Etienne Baranshamaje, AF5PH
Eugene Boostrom, AFTHR
Vidoje Brajovic, OBPCU
Masud Cader, ESDEM
Robert Clement-Jones, AFTES
Robert Hawkins, AF1HR
Peter Knight, ESDEM
Robert Schware, IENTI
Hugh Sloan, AFRCA
Draft of 29 March 1995 -- Comments Welcome
Contents
Summary 2
Selected Quotations 4
List of Acronyms 5
The Information Revolution and the Global Economy 6
The Information Revolution, Equity, and Poverty 6
Africašs Opportunity and the World Bank Groupšs Mission 7
Southern African Experiences with Electronic Networking 9
Policy Considerations and Regulatory Framework 11
Technical Options and Costs 13
Financing Options 14
Suggested World Bank Strategy 14
Annex 1: International Connectivity Map 17
Annex 2: Sub-Sahara Africa Connectivity 18
This paper was prepared by a working group convoked by the Africa Region to prepare a framework within which the Region could consider a broad range of initiatives to increase Internet connectivity in sub-Saharan Africa. Each of the authors, listed in alphabetical order, contributed portions of the text, and the integration was done by Peter Knight (Chief of the Bank's Electronic Media Center) and Eugene Boostrom (Africa Technical Department, Population and Human Resources Division), in coordination with Steen Jorgensen (AFRCA). The authors wish to thank the large number of Bank staff who have provided comments on previous drafts as well as external comments received from Peter Hellmonds (ABB Financial Consultancy GmbH), Larry Landwebber (Internet Society and University of Wisconsin), Tony Villasenor (NASA's Internet Manager) and Wendy White (U.S. National Reserch Council). Comments on this draft are encouraged and should be sent by e-mail or markup of the text to P. Knight <pknight@worldbank.org> and E. Boostrom <eboostrom@worldbank.org>.
The development of computer networking in Africa presents the World Bank with a unique opportunity to make a major contribution to Africa's current and future development in ways which will simultaneously advance the Bank's strategic objectives in the areas of donor coordination, client consultation, capacity building, decentralization of Bank activities and decision making, and private sector development. With the accelerated pace of change in the world, the Bank needs to develop the capacity to respond quickly and flexibly to an ever-changing landscape. Electronic networking is a tool the Bank can use to realize these goals.
The information revolution is being driven by the convergence of telecommunications, computers, satellites, and fiber optic technologies. It is fueled by rapid and sustained falls in the cost of processing, storing, and transmitting information. This sharp fall in costs -- along with an increase in the technical and human ability to access, interpret and use information -- promises to make the knowledge base of mankind available anywhere, anytime, in any language.
In an increasingly knowledge-based economy, information is becoming at least as important as land and physical capital. In the future, the distinction between developed and non-developed countries will be joined by distinctions between fast countries and slow countries, networked nations and isolated ones. The information revolution offers Africa a dramatic opportunity to leapfrog into the future, breaking out of decades of stagnation or decline.
Africa needs to seize this opportunity, quickly. If African countries cannot take advantage of the information revolution and surf this great wave of technological change, they may be crushed by it. In that case, they are likely to be even more marginalized and economically stagnant in the future than they are today. Catching the wave will require visionary leadership in Africa. The World Bank, other international agencies, bilaterals, and NGOs can all help. External donors should be encouraged to mobilize their know-how, their own needs for connectivity, their financial support, and their ability to dialogue with African organizations -- all to empower Africans, including Internet service providers, so that they can build their National Information Infrastructures (NIIs), connect them to the Global Information Infrastructure (GII), and move rapidly into the information age. Several multilateral and bilateral agencies active in the region (e.g., WHO/AFRO, USAID, NASA), are actively seeking to coordinate with the Bank Group in this work, and others have expressed interest (e.g. UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA). A flexible approach which introduces technical and managerial standards to the many current initiatives will increase the benefits for all involved.
The Internet is the prototype of the GII of the future, and the national and sub-national networks which compose it the prototype of NIIs. Global connectivity maps and tables prepared by the Internet Society show dramatically that sub-Saharan Africa is the least-connected part of the world.
