Global Information and Africa: the telecommunications infrastructure for cyberspace

According to the declarations of the first World Telecommunications Development Conference in Buenos Aires in 1994, new technological developments in telecommunications and information technologies have the potential to close the development gaps between developing and developed countries. However, it adds, ominously, that telecommunications may also unintentionally perpetuate the development gaps without a more determined, integrated, and strategic approach to the challenges of telecommunications development by governments, the private sector, and international and regional organisations. It adds that liberalisation, private investment, and competition may foster the development of telecommunications. In this paper, an overview is briefly presented of the information infrastructures in the developed world. Then, the status of telecommunications infrastructure and services in Africa are briefly discussed, and the current Internet connectivity within Africa is examined. Finally, possible remedies to the African situation are briefly discussed.