Areas of Expertise – Page 4

ICT Indaba 2012: Africa’s Agenda for ICT Growth

Deputy President Motlanthe addresses audience at ICT Indaba 2012, held at the Cape Town International Convention Center, June 4-7, 2012

Photo Credit: Republic of South Africa

The South African Department of Communications in partner with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), hosted the inaugural ICT Indaba 2012 conference June 4-7, 2012 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, South Africa.

The 2012 ICT Indaba showcased how South Africa’s strong ICT infrastructure can benefit strategic sectors of the African economy such as education, healthcare, infrastructure and extractive industries. With a strong focus on socioeconomic development and job creation, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe reminded attendees that on average, a 10% increase in broadband connectivity for developing country leads to a 1.4% increase in GDP. Furthermore, international delegates and ICT industry leaders stressed the importance of developing and implementing an ICT strategy, to act as a catalyst for the other African economies.

The conference gathered international stakeholders to create a continental agenda to expand the growth of the ICT sector, and establish a networking platform for like-minded industry leaders. Expected to run annually for the next five years, the ICT Indaba will be used to discuss ICT policies geared towards poverty reduction and the creation of a knowledge based economy across the continent. This year, four speakers from Rwanda, China, Cuba and India presented papers on different development models for ICT industry. Additional keynote speakers included but were not limited to the President of the Republic of South Africa, Mr. Jacob Zuma; Deputy Secretary General of the ITU, Mr. Houlin Zhao; Lead ICT Policy Specialist of the World Bank, Dr. Tim Kelly; and Managing Director of Microsoft South Africa, Mr. Mteto Nyati.

Taking a collaborative approach to ICT development and welcoming relations between countries and regions, African leaders aim to fast track their policies for increasing broadband access across the continent. Using a theme entitled “Bridging the Digital Divide”, a target was set by the Ministries involved to have 80% of the African population online by the year 2020. Speakers stressed the importance of using sustainable, affordable green technologies to foster socioeconomic development throughout the continent. The need to reach rural areas was discussed as well, by presenters like Motlanthe who stated, “We must also not forget that 55% of the Africans live in rural areas. As a result, it is our responsibility to ensure that they are integrated into the Knowledge-based society”.

Not without its challenges, one obstacle to ICT development addressed during the conference was the comparatively high price of broadband. Acknowledging this obstacle, new licensing plans have been enacted in order to increase competition in the data market, decreasing prices and making access more affordable. As South African Communications Minister Dina Pule stated, “These Internet Service Providers (ISPs) big and small are also expected to offer affordable broadband services to poor South Africa’s and people living in rural areas”. On a regionally wide scale, five more undersea cables to be constructed by 2014 will also reduce costs associated with universal access.

In addition to setting the 80% broadband penetration target, a team will also be set up to monitor the implementation of Indaba’s resolutions. While simultaneously serving broader development objectives, such as attaining the Millennium Development Goals, the ICT Indaba created a forum through which the continent can openly discuss and subsequently address, complex issues surrounding ICT strategies. The declaration prepared by the Ministries involved also reaffirms Africa’s commitment to ICT for development, and the ongoing implementation of ICT polices already in effect. Given the large amount of stakeholders that attended the inaugural conference, it will be interesting to see how Africa’s progress takes shape in the years to come.

June 12, 2012/by actualize

Areas of Expertise, GBI Updates, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News, USAF Updates

Integra Attends Intel’s World Ahead Program Meeting

The conference floor at the Four Seasons Bosphorus Hotel in Istanbul, Turkey.

Photo Credit: Bob Otto

Last month Integra representatives met with telecommunications sector leaders from 17 countries in Istanbul, Turkey. Focused on sharing broadband strategies and implementations, the meeting provided a unique opportunity for Integra to discuss next steps with GBI clients as well as an opportunity to meet with other country representatives interested in collaborating with USAID.

The meeting was held from May 22 to 24 and was sponsored by Intel Corporation’s World Ahead program with the goal of sharing experiences and best practices for reaching the billions of people who do not have access to ICTs. Sixty participants from 17 represented countries were in attendance in addition to various organizational representatives. The Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union, Dr. Hamadoun Toure, attended, as did the Vice President of Intel’s World Ahead, John Davies. There were a total of 7 ministers participating as well as chief regulars and USF representatives from around the world.

