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Connectivity in Africa: use, benefits and constraints of electronic communication - Zambia Phase 2

By

Vitalicy Chifwepa,

Department of Library and Information Studies,

School of Education,

University of Zambia,

March, 1998.

INTRODUCTION

The report is on the second phase of the connectivity in Africa. As a follow up to phase one, phase two was conducted to monitor consistence or changes in the information collected from the first phase. It was also carried out under the theme "impact assessment of electronic communication on development". As such, phase two was intended to target the same respondents who took part in phase one. Having got the information from phase one, phase two was intended to provide a check or monitor.

However, it was not possible to get responses from the respondents of phase one in total as explained above. Consequently, phase two has become an extension of the baseline data collection. It shows, like phase one, connectivity, usage and benefits of connectivity in Zambia.

IMPLEMENTATION

In phase two, the baseline questionnaire that was used in phase one was simplified and modified to included the internet component as was agreed in Addis Ababa at the end of phase one. An interview frame was derived from the questionnaire.

Phase two was carried out in the period between January and August 1997 with a search of internet users using the ZAMNET search facility. The facility can give addresses of the ZAMNET subscribers. From the outcome, a total of 256 questionnaires was dispatched electronically. The ZAMNET subscribers were the target group because the other internet providers either had just started and were not part of phase one as was the case with the Zambia Telecommunication Limited (ZAMTEL) or they were restricted in terms of users to themselves as was the case with the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Limited (ZCCM). These providers were however included in the interview for their own input in terms of the impact and in order to give information on the internet services in Zambia.

Only 50 questionnaires were returned. Interviews were conducted targeting the respondents to the questionnaire and the internet service providers. Only 7 from phase one responded to the questionnaire the rest of the phase two respondents did not take part in phase one.

The report gives background information on internet services in Zambia and the research findings.

Instruments used

The baseline questionnaire that was used in phase one was modified by simplification and inclusion of questions on the internet.

The interview guide was derived from the questionnaire following the same pattern as in phase 1.

Time frame

Data collection was conducted from February to April 1997

Interviews were undertaken from June to August 1997. The interviews were carried out face to face with the respondents and the responses were recorded on a note pad.

As in phase one data analysis was done by grouping the responses in the categories according to the items on the questionnaire and interview frame.

The final meeting was held from 19-21 March in 1998 where comments on the reports were made and the consequent revisions agreed on.

INTERNET SERVICES IN ZAMBIA

Currently there are three internet providers in Zambia. These are ZAMNET, ZAMTEL, and ZCCM Below are brief accounts of the providers.

ZAMNET

ZAMNET was the first internet service provider to run commercially in the country. It is based at the University of Zambia’s main campus. It has been operating since 1993 having taken over the service which were on non-commercial basis from the University of Zambia’s computer Centre. It has since established itself quite widely with about 2, 000 users country wide The number is still growing with more awareness. It is in the process of complete decentralization of points of presence where users could connect in order to have full internet service. Where there are no such establishments all the clients have to connect to Lusaka in order to send their messages or have full internet services. One such place (where there is no point of presence) is Livingstone which is about 460 Km from Lusaka. The ZAMNET users have to use ZAMTEL services in order to connect to ZAMNET. In 1996, ZAMNET has got a satellite dish. The dish made connectivity to the internet much easier and faster. The following report was circulated.

"Dear All,

We're pleased to announce that at 18.00 hours on Monday 27th January (1997) our connection was upgraded to a 64 kilobaud direct satellite link to Atlanta in the United States. All traffic is now passing over this connection, although the old 14.4 kilobaud ink to Cape Town in South Africa will be maintained as a backup service until the end of March.

The result of this upgrade should be quicker delivery of e-mail messages, but more significantly, faster access to the World Wide Web. With this upgrade and ahead of the next financial year we are reviewing our prices and will be announcing new reduced connect time charges soon.

