AFRICAN TELECOM PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

BY Mawutodzl K. Abissath

SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2000.

GHANA, the psychic centre of Pan-Africanism that ignited the independence taper for the total liberation of the African continent in 1957, has set into motion the electronic revolution of the new millennium for Africa, once again.

On Thursday, March 23, 2000 at exactly 17 hours, within the Chambers of the famous Accra International Conference Centre, Ghana's Minister for Communications, Mr. John Mahama (MP) brought to a close, proceedings of a three-day second African Telecom Summit, the success of which was beyond the imagination of its organisers themselves.

As a matter of fact, the African. Telecom Summit is a private sector initiative. And the Spectrum International Limited headed by Madam Mavis Ampah Sintim-Misa which has been organising this Summit in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications must be commended for their vision, ingenuity, foresight and initiative which is slowly but firmly placing Ghana's name on the global telecommunications map of the world.

The very first of the African Telecom Summits took place in March, 1999, here in Accra and brought together about 250 delegates from the continent. One concrete achievement of that summit that comes to mind was the establishment of a continental, body of telecom professionals, christened African Telecom Think-Tank' (ATTT).

Its "chief objective among others was to serve as a vehicle to provide tangible ideas and solutions that would accelerate the development of'<telecommunications infrastructure in Africa. Without exaggeration, one can opine that so far, so beautiful.

Amazingly, this year's Summit marvelled everybody when in the midst of uncertainties, it 'recorded almost 400 participants made up of ministers of communications, from Congo, Madagascar, Liberia and Ghana, as well, as telecom operators, regulators, computer scientists, Internet' Specialists, communications technologists, equipment suppliers, investors, business tycoons, and of course, consumers, without  whom nothing could flourish anyway. Furthermore, the Accra Summit attracted telecom experts from America, Europe, the Middle East and beyond as well as some giant multinational telecom and satellite organizations such as INTELSAT, INMARSAT and others who presented 40 papers covering a wide spectrum of topics relevant to the telecommunications industry in Africa.

It was held under the theme: Convergence and Globalisation: The Impact on African Telecommunications. Surprisingly, the conference hall was charged with a combined vibrations of anxiety and ecstasy, as speaker-after speaker mounted the podium to justify their inclusion in the Information Technology the emerging industry of the 21st century. To be frank, most African speakers were charged with the spirit of Pan Africanism and spoke as if they were possessed. One young delegate from Senegal spoke with vigour and power.

Another one from Kenya spoke like a leader of a revolution. In. fact, African speakers warned the advanced nations pot to 'play any tricks or conspire to marginalise Africa in the global economy as far as communications technology and electronic revolution are concerned.           

Dr. Nii Quaynor of the Network Computer Systems of Ghana, summarised the feelings of Africans when he described some attempts being made to deny Africa the allocation of its own interconnected computer number (IP number) that will enable the continent to have direct access to Internet service globally as another form of imperialism.

Dr. Quaynor could not understand why a continent of over 780 million human beings should not be represented on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Numbers and Names (ICANN). Be it known that' African communications experts' eyes are red and no one must stand on their way as they struggle to leap into the Information and communications Age, At the end of it all, summit delegates came up with a resolution with the following recommendations and suggestions among others:

First, the delegates expressed profound gratitude to Ghana Government for its hospitality and for making Accra available for the hosting of the conference. Participants recommended that the Spectrum International and the Ministry of Communications must ensure that the African Telecom Summit should be maintained as an annual event. They reasoned that, so far, the summit is the only Telecom Conference in Africa, organized by Africans for Africans and attended by African ministers of communications, Policy Makers, Regulators, Operators, Investors as well as consumers without excessive protocol fanfare.

It was further recommended that the Ghana Government through the Ministry of Communications must write an official Report on the Telecom Summit to the OAU to be circulated to member states and other telecom-stakeholders on the continent."

That African Governments must give support to the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) for it to play an advocacy role that would compel African leaders to create a conducive regulatory environment for telecommunication industry to flourish on the continent.

It was suggested that in future, African Telecom Summit organizers should invite Regional and Sub-regional  economic groupings such as the OAU, ECOWAS, SADEC, as well as Civil Society and Women organizations on the continent.

 Long Live African Telecom Summit. Long Live Ghana!

The author works with Information Services Department (ISD) abissath@gmail.com

NB: This article was first published by the Daily Graphic, Saturday, May 20, 2000.