The World Bank's support for the growth of indigenous networks in the Southern African region, although to date limited to small incremental changes, already offers some important lessons. In some countries the only feasible strategy might be to provide similarly small amounts of financial support and technical assistance for indigenous-based incremental change. However, in most cases the World Bank Group and other donors should adopt a much more pro-active policy which can lead quickly to significant progress, avoiding unnecessary steps.
The principal elements of this broader policy should be to:
The real challenge is not technical or financial, but organizational and political. While there are no technological barriers to rapid expansion of Internet service in Africa, there are many in the sphere of obsolete regulatory frameworks that result in constricting barriers to information access and knowledge expansion.
The World Bank group should concentrate its efforts in a role as catalytic agent, coordinator of donor efforts, and stimulator and financier of projects applying these empowering technologies. Key types of projects include education, training, health, electric power, and private sector development.
To implement this new policy will require the allocation of World Bank Group human and financial resources. The costs for launching this pro-active, collaborative strategy are very modest. A full Internet node can be established in an African Country for $250,000-$500,000, with annual operating costs on the order of $130,000, exclusive of local labor costs.
The required resources are needed now, while excitement is growing and opportunities abound, and the planning for their deployment must strategically involve all Africa Region departments. These resources should be programmed now, based on a work program outline, in the budget for FY96. This effort should involve all Africa Region departments, IENTI, OBP, and the Electronic Media Center. In many cases, projects under preparation or being implemented include or could accommodate networking/communications components. Resources for staff time to work on these matters for the Africa Region by other Bank units should be provided under cross support arrangements.
It will be critical to monitor implementation of this strategy. For this purpose, a Committee should be established by the Africa Region which would periodically assess progress according to objective indicators.
Telecommunications is the driving force that is simultaneously creating the huge global economy and making its parts smaller and more powerful. -- John Naisbitt, author
Freer flows of trade and investments must be considered in conjunction with the increasingly crucial issue of the unobstructed access to advanced technology. These considerations are inseparable. Otherwise we will see two worlds develop: One wired to the new technological revolution and the other unplugged and falling further and further behind. -- Fernando Henrique Cardoso, President of Brazil
The liberating effects of these technologies have been clear around the world. Satellite stations brought medical advice to those tending to the suffering in Rwanda. Radio and TV broadcasts in South Africa promoted the role of voting in a democracy. Wireless technologies are allowing emerging nations to leapfrog the expensive stages of wiring a communication network -- for example, in Thailand, where the ratio of cellular telephone users to the population is twice that of the US -- Albert Gore, Vice President of the United States
Not only do we have to spread information technology around, but we have to completely change the whole approach to education and more generally knowledge. We have to turn countries into what I call learning nations. -- Jean Francois Rischard, Vice President, Finance and Private Sector Development, The World Bank
Of all the gaps that exist between the South and North, none is growing faster than the information gap, and the information highway threatens to increase the growth rate to the point where some countries and some segments of society -- in both South and North -- may be left out altogether. David Nostbakken, Executive Director, WETV and Shahid Akhtar, Director, International Development Research Center (IDRC)
It's clear that bringing developing countries onto the information highway constitutes a colossal challenge if we are to promote economic growth....the reality is that there are more telephone lines in Manhattan, New York, than in sub-Saharan Africa. -- Thabo Mbeki, Deputy President, Republic of South Africa
AF1HR Southern Africa Department, Human Resources Division, World Bank
AF5PH Western Africa Department, Population and Human Resources Division, World Bank
AFRCA Africa Region, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, World Bank
AFRO Africa Regional Office, World Health Organization
AFTES Africa Region Technical Department, Environmentally Sustainable Development Division, World Bank
AFTHR Africa Region Technical Department, Poverty and Human Resources Division, World Bank
CAM Country Assistance Management (staff time allocation in World Bank)
CD-ROM Compact Disk, Read Only Memory
CU-SeeMe Video teleconferencing software for Internet developed by Cornell University
ESDEM Electronic Media Center, World Bank
FPD Finance and Private Sector Development Vice Presidency, World Bank
FTP File Transfer Protocol (Internet procedure for obtaining files from remote computers)
G7 Group of 7 major industrialized countries
GII Global Information Infrastructure
IDF Institutional Development Fund (World Bank-managed fund)
IDRC International Development Research Centre of Canada
IENTI Industry and Energy Department, Telecomunications and Informatics Division, World Bank