Please let us know if you run into any problems in the light of this upgrade. Best regards, Neil Robinson

ZAMNET Support "

ZAMNET has a home page (www.zamnet.zm) which has 16 sub pages including Business pages; Health in Zambia; Travel and tourism; Diplomatic missions; Institutes, institutions and associations; three daily newspapers; and the University of Zambia (www.unza.zm), the University of Zambia has 9 further pages including the library, directories, and a student newspaper.

ZAMNET also hosts regional www pages such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the African Network for Human Rights and Development (AFRONET), it has a page about Zambia from and around the internet, then it provides information on services such as contact, e-mail addresses search facilities, fax services, newsletter, access hints, etc.

ZAMTEL

ZAMTEL is the sole provider of telecommunication in the country. Since late 1996, it has also gone into internet provision to become the second in provision of commercial internet services. It is still in its infancy and has only about 100 users by the time of the report writing. With marketing the number is likely to increase.

ZAMTEL also has a page (www.zamtel.zm) with 7 other pages: news and current affairs with the three Zambia dailies ( the Post, Times of Zambia, and Daily Mail) as well as the Guardian of the UK; MoneyNet; travel and Tourism; Entertainment; Sport; Religion; and Recipe. The page also has information on the services of ZAMTEL including charges with respect to internet.

Since they are the "owners" of telecommunication they do not encounter as much cost in terms of any allied tele costs. The impact of the ZAMTEL and the subsequent competition with ZAMNET on the consumer can only be assumed at this stage. However, there are still problems to do with the tele lines. Most of the users would be on analog type of phone system. There are measures to expand the digital line system beyond the current one region to cover the whole country. When speed increases the cost on the part of the users will be expected to be less and the service to improve. Currently, the users who are all in the same province as ZAMTEL so far only bear the local call charges for connectivity to internet services in addition to the regular service charges.

ZCCM

The Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Limited is the main earner of the Zambian revenue. Copper mining is the major industry covering a whole province known as the Copperbelt province. ZCCM has a number of branches and mines spread across 6 towns. Within the corporation are units such as Purchasing, Marketing, Maintenance, Power Supply, Administration, etc. For purposes of communication within and with the major contacts ZCCM has had an electronic communication system.

The Internet services are centralized in one town (Kitwe) to which all the branches are connected and through which they get their full internet services. They get their internet connectivity to the rest of the world via PIPEX in the United Kingdom. The users thus have full internet services. With the on-going privatization ZCCM has plans to make the service commercial and available to other users outside ZCCM group. Currently the service has been used a lot for internal fast communication as well as contacts with international business contacts for supplies and as buyers. It is used for e-mail and data transmission between units including the Metal Sales Department.. The lines are constantly open. technically there are plans to acquire a VISAT to improve on the leased line

The problems currently faced are that ZCCM relies on ZAMTEL for the teleline system, they pay a fixed charge whether the machine are down or not. The users rely on ZAMTEL lines to connect to the central point, then the central point has about three other ZAMTEL protocol points before they get to the UK. However they have a dedicated server which is very fast and is able to store huge amounts of information.

Above are the three current internet providers in the country. It is hoped that with competition the service will improve and the current seemingly high costs will be reduced.

FINDINGS

Below are findings on the impact assessment.

QUESTIONNAIRES

It was not possible for the researcher to send a "to all" questionnaire because such permission and clearance was not granted. Instead a search on the ZAMNET Home page for subscribers was conducted using the search facility. The exercise was tedious but educative.

The search was conducted using the following method. Sectors including subject (e.g. copper, agriculture, etc.), towns and cities, names of the known subscribers using the list which was used in phase one.

From the search a total 256 individuals and institutions was retrieved. Questionnaires were sent to all of them. It was later learnt that the time the questionnaires were sent starting February 1, 1997, was the same time ZAMTEL was conducting mass telephone disconnection of phone bill defaulters and a lot of would be respondents were affected.

Out of these 256, only 50 responded. It was observed that most of the people who had responded in phase one did not respond. Only 7 out of the total responses had taken part in phase one. The responses have been analyzed qualitatively and the following were the responses.

