	0.33	114,500	0.05
Southern Africa	113,687	6,044,100	5.32	2,704,700	2.38
Southern Africa (excluding South Africa)	69,348	968,700	1.40	204,700	0.30
Total Africa	779,136	16,662,100	2.14	3,330,900	0.43
Sub-Saharan Africa**	639,733	8,323,300	1.30	3,046,000	0.48
Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa)	595,394	3,247,900	0.55	546,000	0.09

* Based on UNECA sub-regional classification
** Excludes countries from North Africa except Mauritania and Sudan

According to ITU, the increase in telephone lines has been considerable in the last decade. A comparison of the years 1996 to 1998 (Table 2) shows the  growth  for fixed and cellular lines respectively in the African continent.

Despite the blossoming of the telecommunications market in Africa, the disparity in terms of telephone penetration between the various sub-regions of the continent remains a major concern (Table 1). Three of the sub-regions in the continent - Central Africa, East Africa and West Africa - have the lowest teledensity in the world. Countries such as Ghana and Uganda have allowed the introduction of new entrants (second line operators) in the fixed line market to address the situation while countries like Senegal have introduced second cellular phone providers in 1999 in order to allow wider access to the telephone network.

Table 2: Telephone Networks in Africa - A Comparison for 1996-1998

	1996		1997		1998
	Africa	SSA*	Africa	SSA*	Africa	SSA*
Main Telephone Lines	13,463,500	2,685,500	14,365,721	2,910,794	16,662,100	3,247,900
Main lines per 100 inhabitants	1.81	0.47	1.89	0.50	2.14	0.55
Cellular subscribers	1,148,000	127,300	1,278,306	223,121	3,330,900	546,000
Cellular subscribers per 100 inhabitants	0.15	0.02	0.17	0.04	0.43	0.09

* Excludes South Africa

Despite the poor national links, the highly unreliable telephone networks (mainly during the rainy season), the very low level of telephone penetration and the recurrent political and economical problems, the liberalisation of the sector and many of the international initiatives which are underway will undoubtedly contribute to the improvement of the telecommunications infrastructure in the continent in the years to come.

References

1. Hardy, A. (1980). The role of the telephone in economic development. In: Telecommunications Policy, volume 4, no. 4
2. World Telecommunication Development Report, 1999
3. African Connection, AISI, ECA, ACACIA and the IDRC - 1999

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Internet connectivity (Annex 2) has shown a rapid increase in the continent with only two countries (Congo and Somalia) remaining without local Internet access by the end of December 1999. The key indicators [1] for Internet development are the number of host sites, the number of users and the number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs):

Internet Host Sites: According to a survey carried out by Network Wizards (NW) (http://www.nw.com) in July 1999, Africa had about 151,949 Internet host sites (140,470 of these were in South Africa).

Internet Subscribers: According to Mike Jensen [2, www3.sn.apc.org/africa/afstat.htm], the current estimates put the number of Internet users in Africa as of April 1999 at 547,705, out of which 370,000 were found in South Africa. The highest growth rate in the sub-Saharan region could be attributed to the establishment of new Internet facilities in countries that previously had no local Internet access.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): According to Mike Jensen, there were almost 319 ISPs in the region by late 1998, or 249 ISPs excluding South Africa, and most of the countries in the continent, except for 21 countries, had more than one ISP.

A comparison of Internet connectivity (in terms of number of users per 10,000 inhabitants) at a sub-regional basis (Table 3) shows that Southern Africa is the most connected region, followed by North Africa, East Africa, West Africa and Central Africa..

Table 3: A Summary of Internet Connectivity in Africa

Sub-Regions	Population estimates 1998 '000	Internet Host Sites	Host Sites per 10,000 inhabitants	Internet subscribers	Subscribers per 10,000 Inhabitants
North Africa	170,439	2,629	0.15	68,200	4.00
West Africa	225,991	1,233	0.05	31,625	1.40
Central Africa	29,270	260	0.09	3,750	1.28
East Africa	239,749	1,160	0.05	35,650	1.49
Southern Africa	113,687	146,667	12.90	407,850	35.87
Southern Africa (excluding South Africa)	69,348	6,197	0.89	37,850	5.46
Total Africa	779,136	151,949	1.95	547,705	7.02
Sub-Saharan Africa*	639,733	149,321	2.33	479,905	7.50
Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa)	595,394	8,851	0.15	109,905	1.84

* Excludes countries from North Africa except Mauritania and Sudan

The table below shows the rate of growth in connectivity during the period of 1996 to 1998.

Table 4: Internet Connectivity  in Africa - A Comparison for 1996-1998

	1996		1997		1998
	Africa	SSA*	Africa	SSA*	Africa	SSA*
Internet Host Sites	129,326	3,991	148,436	5,261	151,949	8,851
Host Sites per 10,000 inhab.	1.70	0.07	1.91	0.09	1.95	0.15
Internet subscribers	346,120	35,620	377,985	67,485	547,705	109,905
Subscribers per 10,000 inhab.	4.49	0.63	4.85	1.13	7.02	1.84

* Excludes South Africa

Despite the growth in Internet connectivity in the region, Internet services remained confined to capital cities, though in some countries the services extend to major secondary towns. Quite a few countries such as Angola, Benin, Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe have established POPs in some locations, with South Africa having POPs in 70 locations. Unless there is a move to extend Internet connectivity in the rural areas, the threats to further marginalise the rural population, which is already disadvantaged and which accounts for 70-80% of the total population of the continent remain evident.

In order to overcome the low level of NICI policy development in Africa, a number of multilateral and bilateral development agencies are working together in the framework of PICTA - Partners for Information and Communication Technologies in Africa - which was set up in 1997 to support African countries in the process of building their national information and communications infrastructure in accordance to the prevailing development priorities in each country (See www.uneca.org/picta/).

References

1. ITU African telecommunication indicators – 1998
2. World Telecommunication Development Report, 1999
3. Jensen, M. (1998). Africa Internet status. [http://www3.sn.apc.org/africa/afstat.htm]

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Telephone and cellular penetration by country

Annex 1. Telephone and Cellular Network in Africa - 1998

* Based on UNECA sub-regional classification

Source:   World Telecommunication Development Report, 1999, and national sources

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Internet Connectivity by Country

Annex 2. Internet Connectivity in Africa - 1998/99