InfoDev Information and Development Fund (proposed World Bank-managed fund to promote developing countries' access to the GII
IP Internet Protocol
MBONE Multicast Backbone (advanced Internet videoconferencing and applications sharing system
NAMIDEF Namibian Internet Development Foundation
NASA (U.S.) National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
NII National Information Infrastructure
OBPCU Organization and Business Practices Department, Communications Services Unit, World Bank
OPB Organization and Business Practices Department, World Bank
SOO State-Owned Operator (telecommunications company)
TCP Transport Control Protocol
TCP/IP Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
UNFPA United Nations Population Fund
UNICEF United Nations Childrens' Fund
USAID United States Agency for International Development
USENET Internet discussion groups organized by topic
UUCP Unix-to-Unix Copy Protocol
VSAT Very Small Aperture Terminal (small satellite terminal)
WHO World Health Organization
Three technological waves are currently driving the global economy forward -- telematics (the intersection of informatics and telecommunications), biotechnology, and new materials. Of these the first has been moving the longest, is the most pervasive, affecting virtually every sector of economic activity, and is the most central. Telematics is the most central because the convergence of telecommunications, computers, satellites, and fiber optic technologies which undergird it are crucial to the knowledge-based economy of the future. These technologies are decreasing the cost of processing, storing, and transmitting information at the rate of 50 percent every 18 months. This -- along with human ability to access, interpret, and use that information -- is what the information revolution is all about.
Telematics promises to make the knowledge base of mankind available anywhere, anytime, in any language. It enables for the first time in centuries a crucial breakthrough in the productivity of education and training. This is what makes possible the rapid spread of not only telematics itself, but also of biotechnology, new materials, and other promising new technologies. The key is the rapid spread of knowledge and skills. The problem will not be technology, but rather the political and organizational &dquot;software&dquot; to use it effectively.
A recent study commissioned by the World Bank looks at the impact on the world economy, and in particular on the competitiveness of developing countries, of a predictable fall in the cost of communication to virtually nil ten years from today. This study foresees a radical change in the employment patterns of a future global economy driven by a continued fall in telecommunications charges (usage and installation) to the point where they will become so cheap as to be perceived to be free by all users, globally. An acceleration of the rebalancing of wealth between nations in the various stages of socio-economic development will result. The study makes clear that the changes will be revolutionary. Countries which are able to seize the opportunities these technologies present will be able to leapfrog into the future, even though they lack a developed communications infrastructure today. In fact, countries with little existing communications infrastructure, with less need to deal with vested interests in old technologies, can proceed directly to the use of wireless technologies and fiber. The key will be visionary leadership and the ability to mobilize nations around an attractive and realizable vision of their citizens' future.
The information revolution could help level the international playing field in terms of opportunities for social and economic development. Properly managed with a view to equity, it could reduce differences within countries in their populations' access to information and to learning tools and opportunities. However, if appropriate care is not taken, the same revolution instead could lead to increasing disparities in incomes and information access, across regions, countries, areas within countries, income groups, communities and individuals.
The education sector illustrates the positive potential. For centuries, the basic educational technology has remained unchanged. A teacher stands at the front of a classroom and teaches with the aid of a blackboard and printed materials. Recently this has been supplemented by various audio-visual aids, but these are simply imposed on top of the existing human/print technology. The costs of education tend to rise faster than inflation. In the case of Sub-Saharan African countries, population pressure, slow economic growth and low coverage make the search for alternative models to complement traditional education technology an urgent priority. Higher education systems offer the most promising potential for the application of information technologies in the short run. In the knowledge-based economy, educational coverage and quality must increase, and education must be lifelong rather than terminal, as the rate of change and obsolescence is very rapid in most disciplines. In the less-developed countries, demand for education and training increases, productivity does not, and their price goes up, increasing the risk of two-track societies and a two-track world. Entirely new ways to support, encourage, and document learning, spawned by the information revolution, will bring the needed sharp increase in educational productivity. Distance education -- using such interactive multimedia tools as the World Wide Web, CD-ROMs and videoconferencing, as well as telephones, e-mail, radio and broadcast television -- is making it possible to network learners and learning resources from Timbuktu to Paris, from Maputo to São Paulo, from Capetown to London, from New York to Nairobi, not to mention among African locations.