User identification

The average number of users per station was 4 with 32 or 64% having only one user per station or point, 10 (20%) with an average of 20 users per station as the minimum and maximum respectively.

Personal data

Out of those who had indicated their nationality 35 or 70% were Zambians and 15 or 30% either did not indicate or were non Zambians. Of those who gave the information on sex i.e. 48% of all the respondents, 15 or 64 % were male while the rest were female.. Of those who gave information 26 or 52% gave their education background and out of those 21 or 80% were graduates with university degrees, the rest had college diplomas.

In terms of computer skills 30 (60%) were experienced 14 (27%) were intermediate and 6 (13%) were beginners.

Professional activities

The respondents were from the following types of institutions: Government 3, Parastatal of Quasi-Government 12, NGOs 9 (two form churches), Private organizations 9, IGOs 5, University 12.

The respondents were involved in a range of activities including research and consultancy, corporate planning and management, collecting government revenue, and church activities.

44 or 88% indicated that communication was essential in the conduct of their business while 6 (12%) said that communication was sometimes important.

Communication and information facilities

33 (66%) said that their communication facilities were adequate, while 17 (34%) said they were inadequate. 25 (50%) said that the information facilities were adequate while the rest said they were inadequate.

Individual communication facilities

38 (76%) of the respondents said they sent and received their message at the office while 12 (24%) did so both at the office and at home.

44 (88%) said that the e-mail transactions were carried out by the originator and or recipient while 6 (12%) were done by someone else other that the originator or recipient.

In terms usage of e-communication most of the users have been using e-communication for between 1 and 3 years 35 (70%) while 13 (26%) had used it for up to 6 months and 2 (4%) from 6 to 12 months. None had used it for more than 3 years.

Most of the users only subscribed to one network while only one subscribed to the American network through the Embassy. All of the users were on internet with full internet services. What prompted them to subscribe to internet ranged. 38 (76%) responded to the marketing of ZAMNET, 10 (20%) either had past experience from abroad during their studies or from their home countries while 2 (5%) had the service subscribed and recommended by donor agencies which had provided the computers. In this case the service was brought together with, as a part of, the donation of the computer. The most commonly given attraction however were e-mail and the www services 38 (76%).

The mostly used services are in the following order:

E-Mail 50 (100%)

www 44 (88%)

Ftp 25 (50%)

Telnet 16 (32%)

Faxaway (related to e-mail) 13 (26%)

Search engines 10 (20%)

Others including, Clearing house, LYCOS, Local systems through LANS 7 (14%)

One of the major factors which determines how much of the internet services especially surfing the web are used is who pays the cost of e-communication. This determines the conditions of usage, for example in the University of Zambia the faxaway services have been blocked.

Who pays for the cost:

Your organization 41 (82%)

Yourself 6 (12%)

A project 3 (6%)

Use and benefits

The respondents indicated a very high use of the e-communication. Below is the indicated average frequency of sending/receiving electronic messages:

32 (64%) once or more per day

13 (26%) 1 to 5 times per week

5 (10%) less than once per month

Major uses made of e-communication

The following were the indicated major uses of e-communication in order of frequency:

Receiving technical advice 38 (76%)

Exchanging personal messages 35 (70%)

Exchanging research ideas 32 (64%)

Exchanging documents 30 (60%)

Arranging meetings 23 (46%)

Business implementation 20 (40%)

Managing projects 20 (40%)

Literature searches 20 (40%)

Providing technical advice 17 (34%)

Listserves/ discussion groups 9 (18%)

Literature searching, discussions on Listserves tended to be used more by the University of Zambia respondents, this could be due to the cost being met by the University. This tends to be less in other organizations. However it is interesting to note that the use of the www is high, one could note that there are other users of the web other that the University, as was indicated in the questionnaires. There is an additional relationship in trend between the high usage of e-mail and the major usage. For example there is indication of high frequency in receiving technical advise and exchanging personal and research based messages all of which are e-mail based.

