ICT Development Index

Out of approximately 53 countries in Africa only 3 countries are included in the top 100 ICT Development Index (IDI) produced in 2010 – these are Seychelles, Mauritius and South Africa. This is according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) newest report, ‘Measuring the Information Society 2010′, which ranks 159 countries according to their ICT level.

Data collected by the ITU over six years revealed that the digital divide was shrinking slightly accompanied by falling Internet and telecommunications costs between 2008 to 2009 worldwide, however in some countries the relatively high cost of Internet broadband services still deserved concern from policy makers. The index placed eight European countries among the world’s top ten, with Sweden taking the number one spot for the second consecutive year. The Republic of Korea was ranked third and Japan eighth. The rankings were based on progress in 11 indicators measuring Internet and telecommunications (ICT) access, ICT usage and related skills in 159 economies, between 2007 and 2008.

In particular, the Least Developed Countries – many of them in Africa – still have very limited access to ICT, especially in terms of broadband infrastructure and household access to ICT.

So what makes the case of the 3 African countries in the top ICT Development index any different?

In the case of Seychelles, it has done considerably well given that the Internet was only introduced in the tiny island in 1996. As of 2000 there were approximately 2000 Internet subscribers most of them private/home users. In terms of subscription ratio this is quite an impressive number because the Seychelles population is only around 75,000. As for Mauritius the Internet boom came as late as 1995 when the Mauritius Telecom, the national telecommunications operator and France Câbles et Radio (FCR), a subsidiary of France Telecom set up Telecom Plus Ltd. Since then Telecom Plus has capitalised the market providing affordable internet connectivity to the majority of the citizens. As for South Africa I am not surprised to see them in the top 100 index. It is expected. Currently S.A. (including Mauritius) is benefiting from the under sea cable SAT3 -WASC actually defined as the ‘South Atlantic South 3/West Africa Submarine Cable’

The SAT3/WASC segment links Portugal’s Sesimbra with South Africa’s Cape Town and has landings at Chipiona Spain, Alta Vista Spain, Dakar Senegal, Abidjan Côte d’lvoire, Accra Ghana, Cotonou Benin, Lagos Nigeria, Douala Cameroon, Libreville Gabon, Luanda Angola and Melkbosstr. If anything these mentioned Western countries should by now have taken advantage of the benefits of the under-sea cable that passes right under their nose, but this doesn’t seem to be the case.

So where is Zambia in all this?

• In the ICT (IDI) in 2008 Zambia ranked 136 out of 159, better than the previous year where it came out 142th. Still not impressive.
• In the ICT price basket, which is basically the measure of affordability to communication technologies (including mobile + fixed telephones; Zambia came out 138th. Cheaper than Nigeria, Malawi, Togo, Cameroon, Uganda, Tanzania to mention a few.
• At the moment Zambia has not yet started benefiting from the under-sea connectivity, but considerable progress has been made and some benefits might be seen by mid-this year.
• Like many African countries Zambia is still in infancy in terms of ICT’s & considerable efforts are being made to catch up with the rest of the digital world.

image [courtesy]

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