In education, health, public administration and other sectors, decentralization requires that government workers and others take on increased responsibilities while on assignments in areas which are not seen as desirable. Professional and social isolation is a reality faced by staff on many such assignments. Electronic networking can greatly reduce this isolation, giving staff full access to professional and other information as well as opening up immediate and direct communication with the center and with national, regional and international resource groups. In Zambia, for example, nine remote districts now have network access, with strong positive effects on staff morale and performance, and forthcoming health and education sector credits are expected to include provisions to expand such coverage.
Donors should strongly encourage the development of electronic networking in Africa in directions which will reduce discrepancies between areas and social groups. For example, networking should quickly extend beyond the main cities and the central institutions within them to encompass and empower other areas and groups. Technologies such as high capacity microwave networking linkages and low-cost satellite terminals make this possible. Given the political will to empower other areas and groups within countries, there will still be a need to structure incentives so as to reward those institutions and individuals who share information and significantly expand network access. The incentives will need to be sufficiently strong to counteract the fact that "knowledge is power".
In addition to electronic networking, other telecommunication technologies, such as telephones and two-way radio, will be increasingly important as means of disseminating information tailored to specific needs, such as expert guidance to a health worker faced with a problem which would otherwise be beyond his or her competence. Effective application of all of these communication technologies will be necessary to increase impact in the communities.
The Internet is the prototype of the Global Information Infrastructure (GII) of the future, and the national and sub-national networks which compose it constitute the prototype of the National Information Infrastructures (NIIs). But when one looks at the global connectivity maps and tables prepared by the Internet Society, it is immediately evident that Sub-Saharan Africa is the least-connected part of the world. [See Annexes 1 and 2.]
The development of computer networking in Africa presents the World Bank with a unique opportunity to make a major contribution to Africa's current and future development in ways which will simultaneously advance the Bank's strategic objectives in the areas of donor coordination, client consultation, capacity building, decentralization of Bank activities and decision making, and private sector development. With the accelerated pace of change in the world, the Bank needs to develop the capacity to respond quickly and flexibly to an ever-changing landscape. Electronic networking is a tool the Bank can use to realize this goal.
Donor coordination. Electronic networks' unique ability to transfer data or to provide simultaneous access to data instantaneously to a widely dispersed group of people provides the Bank Group with a tool to improve coordination and cooperation with other donors on development projects. The Bank has emphasized that with shrinking aid budgets the donor community must do more to strengthen synergies and work together toward the broad goal of poverty reduction. Increased coordination and improved communication are a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for this. Networking will increase the communications channels between donors and allow donors to learn from each other's experiences -- both positive and negative.
Client consultation. Electronic networking also presents the Bank Group with a means by which to get closer to its clients. Poor technological communications infrastructure makes the effective use of the communications media very difficult in many African environments. Communications with clients in the past have often proved to be slow, ineffective, unreliable, and frustrating. For instance, the small morning &dquot;window&dquot; in which to reach clients, lost time waiting for faxes that often do not go through, and the high cost of long-distance telephone and fax connections are some of the disabling factors that contribute to this inability to get close to clients. Communication via electronic networks would allow Bank Group staff to shorten response times and improve feedback capabilities, both of which are necessary to be sensitive to client needs as well as to enhance the channels by which stakeholders can be informed by and stay in touch with Bank Group staff on projects.
Capacity building. The Bank has also emphasized the need to hold governments more accountable for the development and implementation of Bank Group financed projects. In order to truly put government in the driver's seat, government officials must have access to the information necessary to make decisions on the ground. Computer networks allow large amounts of information to be transferred or accessed quickly and efficiently anywhere in the world by those with network access. As primarily an information-based organization, the Bank Group has a wealth of data in Washington that could be transferred to or accessed by its clients in the field. In Africa, unfortunately, this is not possible, since networks are not sufficiently developed or widespread: Africans cannot access this electronic information easily, quickly, or cheaply. Development of computer networks will provide the enabling infrastructure needed for Bank Group clients to access crucial information in timely ways for decisions that must be made in the field. As a parallel (and ongoing) effort, it will also be necessary to help Africa develop the capability to produce, package, and use information for decision making.