Messages are destined to the following:

60% outside Africa

26% Within the country and

14% Within Africa but outside the country.

This could relate with the above high usage of e-mail to receive technical advise. The advise probably comes more from out of Africa. The other relationship is of messages within the country ranking second relating with the local activities such as personal messages as well as arranging meetings and implementing business.

Major improvements attributed to e-communication

High Speed of communication 29 (58%). Most users have said that they are able to communicate faster that when they were using the other means. They said there was a higher turnover of mail enabling them to have the needed information for action at places of work. However there was no indication of how much was "higher turnover".

Cheaper than the other means of communication 29 (58%). A combination of speed and low cost was said to make the e-communication much more attractive. Again there were no figure provided to show the cost in comparison with other means of communication or before the e-communication.

Ability to send and receive more information 24 (48%). The users said they were able to send and receive huge amounts of information. In addition to sending a huge document, one is able to send documents to more than one recipient at the same time, unlike the other means of communication which would make the exercise more costly and cumbersome.

Communication is made easy 15(30%). Related to ability to send more information, it was said that with e-communication one did not have to wait at the desk for the phone to be answered or use a lot of paper to draft and post. One could work at own pace and did not have to sit at your desk waiting for information. One respondent said that they did not have to wait until they were at the office in order to do some work because they could "move with the office wherever I go." Another one said that as a result of easy communication, our branches and central office reduce the chances of duplicating what we have already done in Zambia out of ignorance. In addition one said they no longer worried about the inefficiencies of postal agencies.

With the more information and ease of communication the user is kept up-to-date in their profession with new ideas and developments in specific areas of interest and specialization 9(18%).

Able to seek advice more regularly 3(6%).

The other improvements were:

It is more reliable and one can collaborate in research and paper writing.

The Problems attributed to the e-communication were:

There is so much information that one has to spend some time to select what is relevant and searching what may be of importance 36(18%).

Once you get used to it is very frustrating when the computers or phones are down 3(6%)

The phone bill has gone up as a result of searching for information (6%). This seems contradictory to the benefits, however it was clarified that although the cost of message transfers have reduced with the e-communication, when it comes to using the web the cost went up. It was also said that compared to other means of getting the same information such as postal, including DHL, were more expensive than using the web.

Technical difficulties

The following difficulties were given:

There were inefficiencies of ZAMNET in rectifying telephone problems 12(24%)

The system is too slow in downloading and connection 36(18%)

Access to sites is very difficulty 6(12%). This was due to not knowing the addresses and the speed of the modems.

The other difficulties which were mentioned by individuals were:

Low computer capacities whereby their speed and memory capacities are too low.

There tends to be traffic congestion arising from too much information and users wanting to use the system. This is due to too few computers.

Poor computers maintenance

Since we are all using the same computer the room where the computer is inaccessible at times.

Verification of receipt of messages is not assured.

Being far from Lusaka having to telephone Lusaka in order to collect mail from the host or send messages is frustrating.

Adequacy of facilities

The following answered the question as follows:

For full internet access, the following facilities are:

Computers: Adequate 12(24%) Inadequate 6(12%)

Telecommunication: Adequate 2 (6%) Inadequate 14(28%)

Internet access: Adequate 9(18%) Inadequate 9(18%)

Limitations in full use of internet

The following were given as limitation to the use of the internet and given by the following users:

Lack of skill to use full internet including creation of a page 18 (36%)

Lack of documentation on the system for problem solving 3(6%)

The cost of using the www is too high 3(6%)

INTERVIEWS

Out of the respondents to the questionnaires all were interviewed.

The interviewees were from the Government (3), NGO (9) Parastatals or quasi-Government (12), Private (9), Academic (12).

The information gathered from the interviews supported the questionnaire responses with the following additions:

Use

All the users, apart from one, use e-mail. One point did not use the e-mail because they did not know how to use the facility. It was reported that the person who installed the software only conducted a fast demonstration which they had forgotten. They only use the internet to read newspapers.

