World Dialogue on Regulation

 

On the social front, the paper contends that the mobile phone can help create unique personal identities and status symbols for some users. The technology also facilitates the democratic process as groups can use the enhanced communication tools for political and community action thereby reducing the reliance on conventional and often government controlled media. The paper discusses these and other ways by which mobile phones can influence conditions in Africa to induce changes that promote economic and social development. The paper concludes with suggestions that can strengthen ICT adoption in African countries.

 

The article gives hope that mobile phones will indeed be able to play an important role in bridging the digital divide, poverty alleviation and sustainable development on the African continent. A strong emphasis on ICT policies and privatization are considered key elements in doing so according to the authors. It is rightly noted that a regulatory framework needs also to be put in place to guarantee access to rural, remote and disadvantaged residents and several pointers based on Latin American models are put forward. The article concludes that African governments have to become active and creative in integrating mobile phones in their poverty reduction plans. So far, governments have played only a minimal role.

 

The Conference on Information Technology and Economic Development 2006 (CITED2006), was organized by The Information Institute, an organization based in Washington DC, USA, in collaboration with the University of Ghana. The aim of CITED2006 was to present research and best practices in the areas of information technology, management, and their impact on economic development. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries (EJISDC) will publish nine papers that were presented during the conference. The selected papers present case studies from Zimbabwe, Barbados, Guinea, Tunisia and the African continent in general, but also other parts of the world are discussed.

 

The main outcomes of the conference included the use of ICT as ‘mandatory’ for economic development in Africa; that information and knowledge are essential raw materials for economic development with proposals for economic development models based on ICT for developing countries. That the new mobile communication technologies can be used for enhancing the existing financial enterprise systems with wireless communication extension to create new services for nomadic users. That IT provides the tools for everyone from small businesses to rural farmers to enable them market their businesses and/or services to a much wider market. However, African governments need to build infrastructures to allow ICTs to be accessible. That, the privacy, computer fraud and unauthorized access worries need to be addressed to ensure complete safety for all users if IT services Most critically, CITED2006 linked participants to rural development projects, and international funding.

Peter A. Kwaku Kyem & Peter Kweku Lemaire, Transforming Recent Gains in the Digital Divide into Digital Opportunities: Africa and the Boom of the Mobile Phone Subscription, The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, Vol 28, 2006.