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Africa Media Review Vol. 2 No. 3 1988© African Council on Communication Education

Development of TelecommunicationsInfrastructure in Africa:

Network Evolution, Present Statusand Future Development

Charles Aloo*

ABSTRACT

This articles reviews critically the evolution, presentstatus and future development of telecommunications in theAfrican continent. It reports the major efforts so far made todevelop telecom-munications technology and services inAfrica and points out that despite all these efforts, it is apainful fact that Africa still lags behind in the development ofcommunications.

The article attributes this unfortunate situation mainly toeconomic resource constraints, inefficient planning,inadequate roads, lack of coordination and low priority ofcommunication development. It then calls for greatercooperation among African countries, funding agencies, theUnited Nations and the industrialized countries in thiscrucial area of telecommunications development in Africa,for the mutual benefit of all.

* Engnr. Charles R.S. Aloo is the Assistant Head of Telecom-munications Services/Planning, Development andEngineering, Kenya Posts and TelecommunicationsCorporation (K.P.&T.), Nairobi, Kenya.

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Developpement des infrastructures detelecommunciatlons en Afrique: Evolution du reseau, etat

actuel et perspectives

RESUME

Cet article fait une etude critique de 1'evolution, de l'etatactuel et des perspectives de developpement destelecommunictians en Afrique. II rend compte des effortsimportants faits a ce jour pour developper les sources et lestechnologies de telecommunications en Afrique et faitressortir que, malgre tous ces efforts, l'Afrique accuse encoreun grand retard dans le developpement des communications.

Selon l'auteur, cette situation malheureuse est dueprincipalement aux difficultes economiques, a uneplanification inefficace, aux manque de routes, a l'absence decoordination, et au bas niveau de priorite. accorde audeveloppement des communications. II lance un appel en vued'une plus grande cooperation entre les pays africains, lesagences de financement, les Nations - Unies et les paysindustrialises dans le domaine crucial du developpement destelecommunications en Afrique, dans l'interet de tous.

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Background:

Basic conventional telecommunications was first used inAfrica during the pre-independence era by trading firms inWest Africa. It is also believed that similar communicationwas available In Eastern Africa, around the same period. InEastern Africa, a legal creation of a postal andtelecommunication entity was made in 1893. In general itshould be pointed out that major development activities inthis field started in Africa in the 1960s.

These major changes we are now witnessing could nothave been realized without technical and financial assistancefrom international and regional organizations such as theOAU, ITU, the World Bank, UNDP, ECA, ADB, and similarbodies.

Pan-African Telecommunication Network (PANAFTEL)

One of the first international organizations to initiateaction on Pan-African Telecommunications Network wasITU. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)organized a conference of African Postal andTelecommunications Administrations at Dakar, Senegal, in1962, during which the first international plan for thedevelopment of an African Telecommunications Network wasoutlined. This plan was subsequently reviewed at othermeetings culminating in the 1965/70 Addis Ababa Plan whichgave detailed appraisal of the African TelecommunicationsNetwork.

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) had also itsshare of contribution in fostering telecommunications as atool for socio-economic development during those early years

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of independence for many African countries. In 1966, ECAand OAU held a joint meeting on Telecommunications inAfrica in which telecommunications a a sector was reviewed.During the meeting, governments were requested to takeimmediate action to develop their telecommunicationsinfrastructure in consultation with other bodies such as ECAand ITU. The other important point emphasized in thisrecommendation was the need to develop manpower fororganization, installation and maintenance of thesenetworks.

In 1967, the ECA at its eighth session, adopted a resolutionon Pan-African Telecommunications Network, in whichamong other things, African governments were invited to givethe development of an African Telecommunications Networkvery high priority in their development plans. To this end, theSecretary-General of the ITU and the Executive Secretary ofthe ECA submitted a request to the UNDP for funds to financethe preliminary work of collecting the informationnecessary.to define the assistance required for the entireproject. The Council of Ministers of the Organization ofAfrican Unity, at its thirteenth ordinary session, meeting atAddis Ababa in September 1969, further endorsed the settingup of a modern and efficient Pan-AfricanTelecommunications Network.

