Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Roma (Agenzia Fides) - A “Marshal Plan" for telecommunications is what the Secretary General of the Geneva based International Telecommunication Union hopes for Africa. Mali born Hamadoun Touré said this when he presented the "Connecting Africa" initiative to be officially launched at a summit in Kigali, capital of Rwanda, 29 and 30 October.
Mr Touré said that only an international effort, similar to the plan presented by the US Administration to help the economy of Europe after World War II, can help Africa overcome its accumulated backwardness in the sector of telecommunications. “What we need is a Marshal Plan for information technology and communications in Africa. We must mobilise the world's human, financial and technical resources to support Africa's economic growth, employment and development” said Touré.
In 2005, Touré recalled only 4% of the population of Africa had access to the Internet, compared with an average 9% in other developing countries. Only 1% of Africans use broad band connection. 70% of connections to the Internet in Africa passes through networks on other continents, making prices rise for the companies.
In recent years investments in the Africa's telecommunications sector have increased from 3.5 billion dollars in 2003 to 8 billion del 2005. But most of the funds were invested in mobile telephones, whose number of subscribers increased 5 times in this period. Connections to the Internet did not increase at the same rate as in the rest of the world.
The “Connecting Africa” initiative will be presented at a summit meeting in Kigali 29 and 30 October organised by the ITU, the African Union, the World Bank and the UN Global Alliance for Information and Communications Technology and Development with the contribution of the African Bank for development, the African Union of Telecommunications and the UN Economic Commission for Africa.
“Connecting Africa” aims to create a partnership between public and private to increase investments in telecommunication infrastructures in Africa. Partners to be involved include the European Union, China, the G8 countries, Arab countries, the Organisation for Co-operation and Economic Development (OECD), the principal companies in communications and information technology and others. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 10/9/2007 righe 35 parole 384)