Six GBI client countries (Moldova, Ukraine, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Ghana) were in attendance, and there was substantial recognition given to the contributions GBI is making to USFs and their broadband strategy. The Intel Corporation expressed strong support for GBI’s program to develop USF leadership associations for the Latin American and Asian regions, recognizing the importance of such platforms for sharing experience and best practices.

June 8, 2012/by actualize

Areas of Expertise, GBI Updates, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News, Latin America and the Caribbean, USAF Updates, Where we work

Making Progress and News in Colombia

Earlier this month, Integra President Robert Otto and Managing Associate, Eric White, traveled to Colombia as a part of our work on the Global Broadband and Innovations Program. The two met with officials from Compartel, Colombia’s universal service administrator to begin exploring opportunities for rolling out new low cost, low power demand rural connectivity solutions. They met with key players in both the mobile and broadband industries in Colombia, and early in the trip Bob was interviewed by El Tiempo! Video below (in Spanish) This due diligence phase is expected to wrap up later this month.

This is the first initiative under the Broadband Partnership of the Americas.

May 14, 2012/by actualize

Areas of Expertise, GBI Updates, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News, Latin America and the Caribbean, USAF Updates, Where we work

Broadband Partnership of the Americas

President Obama, seated at a panel discussion at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia In April 2012, President Obama announced the creation of the Broadband Partnership of the Americas, an effort set to improve internet access across the Latin America and Caribbean region. The President was in Cartagena, Colombia, for the Sixth Summit of the Americas.

The Broadband Partnership for the Americas (BPA) is designed to improve access to broadband and the Internet and other communications technologies in the Americas. It will serve as a voluntary and flexible framework through which the governments of the Western Hemisphere, multilateral organizations, the donor community and the private sector can collaborate to increase access to broadband and the Internet across the Americas.

The BPA is supported by USAID and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and will be managed by the Global Broadband and Innovations Program, of which Integra is an implementing partner.

Eric Postel, Assistant Administrator for USAID’s Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade Bureau, said in a joint statement with the FCC, “We are very excited about this rich partnering opportunity within our own hemisphere- where we can mobilize public and private resources toward achieving more equitable access to broadband and the Internet as a key contributor to development.”

The financial and technical resources mobilized through the BPA will be used to help interested countries advance a range of information technology initiatives, including:

– developing and implementing national broadband strategies;

– creating or upgrading universal service funds to finance the expansion of mobile and broadband technologies to rural communities;

– improving international and regional connectivity by linking existing broadband networks;

– collaborating on a regional effort to harmonize the use of digital spectrum; and

– sharing best practices.

For more information, please visit GBI’s Broadband Partnership of the Americas page.

April 19, 2012/by actualize

Africa, Areas of Expertise, GBI Updates, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News, USAF Updates, Where we work

A New Connectivity Strategy for Ghana

GIFEC Community Information Center at Bechem

Photo Courtesy of CIC Bechem Blog

Integra, under its Global Broadband and Innovations program, is supporting the government of Ghana to better promote broadband Internet use throughout the country. Ghana has a long and successful record of promoting ICT use – it was one of the first countries in Africa to establish a Universal Service Fund (in 2005) and was recently found to have the fastest Internet speeds in Africa. Yet with Internet penetration remaining at 10%, much work remains to be done.

The Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) is tasked with expanding broadband Internet into unserved and underserved areas, and it currently oversees a broad portfolio of projects. GIFEC has installed over 200 public telecenters nationwide (called Community Information Centers) and set-up Internet access in a number of public libraries and schools throughout the country. Yet as mobile broadband speeds become faster and handheld devices become cheaper, GIFEC is considering changing its access strategy.

To effectively do this it needs to understand the unique nature of the digital divide in Ghana. What types of households and individuals access the Internet, and for what purpose? What are the information needs of those that do not, and what are their major constraints in accessing that information? GIFEC will implement a survey, with Integra’s support, that will inform a study that clarifies the challenges people face to accessing the Internet in Ghana. Integra will assist with the preparation of the study and will work with GIFEC to move from the study to a new strategic plan. The strategic plan will then be validated by the joint implementation of pilot connectivity projects between GIFEC and Integra.

