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The Ghana experience with ICT Policy Development William Tevie tevie@ghana

The Ghana experience with ICT Policy Development William Tevie tevie@ghana.com. Digital Divide Measures. Population of Ghana ~ 20,000,000 people Active Computers < 500,000 (2.5%) local email Addresses < 100,000 (0.5%) telephones < 400,000 (2%)

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The Ghana experience with ICT Policy Development William Tevie tevie@ghana

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  1. The Ghana experience with ICT Policy Development William Tevietevie@ghana.com

  2. Digital Divide Measures • Population of Ghana ~ 20,000,000 people • Active Computers < 500,000 (2.5%) • local email Addresses < 100,000 (0.5%) • telephones < 400,000 (2%) • computer science & engineers/yr < 300 p.a (0.0015%) {In - 0.1%} [EE produced < 50 p.a] • literacy ~ 50% (opportunity!)

  3. Scale of the Digital Divide • Awareness: for 20m population and population growth rate of 5%, must train 1m people a year to keep the divide from widening? • To provide 1m additional PCs could be $1b, additional 1m telephone lines could also be $1b? Backbone costs much more? • Government annual revenue < $2bn ( other demands)

  4. Knowledge Resource Requirements • Example: • typical SW is 100 man year code, 1 million lines of code • need 100 new / enhanced products a year • => 10,000 graduates active (minimum) • LOTS more needed! • May Cost $10,000+ to produce a graduate

  5. Building IT • Large R&D costs (Government critical in LDC) • Build Technical Workforce (Knowledge in People: they may leave to work for Multinationals) • Be very applied, reduce decision times (requires less but sharp management) • Move Up Value Chain ( where possible)

  6. 100% 10% 1% 0.1% 0.001% 100 1’000 10’000 100’000 Internet Penetration and GNP Per Capita Internet users, percent of population GNP per capita, US$ Source: International Telecommunication Union, 2000.

  7. Different ways of deriving ICT policy

  8. Different ways of deriving ICT policy

  9. Rules of behavior • Rules of behavior important • Purpose is to get buy-in of stakeholders • They must be owners • Get their Insight • Seek Feedback, modification • Build trust between stakeholder, industry and policy makers

  10. Rules of behavior • Therefore • Must announce this policy development process • Announcement must go with set of ideas, questions • Comments Period- anybody can comment • Collated around key issues • new position • facilitator less a decision maker • discussions must be trying to get closure.

  11. Rules of Behavior • Policy lags Technology • Participate in Global Fora • Start Roundtable from Ground up and refine and refine till you get final document.

  12. Ghana Policy -1975 • Establishment of civil service IT dept (CSDU Central Systems Development Unit) • Import Control (High Cost) demand • Ministry of Transport and Communications • Frequency Board ( Military) • Telecom and Post were combined P&T

  13. Ghana Policy - 2000 • Unification amongst Operators • fixed (2 operators) • cellular (4 operators) • Value added services (26) • Internet (27) • NCA Independent regulator,7 member board • Ministry of Communications • Media commission content regulator

  14. Ghana Policy - 2000 • Split Post and Telecom • Private media , print , radio and TV

  15. Ghana Policy-2000 ICT • Considerations: • Build an active local Market • Promote access and usage • put a cultural stamp on ICT • attain competitiveness in indigenous ICT development

  16. Ghana Policy- 2000 Government Shall • Speed up computerization in educational Institutions and others • step up formal ICT education at all levels • Computer Drivers License for informal education • Networking of public institutions • Make Internet Access affordable

  17. Ghana Policy- 2000 Government Shall contd. • Develop local manufacturing of ICT devices • Fiscal measures including tax incentives • Explore, research and develop technological capacity • Forge closer relationship between education and industry

  18. Ghana Policy- 2000 Government Shall contd. • Mandatory National archival …. Folklore etc • Appropriate legal and regulatory framework for e-commerce • Greater participation of WOMEN • Measures for preventing computer use for malice

  19. Ghana Policy- 2000 Government Shall contd. • Legal regimes to support ICT eg. Crimes • Flagship projects: • Education • Health • Agriculture • Investment and Tourism • Women and Development • The Child, The aged and Challenged

  20. Ghana Policy-2001 • Distributed Policy • Separated Information and Communications • ministry of transport and comm • ministry of information • Independent regulator- chairman minister • independent regulator by act of parliament • media commission by constitution • no license fee for private newspapers

  21. Ghana Policy 2001 • Roundtable Conference • Listserve (nita-discuss@lists.gh) • document at www.ghana.gov.gh • Policy document not concluded yet • Exclusivity for telco’s end • Contract with telecom malaysia ends • New entrants being encouraged. • Deliver 400,000 new fixed lines in 2 years