Decentralization of Bank Group activities and decision making. The Bank now foresees decentralization of many of its activities and of a significant proportion of its decision making to field offices at the national and regional levels. Development of robust and secure electronic networks is absolutely necessary if this is to be successful. Existing technology permits segregating and securing a portion of public network traffic for Bank Group purposes. The same technology would reduce costs by permitting sharing of bandwidth with other development agencies with similar needs as well as with African indigenous network traffic.
Private sector development. Finally, electronic networking has the potential to complement the Bank's objective of improving the vitality of the private sector in its client countries. The combination of the globalization of the world economy and the explosion of information technology has transformed the nature of the private sector. These trends have reduced the importance of geographic boundaries and of location, increased the importance of flexibility, and favored organizations that can quickly transform information and ideas into viable products and services. Increasingly the world's commerce will be conducted over electronic networks that have the capacity to transfer data instantaneously. In order for developing countries to be competitive in this changing world and attract the private sector investment necessary for growth, they must have a reliable electronic networking infrastructure in place.
The development of electronic networking will prepare African countries to respond and participate more actively in a rapidly changing global economy that is increasingly driven by the free flow of information and ideas. Without the human technical expertise and the infrastructure to move information rapidly, Africa will be further disadvantaged in the global economy. Networking is important for African enterprises to improve their competitive position. But African electronic networks can also help with the development of research networks in Africa so that African scientists and thinkers can work with each other more and be less dependent on the North. Furthermore, electronic networks can let Africans 'repatriate' large volumes of data and analysis, originally obtained from African sources, which have accumulated in Northern libraries and research centers. Such information is often unavailable to African scholars in their home countries.
Additionally, through enhancing the Bank Group's communication channels with the various agents involved in African development, networking has the potential to create a forum in which potential pitfalls can be identified and preventive action taken before problems occur. At a very modest investment, the Bank has an opportunity to use electronic networking as a means to respond to many of the organization's strategic objectives. In the process the Bank Group can assist in the development of an infrastructure in its client countries that will be crucial to worldwide communication and commerce in the decades to come.
This section of the paper examines some of the lessons learned through the implementation of a pilot networking project in Mozambique as well as through extensive interaction with the networking community in Southern Africa. Specifically, the experiences in establishing computer networks in Southern Africa have proven that the following elements are important for successful network development:
The experiences in Southern Africa indicate that the region is ready for increased connectivity and that the Bank Group has a role to play in this development process. At a modest investment, the Bank Group, often in collaboration with other development agencies, has the opportunity to assist in the development of an infrastructure in its client countries that will be crucial to world communication and commerce in the decades to come. At the same time the Bank Group can use these networks as a means in which to address its own strategic objectives. This opportunity should not be missed.
The telecommunications sector in most sub-Saharan African countries is organized as follows: (i) the provision of all services is entrusted to a state-owned operator (SOO) on a monopoly basis; (ii) the sector Ministry is supposed to supervise the SOO and assume the function of setting sector policy; (iii) sector regulation is shared between the SOO, the sector Ministry and the Cabinet. The SOO often takes over the responsibilities of the government on policy and regulation matters, resulting in a very dominant, inefficient SOO.
Several countries have started reform programs to: (i) separate regulation from operation and to limit or eliminate the SOO regulatory authority; and (ii) liberalize the sector in the area of value added services and allow private sector participation in the provision of these services, jointly with the SOO, in competition with the SOO, or independently with no competition from the SOO. For example, several countries have licensed private cellular operators. In most of these cases licensing was done by: (i) the Minister of communications in his capacity as a Minister or Chairman of the Board of the SOO; or (ii) the new regulator. Entry of new providers typically has been undertaken under the old laws or after adopting new laws. Authorizing an Internet service and subsequent regulation of the network will depend on several issues:
(i) the current Telecommunications Act in the country;
(ii) the nature of the service (commercial vs. non-profit);
(iii) who is/are the sponsor(s);
(iv) whether the SOO can be a part of a joint venture;
(v) whether the sponsors are requesting to lease lines from the SOO or a license to build their own network;
(vi) whether the SOO can provide the required technical requirements (for example speed and quality); and
(vii) whether the planned Internet network would be used as a private network (by one institution or in a single building) or a "shared private network".