The project is moving forward rapidly. This week a penultimate draft of the survey instrument was produced, and we foresee enumerators carrying out the survey before the end of May. We are aiming for pilot projects to be implemented before the end of the summer.

April 9, 2012/by actualize

Africa, Areas of Expertise, Asia, GBI Updates, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News, Latin America and the Caribbean, USAF Updates, Where we work

Integra to Facilitate Creation of Regional USF Associations

This month Integra is embarking on a new project aimed at strengthening the enabling environment for telecommunications in countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as those in East Asia. By pursing partnerships with regional governance bodies and with national Universal Service Funds, Integra, under USAID’s GBI program, will facilitate the creation of two regional associations of Universal Service Fund managers.

Universal Service Funds exist in many countries around the world, and often they face the same challenges. How do they collect and manage all the necessary information needed to have an up-to-date understanding of the gaps in telecommunications coverage in a country? How do they properly evaluate the benefits of one project over another, or one bid over another? How do they build a strategic plan that will best achieve their goals of expanding telecommunications access? How do they ensure transparency and accountability in all of their processes?

These questions can be better answered when they are discussed in a group, when best practices are shared, and when ideas are exchanged. Currently, regional telecommunications bodies focus primarily on regulatory issues, and very few platforms for the strengthening universal service provision have been established at the international level. Integra aims to change this, and as a result improve telecommunications access in the developing world.

March 28, 2012/by actualize

Africa, Areas of Expertise, GBI Updates, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News, USAF Updates, Where we work

Expanding broadband and universal service in Kenya

According to an agreement signed today between the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the US Government shall assist CCK in developing strategies to stimulate universal access to ICT services in underserved and un-served areas of the country.
The technical assistance covers the development of a national broadband strategy to underpin the deployment of modern broadband infrastructure to meet the needs of businesses, government and the entire economy. The assistance, which shall be provided through the USAID’s Global Broadband and Innovations (GBI) initiative, will also assist CCK in developing capacity in universal service Fund management, and universal service.

Addressing the media during the signing of the agreement at the CCK Centre, USAID’s Mission Director, Ms. Erna Kerst, said the US Government was happy to partner with Kenya in facilitating enhanced access to ICT services.

She said Kenya was ahead of many sub-Saharan African countries in the level of development of ICTs, particularly in the area of mobile applications.

“Kenya is leading the way in ICT innovations and in the development of applications that are changing the lives of people in Kenya and elsewhere in the World,” she said.

In his address, Ag. CCK Director-General Mr. Francis W. Wangusi said the development of universal access and broadband strategies would invigorate the growth of the ICT sector and thus accelerate the development of other sectors of the economy, including provision of e- and m- government services.

Citing the ICT Access Gaps Study undertaken by CCK last year, Mr. Wangusi said close to 1,120 sub-locations out of the total of 7,149 in the country had no access to basic communication services. This situation, he added, called for urgent regulatory interventions to facilitate the transition of a sizeable number of Kenyans to the digital age.

The Director-General decried the prevailing low penetration of data/internet services in Kenya, saying the country had only 5.2 million Internet subscribers, of which 2.33% were broadband. He said the strategies to be developed through USAID’s technical assistance would play a key role in improving access to communications services in all parts of the country.

March 10, 2012/by actualize

Areas of Expertise, Eastern Europe, GBI Updates, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News, USAF Updates, Where we work

USF workshops in Moldova, Ukraine, a success!

Under the GBI contract, Integra team members recently conducted a series of workshops in both Moldova and Ukraine, to support the governments of each country in their assessment and planning to introduce Universal Service Funds, and to promote Broadband ICT development. These countries, like much of the former Soviet Union region, have established a strong level of telecommunications infrastructure, including nearly universal mobile phone coverage, extensive fixed telephone networks, and reasonable extension of Internet access and even Broadband. However, significant gaps remain in access to computers, Internet, and Broadband connectivity, particularly outside of urban centers.

