Results
of the first phase of project SCAN-ICT in
Mozambique
The pilot phase of the Project Scan-ICT in Mozambique
primarily related to education, health, infrastructure,
private sector, public sector and electronic
trade.
Infrastructure
as regards ICT
The infrastructure of telecommunications
in Mozambique covers the whole of the provinces
and the districts. The telephone exchanges in the
cities are connected by optical fibre networks.
Copper wire are used to connect the user to the
district distributors. Mozambique has a teledensity
from approximately 0,46 11 (46 telephone lines
for 1000 inhabitants), one of weakest of the Southern
Africa. The annual report of 2001 of Telecommunications
of Mozambique (TDM) indicates that the capacity
available of telephone lines was 127 902. However,
the number of subscribers was only 89 488 against
85 714 in 2000, which represents a small increase
of 4 %. It is indicated there that one of the principal
reasons of this slow growth is the weakness of
the purchasing power, especially in the rural ereas.
The study also made it possible
to make the following observations:
There is one supplier of services
of mobile telephony in the country, mCel (Moçambique
Cellular), which is the name of mark of Telecommuniaçoes
Moveis de Moçambique (TMM);
The government granted a second
licence of mobile telephony to Vodacom in August
2002;
mCel increased the number of its
subscribers of 2 500 in 1997 to 152 652 in 2001.
This formidable increase was due primarily to the
introduction of the system of prepaid chart. Because
of the high cost of the standard contract, the
majority of the subscribers to the mobile telephone
chose the formula of prépaiement;
There is currently more than ten Internet providers
in Mozambique. The number of users of electronic
mail
is estimated
at approximately
60 000, of which more than 50 % are installed in
the capital, Maputo. One of the principal obstacles
to the access to the electronic mail is the high
cost of the subscription. The majority of the providers
make pay on average between 30 and 40 dollars É.U.
of subscription per month.
Education
The rate of Internet
connection and the number of computers in the sector
of education are very weak, and only the higher
education establishments
and some schools of secondary education
are equipped. The investigation revealed that 24
of the 52 secondary schools which were the subject
of investigation had computers and only 12 of them
had access to Internet. In the sector of the higher
education, the problems are in particular the lack
of computers, the absence of data-processing laboratories
and the insufficiency of the bandwidth.
Health
In the sector of health, the situation
is similar with that which prevails in education.
In general, there are some computers in the hospitals
and the private clinics. One also finds some in
the health centers of lower category. On 52
visited institutions, 27 had five computers
or less, and only four had more than ten computers.
Computers are used by the doctors and the administrative
staff. On a total of 121 questioned people, 22
used computers to reach data bases, 13 for
the electronic mail and 12 for research; some
declared
that they used the computers for distance learning
and distance medecine.
Public sector
The situation of the public sector
is the most critical of all the studied categories.
The majority of the institutions still use typing,
and treat and preserve their data manually. The
typical examples are the municipalities and the
offices of the public administration, the central
office of the marital status and the notaries.
These institutions have hardly enough space to
preserve the important volume of paper produces
with the passing of years. The study revealed that
the Government had started to adopt a certain number
of reforms which would require the intensive and
systematic use TIC. Among the initiatives implemented,
appear:
- Adoption of a numerical indentity
card for the citizens;
- The implementation of a project "with
single counter" by the Ministry for
tourism, in order to reduce the bureaucracy;
- The implementation of a national
strategy as regards ICT, together with new
projects such as an information system for the
public office
(PSIP), an electronic administration network
(GovNet), a system of management of the public
finances (e-SISTAFE), a system of management
of
the electoral processes and a numerical land
register.
Private
sector
Compared to the other sectors,
the level of penetration of the ICT in the private
sector is highest. Competition on the local, regional
and international markets requires the use of the
ICT to ensure the good quality of provided assets
and services. The majority of the companies visited
during the study have an address of electronic
mail and some have a Web site.
Electronic
trade
In a strict sense of the term,
the electronic trade does not exist in Mozambique.
However, there are certain isolated initiatives
which are regarded as electronic trade. Although
certain providers of local accesses make publicity
for the services of electronic trade, only some
people dared to take the risk to carry out purchases
on line, fearing that the principles of safety
are not always respected. Among the reasons of
this hesitation, appear the lack of national legislation
to protect the citizens against the cyber-infringements
and the absence from authentification of the numerical
signature. Only 20 of the 66 companies aimed by
the investigation had Web sites.
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