“Smartphones for the masses,” and “Africa’s mobile
boom powers the innovation economy,” screamed two headlines in the local print
media in the past week. The first caption was announcing the arrival of the
Alcatel One Touch Pixi 2 smartphone which has broken the P1000 barrier to
smartphone access with its P600 price tag. “Industry experts have often put the
price tag separating ordinary handset and smartphone, and its related access to
the web, at P1000,” states the article which has no byline. The author(s) quotes
the experts assertion that the smartphone landscape is rapidly changing with
high quality smartphones becoming increasingly affordable and accessible and goes
on to predict that, “Any smartphone that breaks the P1000 mark would open the
floodgates of mass access to the web.”
The second headline introduces a feature article
celebrating the advent of the ubiquitous connectivity of mobile and wireless
devices and their transformation of African lives for the better. The article states
that in a continent where access to electricity is still patchy, particularly
in non-urban areas one cannot talk about Africa without talking about mobile
and energy-frugal applications. “It is not hard to understand why. Installing a
traditional fixed-line telecoms infrastructure makes no economic sense across
huge, sparsely populated, and sometimes difficult to cross terrains”, it
states.
“Before mobile came along, access to data was
limited for millions of Africans, but by the end of 2014 more than 600 million
people - about 56 percent of the population - are likely to own a mobile phone,
with some researchers estimating penetration could reach 80%”, reflects the BBC
article which credits smartphones as powerful and pervasive sources of data
through the web.
The Human Rights Council of the United Nations
General Assembly states that the Internet is one of the most powerful
instrument of the 21st century for increasing access to information,
transparency and facilitating active citizen participation in building
democratic societies. The world body has declared access to the Internet as a
basic human right which provides individuals with, “The potential to provide
new solutions to development challenges, particularly in the context of
globalisation, and could foster economic growth competitiveness, access to
information and knowledge, poverty eradication and social inclusion that would
help to expedite the integration of all countries, especially the least
developed countries, into the global economy.” The General Assembly goes on to
spur global efforts to universal access to broadband.
“A steady fall in the worldwide costs of telephone
and broadband internet services has enabled a number of developing countries to
expand their access to Information Communication Technology (ICT) and thereby
close the digital divide,” observes The United Nations International
Telecommunication Union (ITU). The surge in the numbers of mobile broadband
subscriptions in developing countries has brought the Internet to a multitude
of new users states the annual report which is viewed as the industry benchmark
for technology development with a reputation as a wholly impartial and reliable
source of the most comprehensive statistical and analytical report on the shape
of ICT markets across the world.
For its part, The Worlds Bank’s Information and
Communications for Development 2012 Report states that the mobile revolution is
right at the start of its growth curve with mobile devices becoming cheaper and
more powerful while networks are doubling in bandwidth and expanding into rural
areas. This development has presented a huge opportunity for Africa which is
regarded as, the world’s biggest online market of the future. The continent has
the fastest growing mobile phone market penetration with subscription rates
growing at 278% between 2005 and 2010 and with the total application market
expected to reach US $15 billion in revenue this year. Botswana currently
enjoys low technological entry barriers and fixed costs which presents the
country with the opportunity to participate and reap social and economic gains
from a burgeoning ICT sector.
In seizing this opportunity, the country has
established the Botswana Innovation Hub to contribute to the country’s economic
development and competiveness by creating new scientific, technological and
indigenous knowledge-based business opportunities. The company has identified
ICT as one of the focus sectors in which it acts as a catalyst in the
development of the ICT industry and creation of an innovation supporting
ecosystem. The company supports the development of innovative local content,
skills and job creation as part of the National ICT development strategy and
e-government.
In the quest to grow the industry, Botswana
Innovation Hub has appointment an ICT Developer Community Officer to establish
and nurture the growth of a dynamic and market relevant ICT Developer
community. Ms Tirelo Ramasedi joins Botswana Innovation Hub to stimulate the
establishment, growth and engagement of an ICT Developer community.
Ramasedi is
of the view that a robust ICT Developer Community is a necessary catalyst in
the drive to have effective innovation and technology based economic expansion.
She believes that in supporting the company’s major strategic initiative for developing
advanced science and technology capital and activities the local ICT Developer
Community must be coordinated and engaged. “We have the skills and competencies
to produce quality products and services that will help us benefit from the
rapid economic and social dividends that accrue from easy access to the
internet and its technologies,” she says.
Director of Marketing, Registration and ICT at
Botswana Innovation Hub, Dr Geoffrey Seleka says the country has one of the
most progressive National ICT Policy’s called Maitlamo. He says, “Maitlomo
has liberalised the telecommunications industry and established excellent ICT
infrastructure in the form of Nteletsa 1 and 2 and Cloud Computing Data Centres
to give the country access to world class bandwidth and quality, cost effective
service.
Selaka however cautions that while the country
currently has one of the highest levels of mobile and fixed-line penetration in
Africa it faced challenges of unemployed IT graduates and a low ranking of
engagement in e-governance. He points out that the mass availability of smartphones
and rising use of internet following improvements in international connectivity
is a most welcome development that will invariably result in mass access to the
web. Seleka is optimistic that, “The low technological entry barriers and fixed
costs offer vast revenue and growth potential for entrepreneurs and job
creation.
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