BDT Director Doreen Bogdan-Martin participated as a panelist in a World Bank and SDG Lab joint event, held in light of the recently released report: ''Africa's Pulse: Charting the Road to Recovery.'' She discussed aspects of digital access and connectivity in the Africa region, and changes in approach necessary for the road to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key findings of the report were presented by Dr Albert Zeufac, Chief Economist, Africa Region, the World Bank. H.E. Cina Lawson, Minister of Posts, Digital Economy, and Technological Innovation of Togo shared insights on strategy and the experience of Togo in promoting digital development.
Ms Bogdan-Martin noted that the report's findings corroborate her belief that ''digital technologies offer us a light at the end of what can seem like a very long and dark tunnel.'' Currently, digital access remains far from being equitably distributed. She urged, ''that needs to change rapidly if we are to harness the enormous transformational power of ICTs.''
Of the 3.7 billion people world over that remain unconnected to the internet, 960 million people live in Africa. ITU figures find that on average, only 29% of Africans are using the Internet, compared with 51% of the global population online. However, Ms Bogdan-Martin mentioned that many African nations are making tremendous progress in accelerating connectivity. 4G mobile broadband penetration reached 44% in 2020, more than doubling from just 19% at the end of 2015.
In terms of the relevance of emerging technologies in the region, she said ''Broadband is the catalyst that can dramatically accelerate progress towards the SDGs, as new devices like low-cost IoT sensors, new delivery platforms like low-cost satellites and High Altitude Platforms, and new applications like Big Data and AI change the game.'' Yet, she underscored that infrastructure alone will not be enough.
Ms Bogdan-Martin pointed to ITU research that shows that even where networks exist and are affordable, lack of skills remains a major impediment to digital access. Similarly, the Africa's Pulse report also highlights the importance of digital skills in opening up new opportunities and reducing digital exclusion.
Explaining that the key to Africa's connectivity challenges is ''multi-stakeholder partnership", Ms Bogdan-Martin underlined ITU's focus on partnerships in the lead up to the World Telecommunication Development Conference 2021 (WTDC-21)— the first ever on the African continent, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in November.
''At that landmark event, we will be encouraging everyone with a stake in advancing Africa's connectivity agenda to partner with us, with each other, and with and the wider international community, so that, together, we can empower Africa to build back better with broadband'', she said.
