By Dr Moses Amweelo
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has recognized that there is a need to improve knowledge in information and communications technologies (ICT) and methods amongst talented young people who will be the future leaders of this industry and government.
The exhibition took place in 2001, featured around 400 exhibitors from all sectors of the telecom industry and brought together leading speakers from industry and government to discuss, debate and shape the future of communications in Africa.
The ITU Telecom Africa exhibition was one of the major telecommunications events on the continent. To bridge the digital divide, that bars us from being equal citizens in the information society, the African telecommunications Ministers met in 1998 to establish an agenda of action for the implementation of a vision for an African renaissance.
This was to make it possible to create a spectrum of opportunities for the delivery of affordable information and communications services to the people of the continent. The Ministers identified the following as urgent areas that need to be addressed:
tele – medicine, tele – health, tele – education, tele – centres, tele – agriculture, African Centres of Excellence, terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure development, internet access, building and development of the information societies in Africa and convergence of the communications.
All these projects identified, are very crucial building blocks for our future strategy and are already at varied levels of development and implementation throughout the continent.
There are close to 800 million people in Africa and approximately more than 14 million phone lines, 80% of which are in six countries.
Africa has about 12% of the world’s population but only 2% of its phone lines.
In central and sub-Saharan Africa, there is less than one internet host per 100 000 people, and only about one million users of the internet on the entire continent.
In Namibia, we are in a fortunate position since we have a very well developed communications infrastructure with a penetration rate of 6.2 telephones per 100 people, ranking Namibia the third highest in Southern Africa, after Mauritius and the Republic of South Africa.
Our government acknowledges that telecommunication is one of the most important factors for economic growth and development.
With a reliable and modern telecommunication infrastructure we hope to succeed in attracting sound and meaningful investments to our country.
Telecom Namibia has succeeded in establishing a reliable, robust and modern telecommunications infrastructure.
Namibia is today connected to the global village and brought closer to world markets.
Our internet connectivity to the global information highways is a matter to be proud of. Today our local business people in different sectors of our economy are utilizing the internet to attract business and new investments to Namibia.
In addition, we have a 99% digital fibre optic backbone network, a technological development which has been made possible by Telecom Namibia.
More and more people and organizations such as educational institutions and NGOs are able to connect with their counterparts throughout the world.
These are indeed achievements that Namibians ought to be proud of.
It means that Namibia today is known in the world not only for its scenery, minerals and friendly people but also for a modern reliable telecommunications system, which sets an illustrative example on the African continent.
Namibia as a country has a pivotal role to play in these developments both locally, regionally and internationally. General and widespread assumptions are that whilst there is a large and sophisticated commercial sector in the country, requiring all types of value-added services involving very complex technologies, 80% of our population only requires access to a basic telephone service.
These assumptions constitute the core of what we today call the digital divide.
Many villages lie in remote mountainous and other inaccessible areas, virtually impossible to connect by traditional terrestrial infrastructure to the outside world.
It is our understanding that Telecom Namibia has recognized the challenges and are today standing up to them, busy rolling out and implementing the available technologies of the 21st century being wireless-in-the-local-loop (WLL) such as multi-gain wireless, dect and vsat.
Today we not only appreciate the remarkable technological achievements of Telecom Namibia, but also the outstanding achievements of hard work, dedication and commitment of the staff of Telecom Namibia.
By recognizing and awarding people for their commitment and contribution serves as a motivation for others, especially the young people to excel in the same manner, and to keep on contributing towards the economic and social development of our country and its people.
In the present environment, most of the sectors of the Namibian economy such as transport, agriculture, health, education, financial services, etc. rely mostly on the use of telecommunication and information technologies in order to perform their essential functions.
Telecommunication is no longer simply a matter of having a telephone conversation; it is about integrating voice, data, video and graphics to empower individuals, businesses and governments to remain competitive and at the forefront in the use of information communication technologies.
As we all know, the progress and prosperity of our country depend on using, maintaining, and modernizing our telecommunications infrastructure. In this regard we should remind the entire telecommunication sector that there are still challenges ahead of us:
– Ensure that telecommunication infrastructure and services are available on an equitable and non-discriminatory basis to the people of Namibia in order to promote national development.
– Ensure that telecommunication services are provided as efficiently and economically as possible.
– Take advantage of international technological developments and develop national networks for the provision of reliable, effective and affordable telecommunications services in order to ensure adequate high quality and efficient services responsive to the diverse needs of commerce and industry and in support of the social and economic growth of our country.
– Use telecommunication services to improve the national healthcare, education and other sectors of the Namibian economy.
– Encourage private sector investment in telecommunication infrastructure and services.
– Contribute to the growth of the economy by employing strategies aimed at poverty reduction and promoting training opportunities.
It is common knowledge that the world, and particularly Africa, is facing a very sensitive and potentially dangerous situation with less and less students following courses in technology engineering, thus creating a situation where in the future there will be a severe shortage of qualified technology engineers.
It is also in the above context that the ITU has decided to address this situation by encouraging young students to pursue communications related careers.
I sincerely would like to thank the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Telecom Namibia and the entire staff for their meaningful contribution to the country’s overall development and outstanding achievements and encourage them to do better in the future.