BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE AND THE ACCESS CHALLENGE ENGR. ERNEST C.A. NDUKWE

Transcription

1 BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE AND THE ACCESS CHALLENGE By ENGR. ERNEST C.A. NDUKWE

2 Since the invention of the telephone by Graham Bell in 1876, the world has continued to devote a lot of resources towards the development, improvement and expansion of telecommunications facilities for the service of humanity. The relevance of telecommunication to human existence has continued to grow unabated. Research in the 1960 s and 1970 s documented the importance of telecommunication as infrastructure for economic and social development. It was shown that in industrialised nations, particularly telecommunications services are used in connection with a wide range of economic production and distribution activities, delivery of social services and government administration. THE DIGITAL DIVIDE Advancements in digital technology ushered in the information era about three decades ago. Today, information is regarded as a fundamental factor of production along side capital and labour. The information economy accounted for 1/3 to ½ of the gross domestic product (GDP) and employment in organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Countries in the 1980 s and now about 2/3 for the European Community. Information also accounts for a substantial proportion of GDP in the newly industrialised economy in the Asia Pacific region.

3 Advances in micro-electronics, software, optics and internet have further fueled rapid technological changes in telecommunications leading to better, more varied and less costly communications and information devices. These changes have greatly revolutionalised the way information is transmitted and processed, and contributed to the convergence of information and telecommunications technologies and services that we have today. These developments have however been concentrated in the more advanced nations of the world who very earlier on identified telecommunications as an important tool for the management and control of human and material resources. Most developing countries have continued to lag behind in taking advantage of the benefits that Telecommunications Technologies present, thus creating barriers to uniform knowledge- based development across the globe In 1984 the ITU published a report (The Maitland report) which identified huge disparities in the distribution of telephones around the world. The report stated that three quarters of the world s telephones were located in just nine countries namely the major industrialised nations including the United States, Japan and the major economies in western Europe. There were more telephones than in Tokyo than in the whole of Africa.

4 The Maitland report had recommendations on how to address the imbalance in the provision of telecommunications services. The imbalance, which was then referred to as the missing link, is today being described as digital divide. The main import of the report was to achieve wide acceptance of the important role that the telecommunications sector plays in economic development. It also focused attention to policy and overall regulatory environment as a key pre-requisite for enabling new investment and expansion of ICT infrastructure in information-poor countries. PRESENT DAY REALITIES Unfortunately almost two decades later, the major challenge facing the world still remains to bridge the digital divide with countries where telephone penetration rates are still very low. It is however important to acknowledge that few success stories have however been recorded (post 1984) especially in countries such as China, Korea etc. Africa now has more than twice the number of main telephone connections as Tokyo! Also, 85% of the world s population today share 45% of all telephone lines. When compared to 1984 when 90% of the world s population had access to only 10% of all telephone lines, there has been some notable movement. Regrettably, many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America continue to have lag behind with some having teledensities still less than 0.1%. It is estimated that for the poor countries especially in sub-saharan Africa the period required to bridge the gap could be as much as 100 years.

5 ACCESS TO ALL The model to which the major industrialised nations of the world are aspiring to is to have at least one telephone and one internet access point per person. However, for countries where teledensities remain below 1 per hundred (1%) it will be unrealistic to aspire to this model. Perhaps the more reasonable approach should be to aim towards ensuring access to all. This can only be a first step in the journey of integrating Nigeria fully into the digital age. The missing link of the Maitland report of 1984 referred to access to basic telephone services. However, the digital divide of today goes beyond this to describe the technology mismatch between the information-rich and the information-poor. This has bigger consequences than what was promoted twenty years ago. The missing link was primarily an infrastructure problem, since it is about access to telephone lines. Once the telephone line is installed, the missing link problem is solved, since people do not need to be educated or literate to use it. Today s technologies for the digital age are different. They are more complex and require a minimum level of education to be able to use it even when the access exists. Therefore, there is need for a wholistic approach to be adopted in tackling the issue of the digital divide. While attention is being focused on the infrastructure divide we must also look at what I will like to describe as the literacy divide. The ability to read and write must be a basic requirement for membership of the digital community.

6 In Nigeria for example, the literacy divide is high. There is therefore need for government to focus on policies that can raise the literacy level in our society. The youth of tomorrow must all be exposed to even the most basic of education to equip them for participation in the digital age. In Nigeria the telephone penetration is still shockingly low. Internet penetration also does not match even the level of literacy that exists in our country today. Access to the Internet is infact very important and has the potential of accelerating the integration of developing countries such as ours into the information age. Quoting from an ITU publication, it states: if information is power, then the internet must be the easiest way of empowering those that have traditionally been left behind. There is therefore this twin headed challenge that we have to address providing basic telephone access to all and then Internet access to all those who can use it. Perhaps, the workgroups this afternoon will tackle the issue of how to accelerate the buildout of the infrastructure required to address this challenge. My view is that three major technologies hold the key to solving the challenge of accelerating digital access to most Nigerians within the shortest possible time: Wireless Communications, VSAT and Internet. The provision of access employing traditional wireline costs a lot of money especially over hostile terrain, and areas that are widely dispersed.

7 Mobile communications by its nature grows very fast and can cover a lot of territory within a short period of time. With almost five million new mobile lines being rolled every month, wireless access will likely overtake fixed access globally in a few years time. This has already occurred here in Nigeria and in a number of developing countries. The VSAT by its nature can reach even the remotest part of the country especially places where terrestrial infrastructure are either too expensive to provide or will take a long time to cover. The phenomenal growth of Internet along with development in multimedia technology is already transforming the way telecommunication is used. Internet is the infrastructure of the digital age and opens the door to e- commerce, e-education, e-health, and e-government. While these three technologies may be frontliners, other technologies such as fibre optic transmission links, microwave transmission links, fixed wireline links also have major relevance in the infrastructure buildout equation and must also be accorded due attention. We are therefore faced with the challenge of harnessing effectively a complex array of technologies and systems available to achieve the goal of providing telecom access at breathtaking speed. The recent launch of digital mobile services has demonstrated the hunger that exists in the Nigerian market for telephone services. Nigeria holds a special place in the African continent and in the West African sub-region both economically, politically and demographically. Access to telecommunications and information technology holds the key to Nigeria s ability to respond to the demands of its position in the continent and indeed the world. Creating an information network for the nation in the next few years is perhaps one of the important tasks for the present generation both in the public and the private sectors of our economy.

8 The challenge I am throwing to all of us at this gathering is that by the Year 2006, let it not be said that there remains a Nigerian that has not seen or used a telephone. Access to basic telephone services must be a reasonable expectation of every person that lives within the boundaries of the Nigeria Nation. This is the access challenge that this summit must seek to address urgently.