Not all of the above issues are legal or policy matters; prospective sponsors for expanding Internet connectivity would need to develop their strategies to obtain authorization/cooperation taking into account these issues. The general strategies are:
(i) where existing laws don't permit, the sponsor can enter into dialogue with the Government to revise these laws;
(ii) if this is not achievable, a strategy to work within the existing law should be adopted.
The Bank Group has been involved in reforming the sector in several sub-Saharan countries. Data communications is typically an area in which governments are not reluctant to authorize provision of services, and the Bank Group should be able to support the sponsors of any Internet connectivity expansion initiative in their dialogue with the Government. However, the Bank should insist on deregulation of the telecommunications sector, on the grounds that Africa should not be bypassed by the information revolution. The time is ripe in Africa for these changes to occur.
In Africa, the quality level of the local communications infrastructure, as well as readiness to implement sophisticated communications technologies, varies from country to country. Given the available options and rapid advances in telecommunications technology, the quality of the existing networks is not a serious obstacle. Nevertheless, there is a good chance that a single Internet option will not suit all countries and therefore would not bring adequate results. The best approach would be to develop a few options. Then, the option that best fits the particular needs should be selected for each country. The following three options each provide a different level of connectivity and Internet functionality. The costs given reflect current commercial rates and do not include local labor costs for operating the system.
l. Internet node with local server. This option will provide all Internet services (e-mail, Telnet, FTP, Usenet) through a local Internet node. Connectivity to a remote Internet node will be provided through a Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT, or small satellite earth station) . Major advantages that this option will provide are: development of local know-how, flexible growth, full local user support, fast new user connect, fast local services, and local node administration. The price for this option is $250,000 - $500,000 per country, depending on the level of technical support and training to be provided. Monthly operational costs are expected to be around $11,000.
2. Internet node without local server. This option will provide all Internet services (e-mail, Telnet, FTP, Usenet) through a remote Internet node. Connectivity between a local service node to the remote Internet node will be provided through a VSAT. Major disadvantages of this option are: remote node administration, slow new user connect, and slower response. The price range for this option is $180,000 - $350,000 per country, depending on the level of technical support and training to be provided. Monthly operational costs are expected to be around $11,500.
3. Virtual Internet node. This option will provide only Internet e-mail service through scheduled mail exchanges. Connectivity to a remote Internet node will be provided through a dial-up TCP/IP link. The major disadvantages are: only basic e-mail service is provided, remote node administration, slow new user connect, and no local user support. Price range for this option is $65,000 - $135,000 per country depending on the level of technical support and training to be provided. Monthly operational costs are expected to be around $7,000.
Two financing options have been discussed: the first is for the Bank to fund electronic networking through an IDF grant, a stand-alone project, or as sub-components of sector projects; the other is for the Bank to act as a catalyst for investment from domestic and foreign private sector sources and from bilateral and other multilateral organizations, providing management of a program and contribution in kind in the form of management.
An IDF grant provides the Bank's Africa Region with the flexibility to tailor assistance and to focus on sub-regional or national connection as well as on building indigenous support through user training, system installation, management, demonstration workshops, and sensitizing policy makers in the use of low cost technology for communication, information exchange and resources sharing. This grant could serve as the basis for a pilot program.
A stand-alone project would provide the Bank Group an opportunity to address the key policy constraints mentioned above. However, direct Bank financing to expand Internet connectivity should be accompanied with or introduced as part of a package of reforms that include competition, interconnection, and regulation. A risk to this approach is that Governments unwilling to implement a comprehensive package of reforms could delay acceptance of a network connectivity project. The key issue such a project would face is sustainability: how will a consistent level of operational performance and reliability be maintained after the initial capital investments wear off? The answer resides in designing programs with fee structures which make the networks self-sustaining.