In Moldova, the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications (MITC) hosted a workshop attended by about 25 government and industry officials, to address questions surrounding the current legal mandate to establish a Universal Service Fund, and the goals and options for such a Fund. GBI experts David Townsend and Daniel Espitia presented international experience on the best approaches and priorities for creation of a USF, and the key issues that Moldova would have to address. Given that Moldova has already made considerable progress in establishing well functioning mobile networks as well as broadband services in many parts of the country, the challenge would be to close remaining gaps in access to ICTs, with emphasis on providing all schools in the country with broadband connections as well as low-cost PCs for students. Also, rural villages without adequate network capacity would be upgraded to broadband. The Ministry acknowledged that new legislation would be required to authorize a USF that could fully address these objectives, and pledged to move ahead in drafting such a statute.

In Ukraine, a public workshop was held in Kiev over two days, hosted by the National Commission on State Regulation of Communication and Information (NCCIR), and attended by about 30-40 officials and private sector representatives. There has been considerable debate in Ukraine about establishment of a USF, with strong resistance from the mobile operators, who must already pay 7.5% of their revenues into a national social security fund. Representatives of several operators attended the workshop, along with Commissioners and other government personnel. GBI’s David Townsend together with Parvez Iftikhar, former CEO of the Pakistan USF, presented ideas and examples of how an effective USF could work, yielding benefits both for the country and for the ICT industry itself. A range of options were discussed for the launching of a Fund, including starting out on a pilot basis to test the concept. Ukraine must also pass new legislation to mandate a USF, and will be working toward such a law.

Integra’s team will continue to assist both countries as they develop their USF legislation and policies.

March 8, 2012/by actualize

Areas of Expertise, GBI Updates, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News, Latin America and the Caribbean, USAF Updates, Where we work

Taking Colombia’s USF to the next level

Sebastian Mendes from UNE at the Compartel workshop in Bogota

Representatives from GBI traveled to Bogota this month to participate in a stakeholder’s workshop, held by Compartel, the Colombian Ministry of Information and Communications Technology’s universal service administrator. The February 15th workshop was designed as a means of gathering stakeholder input to Compartel’s strategic planning process. Compartel is planning to restructure itself to effectively address the next generation of challenges for the use of ICTs in Colombia, and it invited GBI and key personnel from Intel Corporation’s World Ahead program to participate in the workshop.

Following the workshop, Compartel and GBI went into an intensive 2 day work planning session that laid out a six month plan of cooperation to define ICT sector goals and objectives, map strategic activities of Compartel, and to provide technical assistance on strategic plan implementation. David Townsend, Daniel Espitia, and Robert Otto represented the GBI team in Bogota.

Compartel, the Colombian Ministry of Information and Communications Technology’s universal service administrator, has already accomplished many important milestones with its Vive Digital program to connect most of Colombia to Internet and voice services. Among their accomplishments are completion of 2,000 kilometers of terrestrial fiber optic channels, 800 kilometers of undersea fiber optic cable to its offshore island of San Andres. Projects underway include an 18,000 kilometer national fiber optic network to serve some 753 municipalities, provision of broadband to 6,700 public schools, in-home broadband connections for 115,000 low income households, and seven projects designed to provide 10,000 more broadband connections for public schools, small villages, and community telecenters.

February 28, 2012/by actualize

Africa, Areas of Expertise, GBI Updates, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News, USAF Updates, Where we work

Integra provides telecom training in Tanzania

Robert Otto shakes hands with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete

As a part of its contract with USAID, Integra led the GBI team to successfully host a panel and workshop for Universal Service & Access Fund administrators in Sub Saharan Africa on Friday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The sessions were part of the annual Connecting Rural Communities Forum held by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO). GBI’s Project Manager for its USAF Initiative, David Townsend, facilitated the sessions, which were attended by over 100 people from across the continent.

Integra’s Eric White spoke to the conference attendees twice – first to describe the USAID program for digital development, and second to deliver survey results collected from participating African USAF administrators.

The conference, which was officially opened by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, and hosted by the Minister of Communications, Science and Technology, Makame Mnyaa Mbarawa, lasted three days, and brought together telecommunications professionals from more than 2 dozen African countries. Sessions topics included policy and regulatory issues, equipment and technology, and applications and content.

These sessions mark just part of GBI’s overall support for telecommunications infrastructure in the region, for which Integra is the sole contractor. In addition to support for Universal Service & Access Funds, GBI provides support and technical assistance for legal, regulatory and competitiveness counseling as well as research and support for low cost/low power technologies. Please visit our Current Activities page for more information about GBI.

September 9, 2011/by actualize

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