Thank you Momodou Camara for forwading this message. Banjoloh >From: Momodou Camara <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: (Fwd) Searching for a Dial Tone in Africa >Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2003 11:57:54 +0200 > >------- Forwarded message follows ------- > >http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/05/business/worldbusiness/05VOIC.html > >New York Times > >July 5, 2003 > >Searching for a Dial Tone in Africa > >By G. Pascal Zachary > >ACCRA, Ghana, July 3 -- The Internet bubble has long since >popped in the United States, Europe and Asia. But in parts >of Africa the Internet is serving as a powerful force for >change, primarily by allowing companies and individuals to >make international telephone calls far less expensively than >through conventional channels. > >Calls in and out of sub-Saharan Africa have long been among >the world's most costly, strangling business opportunities >and burdening ordinary people. Services have been tightly >controlled by government-owned telephone companies, many of >which are rife with corruption and incompetence. Governments >also imposed high tariffs on international calls, seeing it >as a lucrative source of revenue. > >But now, thanks to what is called voice-over-Internet, phone >alternatives are flourishing, sharply lowering costs and >expanding opportunities for business and consumers in some >of the poorest places on earth -- even as they pose a >competitive threat to government-sanctioned telephone >companies. > >Sending telephone calls over the Internet is gaining ground >in Africa because it makes possible a range of new services, >linking the sub-Saharan to the world's major industrial >centers in ways unimaginable only a few years ago. And >better digital connections, mostly via satellite, are >raising the hope that Ghana -- the most peaceful country in >a West African region besieged by civil wars and ethnic >strife -- may become the regional hub for an >information-technology industry. > >"As Ghana improves its connectivity to the outside world, it >has the potential to become for Africa what Bangalore became >for India," said Paul Maritz, a former senior executive at >Microsoft who recently visited Accra to survey the nascent >high-tech scene here. > >Last Thursday, at a United Nations conference in New York, >the secretary general, Kofi Annan, delivered a message that >developing countries also need to include wireless access, >known as Wi-Fi, in building an Internet system. > >"It is precisely in places where no infrastructure exists >that Wi-Fi can be particularly effective," Mr. Annan said, >"helping countries to leapfrog generations of >telecommunications technology and empower their people." > >As the movement advances, though, many government-owned >telephone companies, which dominate wired service in most >African countries, are fighting a rear-guard action. > >Internet telephony "is presented as the salvation for >business and society in Africa," said Oystein Bjorge, chief >executive of Ghana's national telephone carrier. "It is >not." > >Mr. Bjorge, a Norwegian telecommunications consultant hired >recently to do battle against the Internet telephone >services, said it wreaks havoc with the economics of phone >companies. Here in Ghana, the national phone company is >waging a sporadic campaign against its own citizens who use >the Internet to make or receive telephone calls from America >and Europe, periodically turning off the lines of those >suspected of doing so. > >Three years ago, the government even jailed the heads of >some of Ghana's leading Internet providers. Though later >exonerated by a court, the dissidents fear another >crackdown. "Internet telephony is changing the whole power >structure," said Francis Quartey, chief technology officer >of Intercom Data Network and one of those jailed. "The >dangerous thing is that the power elite is responding out of >fear and ignorance." > >Despite this opposition, American companies are >experimenting with new ventures in Ghana, seeing if >enthusiasm for Internet telephony can transform local >technology entrepreneurs into a force for genuine economic >advancement. > >For example, Rising Data Solutions, which is based in >Gaithersburg, Md., introduced a call center here last month, >where a dozen Ghanaians -- trained in American-style English >-- are trying to sign up customers in the northeastern >United States on behalf of a wireless phone company. At >least three other call centers are expected to open in Accra >later this year, all relying on Internet telephony instead >of telephone carriers. > >Internet telephony also aids companies like Newmont Mining, >which is searching for gold in Ghana, the second-largest >gold producer on the continent, after South Africa. To help >manage its operation, Newmont plans to link its operations >within Ghana to the wider world through the Internet. > >Acquiring reliable phone service is essential, foreign >investors say, which is why they bypass the government-owned >telephone company. Ghana Telecom has an order backlog of >more than 300,000 lines; bribery is the fastest -- indeed, >usually the only -- way to obtain new service. Even those >with service suffer from frequent failures and inaccurate >bills. Roughly every other call results in a busy signal, an >indicator of what Ghana Telecom calls "network congestion." > >Under the circumstances, Internet telephony -- which has >failed so far to make serious inroads into the American >telephone market because of lower voice quality -- seems >positively fabulous to many weaned