The Bank's role as lender of last resort also needs to be considered; it seems unlikely that countries will have no other source of finance for Internet connectivity. Based on discussions with several agencies (not a systematic survey), it is our view that there is sufficient interest in increasing connectivity in Africa among private investors, embassies, NGOs, and bilateral and multilateral organizations that the Bank Group should have little or limited capital investment in such activity. The Bank is thus in a good position to carry out a technical assistance program with funds from bilateral financial organizations, the private sector and other multilateral organizations.
Experience shows that private capital is attracted to the provision of commercial Internet services when robustness is achieved and business can move in with minimal risk. For example, Thailand's communications operator has recently established a joint-venture--called Internet Thailand Services--to provide use of Internet for commercial purposes. The company will provide full-function Internet services for individuals and businesses that require them. Turkey is also depending on private sources of finance for supplying Internet services, now that its market has grown and the national university no longer must serve as the technical and operational hub for Internet communication.
While there are vibrant and exciting developments in some countries, the fact remains that most countries in Africa lack even the most rudimentary Fidonet or UUCP e-mail services. [See Annexes 1 and 2.] Only one country, the Republic of South Africa, has its own high-speed fiber link to the Internet, though neighboring countries are increasingly connecting themselves through narrowband landlines to the Internet through South Africa, where it is pooled with the South African traffic to the rest of the world and elsewhere on the continent. All other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with Internet connections rely on store-and-forward systems, and thus cannot avail themselves of full Internet services requiring direct on-line computer-to-computer interactions such as Telnet, FTP, Usenet, World Wide Web, and Internet-based videoconferencing through CU-SeeMe and the more advanced MBONE, which allows full color videoconferences, applications sharing, and whiteboard markup between multiple sites.
The World Bank has been providing modest support for the growth of indigenous networks in the Southern African region. The evolution of this strategy, which offers some important lessons, should be encouraged, and in some countries this may be the only feasible strategy. But the Bank should go further and should work together with other donors to this end. This policy of nurturing indigenous-based incremental change, supported by small amounts of financial support and technical assistance, should be supplemented wherever feasible by a much more pro-active policy which can lead quickly to significant progress, avoiding unnecessary steps.
The principal elements of this broader policy should be to:
To implement this new policy will require the allocation of World Bank Group human and financial resources. The costs for launching this pro-active, collaborative strategy are very modest. Establishing a full Internet node with a server and VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) in an African country can be accomplished for $250,000-$500,000, depending on the level of technical support provided, with annual operating costs on the order of $130,000, exclusive of local labor costs. Lower levels of service cost less. Even at the upper end of this cost range, full Internet nodes could be established in the 47 sub-Saharan African countries currently lacking this level of service for approximately $30 million, including the first year's operating cost (again exclusive of local labor costs). It is likely that grant funds can be found readily to accomplish the technical task. In fact, USAID and NASA are already moving, by sharing resources and coordinating where possible with local service operators, to provide this level of connectivity in 20 African countries. The level of annual operating costs suggested here, as well as local labor costs and depreciation of the assets, should be recouped from user charges as demand for the services increases.
The real challenge is not technical or financial, but organizational and political. Remaining barriers to rapid expansion of Internet service in Africa (e.g. power outages and surges, unreliable telephone circuits) can be overcome. However, important obstacles in the sphere of obsolete regulatory frameworks constrict information access and knowledge expansion. The commitment of African leaders to remove them could open up the way into the information age for their countries. Once introduced in Africa, electronic networking could grow rapidly and prove to be a major boost to the competitiveness of African countries.
The World Bank group should concentrate its efforts, to act as a catalytic agent, coordinator of donor efforts, and stimulator and financier of projects applying these empowering technologies. The types of Bank projects that could serve as conduits for the introduction and dissemination of these technologies include education, training, health, electric power, and private sector development.
The required resources are needed now, while excitement is growing and opportunities abound. These resources should be provided for now, based on a work program outline, in the budget for FY96. The required staff time (CAM ) and financial resources should be programmed. This effort should involve all Africa Region departments, IENTI, OBP, and the Electronic Media Center. Resources for staff time to work on these matters for the Africa Region by other Bank units should be provided under the usual cross support arrangements.
