Embracing ICT in National Development

The Zambian Government recently announced that it will adopt Information Communication Technology (ICT) as a major tool for national development.

The Government's ICT sector policy is "A Zambia transformed into an information and knowledge-based society and economy supported by consistent development and pervasive access to ICTs to all by all citizens by 2030".

The ICT policy was launched on Wednesday, March 28th 2007 at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka under the theme "ICT for accelerated wealth and job creation". (Zambia ICT Policy - http://www.widnet.org.zm/news.php?id=23 )

Since the launch of the policy, there has been a marked improvement in the growth in ICT investment in the country, which has recorded over 32 percent penetration rate growth in last few years , compared to 0.02 percent some 14 years ago. ( Lusaka Times - http://www.lusakatimes.com/?p=23496 )

A number of Government , Non-Governmental Organisations and Business Houses are now using ICT in running their day to day operations. This has seen a marked improvement in the dissemination of information and increased speed of processing transactions.

According to a Zambia Country Report by Shafika Isaacs of May 2007, ( www.infodev.org/en/Document.436.pdf ) , the penetration levels of ICTs in Zambia's education institutions remains low, with those schools that are equipped mostly utilizing second-hand and refurbished computers. The integration of ICTs in learning and teaching practice has been limited, although the introduction of computer studies as a school study subject has begun to change this.

The situation in the educational sector has not changed very much since the report was written.

The recent commissioning of the fibre-optic cable from Namibia, which connects the country to the rest of the world with high capacity and fast internet, should see a marked increase in the application of ICT in the educational sector.

With the availability of high capacity and fast internet, establishment of e-learning tools such as Electronic Libraries , Teleconferences and live Interactive Video Classrooms and Seminars are now possible.

The availability of internet in the country is now spreading to all areas of the country. However,there has been some complaint from customers , that despite the connection to the fibre-optic cable, the speed and availability of the internet has continued to be slow and erratic. This is frustrating for those who require a reliable internet connection for such use as Teleconferences and Seminars. There is a need for the Internet Service Providers concerned to upgrade their terminal equipment.

The fibre-optic cable gives a high capacity and fast internet connection, however, this benefit would not be realised with low capacity and outdated terminal equipment. It is more like driving a low-capacity engine vehicle such as a Fiat 127 or a Mini Cooper on the M20 Highway!

There are cases where, as many as 10 customers share connection to the internet via a single router. This has resulted in congestion and slow speeds during peak hours.

Customers who can afford single connections, should be encouraged to do so. However, single connections are more expensive than shared connections.

Introducing ICT into the country is a major undertaking, but it represents a good investment in the future productivity of the country's workforce and a down-payment on the country's future prosperity.

It will require a major commitment of resources, but the country will benefit from the change for many years to come.The challenge to the local business community is, therefore,to increasingly participate in ICT in order to realise the Government's ICT sector policy.

The ICT Challenge

The Zambian Government recently announced that it is going to use ICT as one of the tools for accelerating development in the country. ICT stands for Information Communication Technology. This incorporates the use of the Internet , Computers , Telephones and other related equipment. In the communication sector the country has made some tremendous strides by the presence of three Cell phone providers with millions of subscribers.

Internet usage on the other hand has been restricted to a few thousand users, most of whom are corporate users who connect via equipment connected to one of the several ISP companies that provide Internet by cable or wireless. For the general public the usage of internet has been restricted to Internet Cafes that are found in most urban and some periurban areas. A few individuals who own multimedia cell phones have access to the internet via the GPRS and , nowadays , EDGE protocols provided by the two of the three Cell phone providers.

To the average citizen the use of internet is limited to sending and receiving e.mail and reading online newspapers and magazines.

Some students in higher institutions of learning use the Internet for study material research.

The main reason why the Internet has not been widely used is because of the prohibitive cost of using it. An average cost of browsing in an Internet Cafe is around $2 per hour. This cost is fixed irrespective of the speed of connection ! For the GPRS and EDGE connections the cost is around $0.25 per Megabyte and is not depended on the time it takes to be connected to the Internet. The two Cell phone providers do sell some modems which can be connected to Personal Computers . Some smart phones can also connect direct to the Internet or can be used as modems for Personal Computers. This is a cheaper form of Internet currently available to the general public.

With the installation of the fibre optic cable by ZESCO and Zamtel around the country, the cost of using Internet is expected to drop sharply in due course.

This will see a greater use of the Internet by the general public to the extend it is used in other countries in America, Europe, Asia and in South Africa. In these countries, Internet is provided to homes via high speed broadband connections at very cheap rates. High speed free Internet is also provided to customers in some restaurants and airports via Wifi connections. There are some places in Zambia where Wifi is available to customers.

The use of Internet is unlimited . It can be used for Internet Marketing , Social Networking and Communication. Nowards most Businesses are run online with minumum use of paper. Online libraries are now becoming popular world wide. The sky is the limit !

The use of ICT in the country is expected to increase sharply during the coming months. It is up to the citizens to make good use of it for business , study and entertainment.

To every good thing there is always the bad side of it. The use of ICT has seen the proliferation of high technology crime. (cyber crime).

Goverment should take measures to train our law enforcement agents in detecting and arresting this new type of crime.

This is our ICT challenge !