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COLTRANE
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| Joined: | Wednesday June 2nd, 2004 |
| Location: | Virtualcity |
| Posts: | 5737 |
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Posted: Monday March 28th, 2005 15:55 |
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By Rebecca Harrison
Sowetan security guard Sam Phungo has never surfed the web and like
most Africans, wouldn't know where to start.
"I guess if I could get a phone line and a cheap computer then I'd
have a go," he said with a wry smile, aware that neither are easy to
come by in South Africa's biggest township.
But according to Africa's cellphone operators, Phungo's life could
change with the launch of third generation technology they say will
bring Internet access via cellphones to millions of the world's
poorest people.
'This is an opportunity to bring Africa into the information age'
The ultra-modern services, marketed to the tech-savvy in the West,
could soon be beaming soccer scores, weather forecasts, video and
music to slums and villages in a continent where almost half the
population has never made a phone call.
"This is an opportunity to bring Africa into the information age,"
said Karel Pienaar, chief technology officer at Africa's biggest
cellphone operator MTN, which aims to launch 3G in South Africa in
June.
Sceptics say it will take years before villagers in places like dirt-
poor Malawi are surfing the web, due to high prices for handsets and
poor infrastructure. But even the most cautious concede it will
happen eventually.
"Mobiles are already leaving fixed-line in the dust and that will
happen with data too," said Arthur Goldstuck, head of the technology
research company World Wide Worx.
With just 1,4 percent of Africans using the web, experts argue
wireless solutions are crucial to help the continent catch up with
the rest of the world.
Cellphone use in Africa has exploded thanks to no-frills products
tailored to poorer people, making it one of the continent's fastest
growing industries.
A tiny percentage of Africa's 800 million people own computers. And
since few fixed-line operators can afford to roll out telephone
lines across the continent's often inhospitable terrain, wireless
connection is one way of delivering mass Internet access.
Vodacom, which pipped MTN to the post with 3G launch in December,
reckons the technology will "democratise" Internet access in the
same way that cellphones brought voice services to the masses and is
subsidising calls to attract customers.
"Given the demand for Internet access, wireless technologies could
provide the solution to Africa's Internet future," says the
International Telecommunication Union.
While surfing the web may not seem like a top priority in a
continent where millions go hungry, experts say patchy
infrastructure and a computer-illiterate workforce are deterring
foreign direct investment.
There are some innovative examples of Africans using technology to
tackle the continent's myriad problems: Rural HIV and Aids sufferers
in South Africa are monitored by SMS; fishermen in Senegal get tip-
offs on which local market is offering the best price for a haul.
But these are usually the exception rather than the rule.
Satellite operators are also expanding fast, providing the
technology for space-based public phones or cyber cafes in remote
villages, but they still need to vault the hardware hurdle before
taking the Internet to the masses.
Wireless systems, including emerging WiMax radio technology, would
in theory be able to deliver data to whole villages by allowing
individuals to piggyback on the network of one community centre.
But sceptics note that third-generation technology has been slow to
take off in parts of Europe and the United States and WiMax is still
some years from reality even in the richest parts of the world.
"This is a device we can extend to all peoples of Africa," said
Pienaar.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?
set_id=1&click_id=116&art_id=vn20050309064108468C263663
____________________
“Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it.� -Malcolm X
____________________
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