It will be critical to monitor implementation of this strategy. For this purpose, a Committee should be established by the Africa Region which would periodically assess progress. Monitorable indicators of progress could include the following:
Version 12 of the Connectivity Map dated 11/15/94. Courtesy of the Internet Society. Click to download a copy of this map to your hard disk (ftp://ftp.isoc.org/isoc/charts/connectivity-map-v12.gif).
Understanding the table:
There are four possibilities considered for connectivity in this table. Countries may be connected by Bitnet, IP protocol Internet, UNIX to UNIX copy protocol (UUCP), or FidoNet. Each of these possibilities are discussed in the body of the paper. Each column is denoted by a dash "-". This table is abstracted from the connectivity-table-v13 document from the Internet Society (ftp://ftp.isoc.org/isoc/charts/connectivity-table-v13.txt).
Col. 1 (UNUSED)
BITNET
Col. 2 (Entities with international BITNET links.)
b:= minimal, one to five domestic BITNET sites, 21 entities
B:= widespread, more than five domestic BITNET sites, 27 entities
IP INTERNET
Col. 3 (Entities with international IP Internet links.)
I: = operational, accessible from entire open IP Internet, 86
entities
UUCP
Col. 4 (Entities with domestic UUCP sites which are connected
to the Global Multiprotocol Open Internet.)
u:= minimal, one to five domestic UUCP sites, 61 entities
U:= widespread, more than five domestic UUCP sites, 80 entities
FIDONET
Col. 5 (Entities with domestic FIDONET sites which are
connected to the Global Multiprotocol Open Internet)
f: minimal, one to five domestic FIDONET sites, 29 entities
F: widespread, more than five domestic FIDONET sites, 69 entities
An entity is a geographical area that has an ISO two letter country
code (ISO 3166). These country codes are included in the Table
below for each entity (e.g., ZW for Zimbabwe). Note that the ISO
codes do not always agree with the top level DNS (Domain Name)
code(s) used for a particular entity.
Restricted access or dial-up IP links exist to Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Niger. These are not included in the table.
Connectivity Table for Africa (see Col 1-5 explanations above).
Col 1-5 ISO Code Country Name ----f AO Angola (People's Republic of) ----- BJ Benin (People's Republic of) ---uf BW Botswana (Republic of) ---U- BF Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) ----- BI Burundi (Republic of) ---Uf CM Cameroon (Republic of) ----- CV Cape Verde (Republic of) ----- CF Central African Republic ----- TD Chad (Republic of) ----- KM Comoros (Islamic Federal Republic of the) ---U- CG Congo (Republic of the) ---Uf CI Cote d'Ivoire (Republic of) ----- DJ Djibouti (Republic of) ----- GQ Equatorial Guinea (Republic of) ----f ER Eritrea ----f ET Ethiopia (People's Democratic Republic of) ----- GA Gabon (Gabonese Republic) ----f GM Gambia (Republic of the) ---uF GH Ghana (Republic of ) ---u- GN Guinea (Republic of) ----- GW Guinea-Bissau (Republic of) ----F KE Kenya (Republic of) ---u- LS Lesotho (Kingdom of) ----- LR Liberia (Republic of) ---U- MG Madagascar (Democratic Republic of) ----f MW Malawi (Republic of) ----- MV Maldives (Republic of) ---U- ML Mali (Republic of) ----- MR Mauritania (Islamic Republic of) ---uf MU Mauritius ---Uf MZ Mozambique (People's Republic of) ---U- NA Namibia (Republic of) ---U- NE Niger (Republic of the) ---Uf NG Nigeria (Federal Republic of) --Iu- RE Re'union (French Department of) ----- RW Rwanda (Rwandese Republic) ----- ST Sao Tome and Principe (Democratic Republic of) ---Uf SN Senegal (Republic of) ---u- SC Seychelles (Republic of) ----- SL Sierra Leone (Republic of) ----- SO Somalia (Somali Democratic Republic) --IUF ZA South Africa (Republic of) ----- SD Sudan (Democratic Republic of the) ---u- SZ Swaziland (Kingdom of) ----f TZ Tanzania (United Republic of) ---u- TG Togo (Togolese Republic) ----f UG Uganda (Republic of) ----- EH Western Sahara ----- ZR Zaire (Republic of) --I-f ZM Zambia (Republic of) ---uf ZW Zimbabwe (Republic of)