The Web is used more at the University probably because the costs are paid for by the University where is there is controlled usage at other organizations due to the high costs, especially in One province which has no ZAMNET point of presence and connection is achieved by dialing Lusaka. It was said that phone lines were quite bad for a spell of time in that province (Southern Province particularly Livingstone city). However, there is a general use or browse of some pages of interest. In the University of Zambia users search literature including accessing external databases and electronic journals.

Benefits

The interviews were used to confirm the questionnaire responses and to get more information on the benefits and the impact of the system on development.

The major benefits repeated by most of the users were:

1. The system is cheaper than the phone and fax depending on the modem speed. Although no one had real cost comparisons they all said that their bills had tremendously gone down (100%). The low cost enables them to communicate more i.e. sending and seeking information. The cost is reduced more by the non use of paper.

2. With internet we have access to much more information using the web 35 (70%). The web not only enables one to access more information but allows you to publish and inform the world about yourself.

3. Can ask other information providers for information which we do not have access to either in our library or in the near libraries 30(60%).

4. It is quicker to send and receive information. Information moves between points in much less time, one gets responses in less time than posted information (by snail mail). As a result one can communicate exhaustively with in a short period of time 21(42%).

5. It is easy and convenient to use. The same tool used to create the message or document can be used to send the information unlike the fax where one drafts on paper and send it on another tool. On phone one can omit some pieces of information while on e-communication you can draft and proof read and send using the same computer or on diskette but in the very form it has been created . In addition one can send information to more than one person at the same "click" without having to use a lot of paper and ink 16(32%).

6. Using internet one is able to co-research or write a paper. In the process a lot of communication and comments can be shared without having to print the paper or other documents.

7 There is the convenience of ability to leave messages which are long and for along time on the computer than you would using any other means.

8. Have access to more information including on going work in other areas, can read proceedings of meetings which one may not have attended so that even if one missed the meeting you would not lose all.

9. using e-communication there are less chances of missing mail which has been received because you could find it filed in the in-box unlike trays of print mail where some papers could easily get lost.

10. The University of Zambia library reports having had their computerized system repaired remotely. They reported a fault using e-mail then the vendor accessed the database and installed repairs without having to travel.

Problems encountered with e-communication

The problems which were given have been put into three categories: skill based, computer based, and system or service based.

Skill Based problems

There were indications of inadequate skills to use windows, the computers in general and the required skill to effectively interact with the internet. Either the provided training was inadequate or there was poor documentation for problem solving in cases of minor problems. This type of information was given in summary by 8 or (16%) of the respondents.

Computer based problems

The main problems were lack of computer maintenance service in most of the areas. This is more so in rural areas. At one hospital visited the computer had been down for more than a month and service was to come from Lusaka (from Monze) about 200 Km. There were also problems of inadequacy of computers. In a number of cases there were more than 10 users on one computer. This is in addition to other problems such as low capacities of computers and poor supply of spare parts.

System or service based problems

The main problem with the service was distance of service especially in Southern province. ZAMNET has not office in the province and service could only be obtained on phone (adding on to the phone bill) or one had to wait for a long time before they could be attended to. The additional problem especially in Southern Province is that even to send a local e-mail the user has to connect to Lusaka to send and collect mail from the Host. ZAMNET has assured that they were working towards total decentralization.

Most users are affected by ZAMTEL the telecommunication service organization which has been said to be inefficient. The lines are poor and when there is a fault they take long to rectify. In addition, local phone costs are very high thereby bringing about undue e-communication costs. Because of that one institution makes queues of messages and sends them to the host twice in a day thereby reducing the efficiency of the internet.

It was said that not all information on internet is easily available, some of it requires subscription. As such it is frustrating to be made aware of so much information which you may not access. Related to that is that the information is not adequately organized as in a library catalog such that one spends a lot of time searching and surfing adding on to the cost.

SYNTHESIS OF PHASES ONE AND TWO FINDINGS

Below is a brief comparison of the findings from phases one and two bearing in mind that the respondents were not the same therefore the findings may not be as comparative as initially indented. However, the picture on basic data could be used to describe the situation as it was found.

