PRESS CONFERENCE TO ANNOUNCE ‘CONNECT AFRICA’ INITIATIVE

“Connect Africa”, a major initiative to provide high-speed, low-cost broadband and wireless connectivity to all parts of the continent, was announced at Headquarters this morning.

Making the announcement at a press conference were Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union; Craig Barrett, Chairman of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID), and CEO of Intel Corporation; Walter Fust, Director-General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; and Mohsen Khalil, Director of Global ICT at the World Bank Group.

Organized by the African Union, the Global Alliance for ICT and Development, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Bank Group, in partnership with the African Development Bank, the African Telecommunication Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), “Connect Africa” is intended to function as a partnership to mobilize the human, financial and technical resources required to bridge major gaps in ICT (information and communications technology) infrastructure, with the aim of supporting affordable connectivity, applications and services.

Participants at the press conference said the summit, to be held in the Rwandan capital of Kigali on 29-30 October, would bring together political and business leaders to promote concrete programmes and investments in support of the initiative.  According to Mr. Touré, the event would not seek to adopt new resolutions or recommendations.  Instead, Heads of State who had already shown their commitment at previous international events would seek practical solutions in terms of the regulatory environment in order to create a level playing field, attract business and create real partnerships on the continent.  It would also provide an opportunity for entrepreneurs to look at success stories in their meetings with Government representatives and people from Silicon Valley.  The goal was to attract massive investment through meaningful partnerships, which would be profitable for everybody.

It was necessary to increase competitiveness and build infrastructure, so that new applications and services could be applied, he said, adding: “We are not looking for charity in the ICT field.  We shall approach the matter with a pure business sense.”  There was nothing wrong with making profit.  Capacity-building to promote growth was also of great importance and, once the infrastructure was in place, the continent would “take over”.  In fact, Africa was already the world’s fastest-growing market for mobile telephony, with 50 to 400 per cent growth over the past three years in some countries.  It was now necessary to replicate that success in broadband Internet access for every village, school, university or hospital.

Information and communications technology could create jobs and wealth, he said.  “If we don’t meet the Millennium Development Goals in the ICT field, we won’t be able to meet them in the other fields, because ICT today is a catalyst, enabler and tool for all sectors, be it education, government, business or health.  Every sector would have an e-component.”  The objective was to meet the Millennium Development Goals in the information and communications technology sector by 2012 in order to help other sectors meet their goals by 2015.  The use of fibre optics could help achieve a cut by two thirds in the cost of Internet access by 2012.

Mr. Barrett illustrated the spread of mobile telephony in Africa by noting that he had enjoyed cell-phone contact “all the way up and down” during his recent climb up Mount Kilimanjaro.  “You can’t do that on some mountains in the United States, but you can do it there.”  There was no doubt that mobile telephony in Africa would follow the trend of many developing countries, including China and India, where the private sector had been able to bring inexpensive communication to all the people.  Technology was available, and the challenge now was to provide inexpensive connectivity across broad stretches of territory.  Enabling Government policies and incentives for investment were needed to achieve that goal, and that would be the focus of the Kigali meeting.

Mr. Fust noted that Switzerland, having hosted the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva, was acting as a major sponsor of the Kigali event.  It was important to keep information and communications technology high on the political agenda, mobilizing “the doers and not just the talkers”.  The access and connectivity discussions should also contain a multidimensional component since, beyond infrastructure, it was necessary to address Africa’s multilingual nature, innovative financing mechanisms and digital divide.  There was also a link between “Connect Africa” and the Global Knowledge Conference, set for the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur in December.

Mr. Khalil said the development of information and communications technology could bring Africa into the global economy as an equal partner.  The last 10 years had brought about a transformation of Africa, driven to a large extent by the telecom industry, in which about $25 billion had been invested -– one third of foreign direct investment.  But while much had been achieved, serious gaps remained.  Although the prices of mobile service had fallen by some 50 per cent in recent years, they still remained much higher than in other regions.  There was also a serious gap between urban and rural coverage, as well as between different income brackets.  Internet and broadband connectivity remained a challenge and it was meaningless to talk about mainstreaming information and communications technology in health, education and social services unless costs were brought down.

Among the required actions were the adoption of reforms and liberal policies by Governments and the creation of public-private partnerships, he said.  Long-distance international phone services were still largely dominated by State monopolies and, where the private sector came in, it was important to think about creative and innovative solutions.  In some cases, a simple step like the introduction of pre-paid cards could be effective.  For its part, the World Bank had been participating in the development of a submarine cable for Eastern Africa, which could build capacity and bring down costs.  Among other things, it had also contributed some $425 million for a regional connectivity initiative covering 25 countries.

Responding to a question about the Kigali summit, Mr. Touré said funds for the event were being raised from various sources, including the private sector and development agencies.  The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation alone had provided 400,000 Swiss francs for the event, where business leaders would have an opportunity to express their concerns and explain their strategies during one-on-one meetings with Heads of State.  Opportunities would be created if all partners could talk to each other.  There was nothing wrong with bringing members of the private sector on board.  ITU was the only organization within the United Nations family that had not only 191 Member States, but also some 700 private companies working with it since its creation.

There was no answer to the question of whether investment should precede regulations or vice versa, Mr. Khalil added, pointing out that one did not need to perfect the regulatory environment for the private sector to play a role.  By investing heavily in post-conflict countries, the World Bank had found out that the telecommunications sector was very resilient in situations of political risk.  Regulation was an ongoing process, and the issues facing many developing countries today were no different from those facing industrialized ones:  how to deal with inter-connection to ensure a level playing field, and how to deal with conversions of telecom, broadcasting and Internet.  Some of the best practices could be found in developing countries, which did not suffer from the legacy problem.

The private sector had proven to be a driving force, having triggered reforms in many countries, and it should be encouraged, he continued.  However, that did not mean Government should wash its hands.  The regulators must adopt policies to create a level playing field, promote competition and bring in broadband capacities at affordable prices.

Responding to a question about cybersecurity, Mr. Touré stressed the importance of an international security agenda –- a global alliance that ITU was promoting to deal with crimes in cyberspace.  Instead of cyberwars, it was important to promote “cyberpeace”.  Existing regional and subregional frameworks, for example in the Council of Europe, were limited in scope and without tackling cybercrime on a global scale one would not be able to solve the problem.  It was necessary, among other things, to harmonize national laws and promote cooperation in tracking down criminals.

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For information media • not an official record