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.
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