IMPLEMENTATION

The original intention was to have a longitudinal research methodology which would have targeted the same respondents so that there would be true monitoring of usage and so that it would be possible to detect changes or consistency in electronic communication usage, benefits and impact. It was not possible to have the same respondents because either the initial respondents did not respond or they were not using the services anymore. Different people, apart from the seven who were in both phases. The seven were too few to be used to measure meaningful monitoring.

The data which was collected, therefore, is a continuation of that which was collected in phase two although there is a time lag in between. The time difference does not, however, seem to have a major effect.

FINDINGS

The findings will be presented or compared in the four main areas of use, benefits, improvements, and problems.

Use

Most of the respondents were very users of e-mail. Their highest rates of sending messages were:

Once or more per day were: 43.5% in phase one and 64% in phase two

1- 5 times per week: 43.5% in phase one and 26% in phase 2

In terms of type of information and usage:

What is in brackets ( ) indicates the rank in the particular phase. It can be argues that the work related uses rank high in both phases although personal messages ranked rather higher in phase two.

Destiny of information

In both phases most of the communication is with outside Africa probably due to the high incidence of receiving technical advice. The highest in both phases was outside Africa. There is a difference in communication the second highest. There was more with outside the country but within Africa in phase one and within country in phase two. This could be due to differences in use and the frequency of using the system. There was high usage for exchanging documents, probably with places out of the country, in phase one in addition to receiving advice. There was a rise in personal messages in phase two which could have been going to friends and relatives with the country. A further reason for the rise in personal messages in phase two could be the increase in connectivity

Improvements

In both phases there is report of improvements in speed of information or messages flow, reduction in the cost of communication, more access to information , and the convenience of communication in that order.

Problems encountered

These had to do with too much information taking up too much of work time, some technical problems to do with the service, computers and skill of usage.

CONCLUSION

There is an increasing awareness of internet service in Zambia. Even during the data collection there were more people subscribing. In addition the increasing number of service providers is likely to have a positive effect in efficiency of service.

No one could answer in the definite, the direct positive impact of e-communication apart from one who said that due to improved communication we are more efficient and hence more productive. However, the impact may be implied from the information given above. That is why the title as revised is better since it describes that time of findings. It has been observed that there is a very high use of e-mail and the use is highest in exchanging business related information. Users are seeking technical advise and using it in business. What it has found is that users experience having more information, more efficient and effective communication more interaction and awareness. This brings about coordination and facilitates management. People could hopefully or probably make more informed decisions. These could be said to have a high relationship with development. There is more research to lead to that kind of conclusion.

FUTURE RESEARCH

There is still need to pursue the impact of internet and information in order to justify expenditures and to have indication of where skill in information management ought to be directed. The best approach could be longitudinal but with closer collaboration with the users and Internet providers. The respondents may have to be selected in a focused manner according to sector so that implementation in comparison could be more meaningful.

For Zambia, I would suggest studying the education system with particular emphasis on secondary school education where Communication system is currently under discussion. Such a study has to be closely related with the one on the impact of information on development.

ANNEX 1. QUESTIONNAIRE

ANNEX 2: Interview guide

Thank you very much for your interest and cooperation.

A SUMMARY

By

Vitalicy Chifwepa

Department of Library and Information Studies

University of Zambia

June, 1996

INTRODUCTION

The project which is being reported here was originally called "Impact of electronic communications on development in Zambia", consonant with the overall theme of the program of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada through which it was supported. The research team felt that this title sounded too broad and ambitious with respect to the actual scope and outcome of the project. It thus decided

to use the above main title for the final reports of the project.

A methodology was adopted by the researchers in the IDRC/PADIS team. The methodology included a longitudinal approach where the sample and population were to be consistent in two phases. Data collection instruments were developed by the team in a series of meetings.

