|
ITU TELECOM
AFRICA
2001 will be staged in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 12 to 16 November 2001. It will be the ITU's fifth regional event for Africa since the first one was held in 1986, and is the only telecoms event being hosted by the Government of the Republic of South Africa in the year 2001. Taking place as it does in – and for – the region of the world that most needs increased telecoms development,
AFRICA
2001 promises to be a crucial event in Bridging the Digital Divide.
ITU TELECOM
AFRICA:
From Nairobi to Johannesburg
Regional ITU TELECOM events for the African continent have come a long way since the first event was held in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1986. Technology has changed the world beyond recognition, and both Africa and the ITU
TELECOM
AFRICA
event have changed with it.
In the intervening years since 1986 three more AFRICA events have been held – in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1990, in Cairo, Egypt, in 1994 and in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1998. The next ITU
TELECOM event for Africa will also being staged in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 12 to 16 November 2001.
African telecommunications development in the past decade and a half has certainly been impressive, but Africa still has a great deal of progress to make – the continent’s fixed-line telephone density of just 2.5% (at the beginning of 2001) and mobile cellular teledensity of only 1.5% are still dwarfed by the world averages of 16.3% and 11.9% respectively.
We are therefore still some way from “Bridging the Missing Link” – the theme of the
AFRICA
TELECOM 86 Forum, and the subject of Sir Donald Maitland’s speech given at the Opening Session of that event; the main goal of the Maitland Report’s authors having been to bring virtually the whole of mankind within easy reach of a telephone “by the early part of the next century”.
That hasn’t happened yet – but there is no reason to believe that the goal cannot be achieved in Africa, as it has been reached on other continents, if the political will of governments across Africa is in place and the private sector demonstrates its willingness to invest in the world’s most under-served market place.
Indeed, African governments are already liberalizing their telecommunications sectors, and are encouraging the creation of partnerships both between developing and industrialized countries and between developing countries and the private sector. As a result, the telecoms sector is evolving rapidly, and – with the number of cellular subscribers doubling year on year in many African countries – the prospects for the region are better than ever.
What now must be done is to follow through on Maitland’s hope, and to bring modern telecoms infrastructure within the reach of everybody. If the world is to be at all equitable then communications must be available, accessible and affordable – and nowhere is this more true than in Africa.
There follows a brief overview of each of the ITU
TELECOM
AFRICA events held so far, and a short preview of ITU
TELECOM
AFRICA 2001.
 |
AFRICA
TELECOM
86
16 to 23 September, Nairobi, Kenya |
|
|
AFRICA
TELECOM
90
3 to 9 December, Harare, Zimbabwe |
|
|
AFRICA
TELECOM
94
25 to 29 April, Cairo, Egypt |
|
|
AFRICA
TELECOM
98
4 to 9 May, Johannesburg, South Africa |
|
|
ITU
TELECOM
AFRICA
2001
12 to 16 November, Johannesburg, South
Africa |
|
Contact Details