on Africa's creaky >systems. > >"Internet gives me control over my destiny," said Sambou >Makalou, chief executive of Rising Data. "My business needs >to be up 24-7; we can't get a busy signal." > >Busy signals are common in Ghana because the public phone >networks are overloaded. As recently as four years ago, a >dial tone was among the scarcest resources in the country, >which had fewer than 200,000 phone lines in a nation of 19 >million. > >Few people realized how much demand for phone service was >waiting to explode until Ghana's most successful wireless >company, Spacefon, was introduced in 1996. Before it >started, executives thought the potential customer base was >probably 3,000 people, at most 12,000. Seven years later, >Spacefon has more than 300,000 subscribers. > >The country's total phone lines are now approaching 750,000, >roughly two-thirds of them wireless. But completing a call >is still difficult, especially between rival networks (there >are five), and neither Ghana Telecom, nor the country's >legal wireless operators offer a reliable connection to the >Internet. > >In response to these limitations, private businesses have >built scores of data networks, relying on satellite- and >radio-based Internet-access systems. > >But telephone service became appealing because of the high >network costs: Companies typically pay from $2,000 to $5,000 >a month for a robust connection to the Internet, an enormous >sum when economic output per person is only about $400 a >year. > >"I'm paying $2,000 a month for Internet access, so I want to >use the technology to the fullest," said Austin Addo, chief >information officer of Ghana Link Network Services. > >Mr. Addo's company, which began operations here early this >year, helps the government calculate duties on goods >imported into the country, relying on frequent updates, via >the Internet, of product values. The company's partner is >based in Madrid, so Mr. Addo uses a standard device to make >international calls over his computer network. He is not >billed for the calls, which would otherwise cost him roughly >75 cents a minute, including the cost of line. > >His telephone calls are not really free, since he pays >$2,000 a month for Internet access. But he is still saving >lots of money because he can speak as long as he wants >without worrying about the cost. "Five years ago to get this >level of communication," he said, "I'd have to fly to Spain >-- several times a week." > >Such productivity gains have been a cause for celebration >almost everywhere in the world. But official anxiety over >Internet telephony is widespread throughout Africa and >particularly rife in Ghana. At a public meeting in May, held >at the largest Internet cafe in Accra, a regulator defended >the government's latest campaign against those who use the >Internet to bypass authorized telephone providers. "The >players have been apprehended or will be apprehended soon," >said Bernard Forson, deputy director of the National >Communications Authority of Ghana. > >The government is not opposed to any particular technology, >Mr. Forson explained, but merely wants "regulated entities >to provide telephone service," not unlicensed and untaxed >wildcatters. > >Other African countries face a similar quandary, aware of >the appeal of Internet voice service but fearful of its >damage to the state-owned telephone company. > >Neighboring Togo, for instance, allowed Internet telephony >until the end of last year, when the government cracked down >on behalf of Togo Telecom. So many foreign calls in tiny >Togo were being routed over the Internet that a small "com" >center -- ubiquitous in Africa, offering calls for a fee -- >took in $10,000 a month from just two phones. > >But some African countries have embraced Internet telephony >as a way to end decades of frustration. In Nigeria, for >example, the government has not officially approved >telephoning over the Internet but looks the other way, >partly to ease congestion on its authorized networks. > >Still, the legal confusion surrounding Internet telephony >has prompted some to avoid it. Affiliated Computer Services, >which is based in Dallas, set up shop in Accra two years >ago, relying on a private satellite connection to the >Internet that supports both a data and a telephone network. >Today, it is one of Ghana's largest private employers, with >1,200 people and plans to hire another 700. > >While the company runs call centers in Jamaica, Mexico and >India, it does not intend to do such telephone work in >Ghana. "We can't use satellite lines" because of the brief >delay in hearing a response, said Tom Blodgett, the >executive who started the Ghana operation. And for now, he >adds, "there is no suitable wired alternative." A legal one, >anyway. > >But for all their efforts to restrain the movement, African >telecom companies are probably fighting a losing battle. > >"Periodically the police confiscate equipment or the telco >turns off phone lines," said Russell Southwood, a >London-based consultant and publisher of a weekly newsletter >on Africa's telecom scene, Balancing Act's News Update. "But >it's about as hopeless as Canute trying to turn back the >tide." > >Copyright (c) 2003 The New York Times Company. >------- End of forwarded message ------- > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: >http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: >[log in to unmask] > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L >Web interface >at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. 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