This is a summary of the two reports that are presented separately. The summary includes the implementation and findings of the two phases. Phase one was conducted in 1995/96 and phase two in 1996/97.

Please see the reports of the phases for details.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STUDY

In phase one traffic data was acquired from the Systems Operations Manager of the University of Zambia Computer Centre covering the periods January and February 1995. The data collection exercise was done using a population of people who had used the fidonet system in that period. Such users were favored because the survey recommended a population of people who had used e-mail for a long time. In phase two the intention was to target the same users who were the respondents in phase one. In order to do that, the ZAMNET subscribers were targeted because the other internet providers either had just started and were not part of phase one, as was the case with the Zambia Telecommunication Limited (ZAMTEL), or they were restricted in terms of users to themselves, as was the case with the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Limited (ZCCM). These providers were however included in the interview for their own input in terms of the impact and in order to give information on the internet services in Zambia.

Only 7 from phase one responded to the questionnaire the rest of the phase two respondents did not take part in phase one.

The report gives background information on internet services in Zambia and the research findings.

Instruments used

The baseline questionnaire was used in phase one. The same questionnaire was modified by simplification and inclusion of questions on the internet in phase two.

In phase one a baseline interview guide was used. In phase two the interview guide was derived from the questionnaire following the same pattern as in phase 1.

Time frame

In phase one Data collection was initially conducted from March to December 1995. After a review meeting in February 1996 in Addis Ababa it was agreed that another phase of data collection be conducted in order to get more responses. This was done from February to March 1996. In phase two data collection was conducted from February to April 1997

In phase one Interviews were undertaken from April to May 1996. The interviews were carried out face to face with the respondents and the responses were recorded on a note pad. The same method was used in phase two and interviews were undertaken from June to August 1997.

In both phases data analysis was done by grouping the responses in the categories according to the items on the questionnaire and interview frame.

In both phases questionnaires were sent electronically. It was intended that respondents would represent institutions n the following categories: Academic, Government, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Business organizations including private, quasi-government, and individuals.

FINDINGS

The findings will be presented in the four main areas of use, benefits, improvements, and problems.

Use

Most of the respondents were very users of e-mail. Their highest rates of sending messages were:

Once or more per day were: 43.5% in phase one and 64% in phase two

1- 5 times per week: 43.5% in phase one and 26% in phase 2

In terms of type of information and usage:

What is in brackets ( ) indicates the rank in the particular phase. It can be argues that the work related uses rank high in both phases although personal messages ranked rather higher in phase two.

Destiny of information

In both phases most of the communication is with outside Africa probably due to the high incidence of receiving technical advice. The highest in both phases was outside Africa. There is a difference in communication the second highest. There was more with outside the country but within Africa in phase one and within country in phase two. This could be due to differences in use and the frequency of using the system. There was high usage for exchanging documents, probably with places out of the country, in phase one in addition to receiving advice. There was a rise in personal messages in phase two that could have been going to friends and relatives with the country. A further reason for the rise in personal messages in phase two could be the increase in connectivity

Improvements

In both phases there is report of improvements in speed of information or messages flow, reduction in the cost of communication, more access to information , and the convenience of communication in that order.

Problems encountered

These had to do with too much information taking up too much of work time, some technical problems to do with the service, computers and skill of usage.

CONCLUSION

There is an increasing awareness of internet service in Zambia. Even during the data collection there were more people subscribing. In addition the increasing number of service providers is likely to have a positive effect in efficiency of service.

No one could answer in the definite, the direct positive impact of e-communication apart from one who said that due to improved communication we are more efficient and hence more productive. However, the impact may be inferred from the information given above. That is why the title as revised is better since it describes that time of findings. It has been observed that there is a very high use of e-mail and the use is highest in exchanging business related information. Users are seeking technical advice and using it in business. What it has found is that users experience having more information, more efficient and effective communication more interaction and awareness. This brings about coordination and facilitates management. People could hopefully or probably make more informed decisions. These could be said to have a high relationship with development. There is more research to lead to that kind of conclusion.

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