The ITU, as the executive agency, under the United NationsDevelopment Programme, started detailed surveys in 1968 inAfrica, initially with 28 African countries participating inthe surveys and studies conducted by the ITU experts and ITU-managed consultants.

In 1972, the ITU and the UNDP in collaboration with theECA and ADB organized a meeting in Addis Ababa to discussthe general plans for a Pan-African Network. The totalinvestment required to realize the project was estimated atapproximately US$140 million for the establishment of anetwork equivalent to 20,000 km. The detailed pre-investment survey covering the transmission routes and 18international switching centres was completed in 1973. Thefinancing of this project was undertaken through bilateral ormultilateral arrangements, through major international orregional financial institutions such as the World Bank andthe African Development Bank.

According to the ITU report submitted at the 3rd AfricanTelecommunications Conference in 1981, by the end of 1979

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there were 20 international telex switching centres in servicein Africa supported by approximately 30,000 route-kilometres of high quality transmission routes consisting ofradio-relay and coaxial cable systems. In addition, there wasa 4,000 km submarine cable in the North-Western part ofAfrica. As a complementary, there were 38 satellite earthstations providing both international and inter-Africanservice. There were also four countries with leasedtransponders for domestic use. However, there was a total of9539 km of routes already surveyed but awaitingimplementation. In addition, there were 8195 km of routesawaiting survey.

African Sub-Regional Telecommunication Conferences

In order to coordinate effectively problems related toplanning and management of telecommunications, it wasfound necessary to create sub-regional meetings. In EastAfrica, these meetings have existed since the 1960s andbecause of their success, immense support has been receivedfrom both international and regional organizations. Thesesub-regional conferences are held on an annual basis toreview plans and operation of services which include routing,signalling, maintenance and training requirements.

There are four sub-regions: East and Southern Africa;Central Africa; North Africa and West Africa.

United Nations Transport and CommunicationsDecade for Africa

Despite all these efforts, it is a painful fact that Africa stilllags behind in the development of telecommunicationsinfrastructure mainly due to resources constraints. Accordingto World Telephone Statistics, as of January 1987, telephonepenetration in Africa was only ).4 per 100 population ascompared to 4.5 in South America or 5.2 in Asia. Dataobtained from about 50 African countries show that the entirenetwork of 10 of these countries was below 5,000 telephones,more than half the countries had less than 20,000 telephonesand in only 8 countries did the total exceed 100.000. Theaverage penetration of telephones was only 0.66 per 100population, the density ranging from 0.1 to 8.96. This state of

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affairs was, and is still more serious in rural areas. In mostrural areas of Africa, there are no telephone facilities at all orif they exist, they are inadequate and of poor quality.

In response to this, the United Nations General Assemblyat its 32nd session in March 1978, adopted a resolution,No.32/160, declaring the years 1978/87 the Transport andCommunications Decade in Africa. This resolution <was todraw the attention of the world community on the need forrapid development of transport and communications inAfrica with ECA designated as the Executing Agency. In afurther development, the Assembly of Heads of State andGovernment of the Organization of African Unity meeting inits 2nd Extraordinary Session in April, 1980, Lagos, adoptedthe Lagos Plan of Action which incorporated the Transportand Communications Sector, the relevant resolution havingbeen earlier adopted by the OAU Assembly of Heads of Stateand Government in Monrovia in July 1979. Thecommunication projects incorporated in the Lagos Plan ofAction included telecommunications, broadcasting, postal,manpower development and communications by satellite. Allthese events were indicative of a realization by Africangovernments and the world at large on the dire need to developa sound and efficient telecommunications infrastructure forsocio-economic development on this continent.

The Communications Sector, within the meaning of theUnited Nations Transport and Communications Decade inAfrica Programme, is made up of telecommunications(telephone, telex and telephone-derived communications),broadcasting radio and television and other derived services,and postal services.

