Wireless Technologies and Development in Africa

In October 2005, the Annenberg Research Network on International Communication (ARNIC) at the University of Southern California, or USC (USA) held a workshop - "Wireless Communication and Development: A Global Perspective" - as part of a multi-disciplinary effort to study the emergence of new communication infrastructures, examine the transformation of government policies and communication patterns, and analyse the social and economic consequences.

In this 39-page paper, one of 12 delivered at the workshop, Nyaki Adeya (Visiting Scholar, USC) examines the growth in mobile networks in Africa - stressing the "considerable variation between different African countries' adoption and use of these technologies, ranging from the fairly advanced status of South Africa to the relatively under-developed status of Somalia." In general, though, growth in mobile telephony on the continent has been rapid in the last 8 years, due in large part to telecommunications sector reforms. In fact, the demand for these services has overtaken that of fixed line services. Specifically, Adeya notes that:

• By the end of 2001, there were 104 mobile networks in operation in Africa, serving over 14 million customers in addition to 10 million in South Africa; this number had increased to almost 52 million by the end of 2003.
• In Kenya, specifically, the combined connections for its 2 cellular operators had increased from 15,000 to 2.1 million by the end of 2003. This difference represents a growth rate of 27.8% per year (Mureithi, 2004) and is much higher than the 3.5% rate of the fixed line operator. As of June 2005, there were 6.8 million subscribers; the mobile network was over 10 times the size of the fixed network in subscriber numbers.
• In Uganda, mobile phone subscribers grew from 12,000 in 1998 to 711,313 in 2003; conversely, fixed lines grew by 5% (from 56,196 to 64,856 lines) in the same period (Gamurorwa, 2004).
• According to research by Samuel et.al. (2005), nearly 85% of the businesses in the Egyptian sample and 89% of the businesses in the South African one used a mobile phone, compared to figures of 11% and 34%, respectively, for the two countries five years earlier. Over the past 5 years, therefore, the number of businesses using mobile phones increased by over 547% in Egypt and nearly 125% in South Africa. (The percentage increase for fixed line telephones in the two countries over the same period was only 71% and 15%, respectively.)

In the second section of the paper, Adeya examines various strategies for bringing mobile telephony to low-income groups in Africa. She indicates that the most popular is the prepaid system which includes pay-as-you-go, no need for credit checks, no need to track customers and resolution of the unpaid bills. To increase access further, villagers have worked together to adjust to high prices; among the examples that Adeya discusses:

• Village Pay Phones (VPPs) of the Grameen bank - About 100 new businesses are added every month and usage levels exceed initial projections by 25%. Generally, the results have been positive: Operators enjoy increased income, increased ability to cater to family needs, and expansion of their business networks.
• "The Dot-ORG (2004) - village phones are being used in Uganda for business transactions, communicating with family, calling radio shows, and checking prices of agricultural goods. Preliminary results show that the system is developing differently from that of the financier..."
• Simu ya Jamii - a community-based mobile telecommunication in Kenya that is tailored to satisfy the communication needs of the economically poor, especially those who do not have personal mobile phones. This system "has not only created jobs in low income areas but has given greater access to communication facilities for the poor." There is a specially designed Simu ya Jamii for those on wheelchairs (though able bodied people use it as well), and mostly run by one of their own. As Adeya notes, the popularity of Simu ya Jamii has increased because it can be used even where there is no electricity; charging can be done using solar or car
  batteries.
• "Bicycle phones are being used in parts of Africa giving access to people wherever they are. In Kenya, the mobile phone provider Safaricom is supporting this initiative though it is not very widespread and is more popular in the urban areas. The public phones in the town centers are often vandalized or out of order..."
• "Evidently lack of handsets in Africa has not hindered people from purchasing sim cards, sharing phones and using communal phones. Sharing sim cards is not uncommon in many parts of the world; it is just more visible in Africa because it is so widespread."
• "Respondents in the lowest income bracket tended to be frequent users of mobile phones
  by discovering clever ways of minimizing their own call costs. One example cited is 'beeping' (also known as 'flashing'), through which a caller dials a number, but hangs up before the call is connected to elicit a call back response from the recipient. In this way, users in the low income bracket are able to avoid expenses on call charges."
• "The ingenuity of some Africans to make sure they have access to communications cannot be underrated. In Ghana some build towers out of wood and stone on hilltops ('cell phone towers') and charge callers to climb to the top of the tower to access mobile phone signals that are blocked by the hill."

In Section 3, Adeya explores a number of examples of new applications of mobile phones for development in Africa in the areas of health and agriculture. To point to just one trend: "The use of mobile phones to help farmers track prices is proving to be popular in the places where pilot projects have been undertaken especially because they are able to cut out the middle man. Some non-Kenyan examples include the case of Uganda’s FoodNet, a Non Governmental Organization. It aims to get better prices for farmers by
teaming up with a local mobile operator. FoodNet collects wholesale and retail price information for some 25 agricultural products that are updated daily into a database. Farmers can then SMS to obtain prices (ITU, 2004). In West Africa, farmers in Ivory
Coast are also now able to keep track of commodity prices for coffee and cocoa through their mobile phones (Lopez, 2000)."

Adeya next examines the potential of "non-mobile phone" wireless technologies in Africa (e.g., Wi-fi and Wireless Interoperability for Microwave Access, or Wi-Max), a development that is "still relatively new, to support gains in the areas of health and education. It may be plausible to assume that their deployment may take the pattern of mobile telephony, but that is a matter for conjecture." She reports that internet service providers (ISPs) in Africa are creating home-grown wireless access networks using imported wireless equipment. On the whole, very small aperture terminals (VSATs) "are mushrooming everywhere in Africa." For example:

• In Rwanda, the total number of VSAT narrow band is estimated to be over 400, mostly in the rural areas....
• In Zambia, ZAMTEL (which operates one of the key satellite gateways) is unable to meet the demand for quality service....

This potential is being capitalised upon in initiatives such as the Rural Connectivity Project for the Global Education Partnership (GEP) in Kenya, which aims to provide cheaper, faster and more reliable internet access to students of GEP's computer lab at Wundanyi, a rural town in the Taita Hills of Kenya. The lab provides training to enable economically poor young people to search for jobs or self-employment. Prior to the project, the students only used the internet for email, mainly due to the slow and expensive dial-up internet connection; a Canadian volunteer in Kenya and an online ICT volunteer in Canada recommended the use of Wi-Fi to bridge the distance of 25 kilometers between Wundanyi and Voi, a larger town below the Taita Hills. GEP students are now able to research information on the web at the Wundanyi lab and complete their course assignments, as well as to network with students at GEP’s other branches in Tanzania, Guatemala, Indonesia and the USA.

Adeya concludes that "Africa's present and likely future telecommunication world is wireless." One challenge associated with this growth centres around communication - or a lack thereof: "people are involved in interesting projects that they have not documented. They may not be willing to share this information because they think researchers on the projects have an ulterior commercial motive....Though critical, conducting primary research in Africa thus calls for much tolerance and sensitivity. It would be important to ensure that some of these pilot projects are translated into major initiatives with demonstration effects to give the people more confidence. This should convince policy makers who have influence in sustainability of such projects and users who can contribute to success or failure of these initiatives."

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