  22. National ICT Strategies • Liberalization in the sector maybe too fast since with, Globalization our market is becoming captured. • It is difficult for natives to keep up • Conflict in “affordability” and “cost” of service. • Focus on National Capacity/Domestic Market + Support for Development Goals • Look for Poverty Alleviation and Wealth Creation Opportunities

  23. Main Areas of Concern • Human Capacity • Infrastructure • Policy • Enterprise • Content (applications)

  24. Human Capacity: Skill set Challenge • Limited availability of Skill set is an important impediment in growth (cant produce fast enough and cant attract nationals overseas to return - cant pay) [The Universities never had opportunity to lead industry and should be given opportunity to get it right this time] • Brings Intellectual order, too few graduates

  25. Human Capacity Strategy • A goal of X10 Graduates produced p.a in number of years (5 yrs.), consistent quality • Strengthen the EE and CS departments at the government Universities • Follow this Development Model: “Concentrate on training creators of money, managers, spenders in sequence.”

  26. Infrastructure • Ghana is ahead of several west african countries including Nigeria telephone penetration higher, Internet bandwidth (e.g. NCS BW is bigger than many West African Telco’s 10mb) • Telecommunications assets of GT, GBC and VRA maybe strategic to development • Private sector is becoming foreign owned • e.g South Africa 30% empowerment, 49% foreign max investment in Policy Framework, force alignment

  27. Policy • ICT Policy development is inter-sectoral and must be coordinated • Clear Separation of operators, regulators, policy development eases the Industry • Standardization and technical policy is global (participation can be difficult) • Encourage stakeholder networking (avoid capture) • South- South Cooperation necessary

  28. Programs in Support of Policy • “Silicon Valley” - leverage university + csir areas • Basic Information Systems: • all individuals,companies,laws,….,knowledge • civil service operations+related+private sector+community • Universal Access solutions, for Government Communications is important

  29. Enterprise • Local Enterprises and operators should be challenged with projects to develop skills, infrastructure and services ( large projects are routinely awarded to large more experienced multinationals) • gives post project completion blues ….sustainability, many reasons including bank guarantee requirements. • (native empowerment, silent protectionism, development goals) • Target Groups: Youth, Female

  30. Content (Applications) • Store and preserve our material for access (biggest complaint about Africa is no content) • Preserve history digitally, folklore, language, art…. • Meanwhile foreign companies take/put our information freely on their information services (usurping our wealth & identity while feeling proud they helped a poor African)

  31. IT Related Laws • Privacy Act • Intellectual Property, Marks - “Robert Burch, Quebec vs NCS, Ghana” • secure transactions (authentication and secrecy in Commerce) • build certification authorities, key escrows • Anonymous Online speech and protections • Anti-Intrusion laws (against Spam, viruses, worms) • IT security alert centers • Crime and Fraud laws

  32. Some IT Industry Categories(Opportunity Areas) • Information Processing • Manufacturing • Infrastructure • Services • Applications

  33. SAT-3 • Landing countries : South Africa, Portugal, Angola, Gabon, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Canary Islands, • Spain Purchasers : Marconi, Sonatel, Cote d'Ivoire Telecom, Ghana Telecom, OPT Benin, Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd, Camtel, OPT Gabon, Angola Telecom, Telkom SA Ltd, BT, Cable and Wireless, Teleglobe (USA), AT&T, Telefonica

  34. Internet Technical Policy • Standardization and technical policy is global (participation can be difficult) • IETF, ICANN • Stakeholder networking with Public sector essential

  35. The Changing Global Policy Horizon • Local => more global • affects technical policy, standards • Regulated => self-regulation • more players, more private sector • ensured participation => if able to participate • Traditional Institutions forced to change

  36. Need for New Relations • Traditional Regulator, Standards Bodies change to become global participation of individuals and operators • More participatory and self-organized • Must coordinate, Fund & organize positions • Public-Private Partnerships required

  37. Info-Structures (1) • ccTLDs • most Tech POC outside country • gTLDs (7 new ) • none in Africa, attempt to claim .africa • Registrars (> 150) • none in Africa • UDRP Resolution Providers(5 accredited) • 5 approved (1-Asia, 0-Africa)

  38. Info-Structures (2) • Regional Address Registries (RIR) • one per region • ARIN, RIPE, APNIC, LACNIC (provisional) • AfriNIC in formation • Root Servers • very difficult

  39. Conclusion • We are a poor nation • UN Millenium goal to halve poverty • Poor people have needs • Education • Agriculture • Health • Shelter

  40. Conclusion • We have to scale our ability to provide needs • We have to scale the capacity of the resources we have • We have to be able to use ICT to alleviate poverty by scaling the resources we have • We need to be able to use ICT tools in such a way that they are able to serve people and serve them better

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