The Communications Sector Programme of the Decadecan be said to have been designed to help coordinate thedevelopment of communications systems and supportinginstitutions In the member countries. The Sector Programmelays emphasis on:

(a) upgrading and expansion of national networks;(b) development of communication capabilities and

rural communications;(c) rapid expansion of communications skills and

manpower development institutions;

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(d) appropriate exploitation of the new communicationtechnologies for national and inter-regionalcommunications, and continuing expansion of theterrestrial communication network project (Plan-African Te lecommunica t ions NetworkPANAFTEL);

(e) promoting the establishment of telecommunication,broadcasting and postal equipment manufacturingfacilities.

Certain specific targets have been set for the Decade interms of the penetration of communication services. In thecommon-carrier sub-sector the tentative objective is toachieve an average density of penetration of one telephone per100 of the population as against the current world average of14.7. The objective for the broadcasting sub-sector is toachieve full sound broadcast coverage for each country, andan increase of sound broadcasting receiver penetration fromthe present seven to 20 sets per 100 of the population. In thepostal sub-sector the target is one post office to serve 3,000 to6,000 inhabitants. These three principal sub-sectors wereselected for special attention because of the perceived needs ofmember countries of the Commission and their potentialcontributory factors to develop-ment.

The political will to develop telecommunications isapparent in the developed and developing economies. Theproblem of telecommunication development in the developingeconomies is on the one hand limited resources vis-a-vis thevarious priorities demanding urgent solution, and on theother hand the burden of international indebtedness and theincreasing protectionism worldwide with the associatedimpact on the transfer of appropriate technology. As we allknow, the demand for telecommunications in the developingeconomies of Africa is there. We also know of the abundantsupply capacity of the developed and some of the developingeconomies. However, the mutually beneficial arrange-mentsacceptable to both sides have still to be created. In Africa, eachcountry has its own specific problems. However, somecommon const ra in ts to the development of thecommunications infra-structure can be identified:

Most African countries have established their basicnational telecommunications networks. These networks aresmall and concentrated in the urban areas and continue to

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provide the ever increasing demand for telephone, telex,radio, television and other services.International and some ofthe intra-African traffic are provided by satellite earthstations. Rural areas in Africa remain especially poorlyserved, and with some exceptions, are given low priority bynational telecommunication administrations. The lowinitial revenue potential of rural services /is in partresponsible for the second place accorded them in relation tothe construction of urban, inter-urban and internationalcircuits.

In operations these services are sometimes inefficient,slow and very expensive. The availability of these services arealso inadequate. Alternatively, the International servicesoperating within the same network are faster and often ofbetter quality. In spite of the progress made in the provisionsof the (Pan-African Telecommunications Networks), it is stilllimited in scope. The utilization of the Net work by itspotential users (radio broadcast, television services,aeronautical and meteorological services and press and newsagencies, etc) is disturbingly very low. The low utilization ofthe system is in part due to operations difficulties, poormaintenance, in some cases high tariffs, absence ofoperational agreements, shortage of trained manpower, spareparts, shortages and poor management as well as the need forupgrading some of the earlier installations, utilization of newtechnologies and inter-connection to other sub-regionalsection of the PANAFTEL Network.

These services represent considerable improvement sincethe inception of the UNTACDA programme five years ago, butthe rate of development still lags behind UNTACDA targets inmost areas. The continent of Africa still lags seriously behindworld standard in the allocation of funds to communicationsprojects. Its communications facilities as described abovealso lag behind by comparison with other regions of thedeveloping world. With more than 11.4 per cent of the worldpopulation, Africa has fewer than 0.7 percent of its telephone.The number of telephones as a proportion of the population,,approximately 6.6 percent in Africa, compares for examplewith a figure of 6 percent in Latin America. Broadcastingpenetration in /Africa, too, remains far below world levels.Although the African continent accounts for 23 percent of theworld land mass, it hosts only 3 percent of the world's

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television and radio transmitters. The numbers of soundreceivers per 1,000 inhabitants in Africa is one fifth the worldaverage while the number of television receivers, at 7 per1,000 inhabitants, compares poorly to a world figure of 123.

