ADF Summary No. 15

Breakout sessions on Infrastructure

Tuesday 26 October 1999

The sessions discussed policy and regulation, financing infrastructure development and capacity building and human resource development, Internet governance and new mechanisms for managing African’s information infrastructure.

The sessions noted that strategic choices were needed on privatization and liberalization: around how, and when, not whether.

On policy and regulation, the following was noted:

• The general role of government is to create the right environment for effective infrastructure investment and deployment in the national interest;
• Policy regulation should be tailored to the specific needs and distinctive histories of countries;
• An independent regulator was essential, though it might remain part of government. It was therefore important to have effective policy and regulation in place before privatization and liberalization, build the capacity of governments and regulators to negotiate effectively with investors and others, and ensure technologies proposed by investors were appropriate for all, and not just for investors;

It was proposed that:

• There should be exchanges of experience and practices in setting up effective regulatory regimes within Africa, and south-to-south (Asia, Latin America) and possibly north to south (Europe and the USA);
• There should be harmonization of regulation in a number of areas, to assist trans-regional initiatives such as RASCOM, to attract capital
• the SADC model might be a useful starting point;

On Financing infrastructure Development, governments were urged to establish investment funds at the national regional and subregional levels as follows:

• Use investment funds to subsidize or support rural service;
• Create an African Investment Bank that loans to private sector investors with capital on reasonable terms;
• Invest in human capacity to build, operate, maintain, use the infrastructure and services;
• Develop indigenous skills to adapt, install, and customize to the needs and priorities of rural users;
• Focus investment to ensure that Africa is a producer and not just a user of ICTs;

On capacity building and human resource development, the main issue highlighted is the lack of human resources in ICT. The need to raise awareness at all levels of decision makers and users, increasing literacy, increasing general awareness and mobilizing existing institutions that already have skilled individuals was noted.

On Internet governance and new mechanisms for managing African’s information infrastructure, the key strategic issue was for Africans to participate in all levels of Internet governance. Africans did not adequately fill the spaces in sub-regional institutions such as IGAD, SADC and ECOWAS due to low human resource capacity and lack of awareness. It was suggested that Africans in the Diaspora could play a key role. The following issues were raised:

• Internet governance was not only a technical issue, but an issue of core economic and social policy;
• Entrepreneurs should be involved in Internet governance issues;
• Countries could buy (not rent) their Internet protocol (IP) addresses to prevent subsequent changes to telecommunications carriers disrupting internet naming procedures;

The full text of all speeches, statements, press releases and summaries are available on the ADF Home Page at: http://www.un.org/depts/eca   They are supported by video and audio clips of keynote addresses and other major moments. This site also includes the programme, list of participants, theme papers and other relevant background documents.

For more information on the Forum or to interview participants, please contact:

Peter da Costa
Senior Communication Adviser
Economic Commission for Africa
P.O. Box 3001 Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Tel: +251-1-51 58 26
Fax: +251-1-51 03 65
Cell: +251-9-20 17 94
E-mail: dacosta@un.org  or ecainfo@uneca.org
Web: http://www.un.org/depts/eca