Finally, inadequate roads and lack of co-ordinationbetween the various subregions, coupled with insufficientfacilities, make African postal network fragmented, oftenslow and inadequate. This may be attributed to the lowpriority often according to communications infrastructuraldevelopment in most national plans. Mainly becauseelectronic communications systems (telecom-municationsand broadcasting) are capital intensive and it is felt bynational planners that the allocation of scarce resources tothis sector may jeopardize investments in other vital sectorssuch as health, agriculture, industry, transport or education.This stance can often be rigid and ignores the contribution ofcommunications to the efficient management of theseactivities as well as the fact that contrary to general belieftelecommunications precede and is a cause of development.

The difficult and, in certain cases, critical economicsituation of many African countries has not facilitatedadequate resource allocation to the communication, (whichlargely imports most of its material inputs. Generally, theamount of resources allocated to the communication sector isdetermined by the quantum of direct financial profitsgenerated by the investment and to a large extent fails to takedue account of the sector's contribution to the development ofthe other sectors of the national economy or to the socialbenefits, largely unquantifiable, it generates from theallocated resources.

Absence of or inefficient planning communicationsservices invariable leads to poor performance, waste ofcapital investments and humans resources. In additionnational planning authorities have often given this sector lowpriority in the context of national needs because of theabsence of matter plans to guide national communicationsdevelopment programmes.

For member countries of the Commission, there is adouble challenge for communication services expansion tokeep up with increasing demand in consonance with the paceof development while also planning for an investing innetwork extensions to unserved press and remote rural

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communities in order to speed up the pace. This latterchallenge poses a magnitude in volume of expansionrequirement far in excess of what the developing countriesface. Consequently, communications development issues, arebeing considered as an inseparable part of the overalldevelopment policy of each country.

In practical terms this means government decisions onthe development of the sector as a whole are being linked withdecisions on many other national issues such as on ruraldevelopment, on increased industrial and agriculturalproduction, on intra-regional and international tradeproduction and a host of other national and regionalobjectives.

Future Development: The Rascom Project

The specific targets of UNTACDA were to achieve atelephone density of 1.0 per 100 inhabitants in the urbanareas and one public call office (PCO) per 10,000 inhabitantsin the rural areas, with each inhabitant within 5 km of atelephone. These targets have been put back to the year 2000as growth rates have been lower than expected. The followingobstacles have hampered progress:

• telecommunications not being accorded adequate priority• a lack of common standards• related power supply problems• use of equipment not adapted to the African environment

and requirements• a lack of "telecommunication operation agreements"

between administrations• unharmonized tariff rates• fast-changing technology• inadequate high-level manpower for technical and

administrative management• a scarcity of financial resources• a lack of industries and manufacturing capability.

These obstacles forced African countries to rethink theirapproach to the continent's telecommunications problems.After the instigation of PANAFTEL. many African nationsbecame eager to exploit the potential of the most recent

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technological developments - particularly those suited to therural applications that are their prime concern. Satellitecommunications technology is of particular Interest.

In response, a number of organizations initiated pre-feasibility studies known under various names. Theproliferation of studies and the attendant waste of human andfinancial resources led to the establishment of the Inter-Agency Co-ordination Committee (IACC) of the RegionalAfrican Satellite Communication System for theDevelopment of Africa (RASCOM) by the Conference ofAfrican Ministers of Transport, Communications, andPlanning.

The IACC is composed of the Organization of AfricanUnity (OAU) Chairman, the Economic Commission for Africa(ECA) Vice Chairman, the African Development Bank (ADB),the Chairman of Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), theInternational Telecommunication Union (ITU), the PanAfrican Telecommunications Union (PATU), the AfricanPosts and Telecommunications Union (UAPT), the UnitedNations Development Programme (UNDP), the United NationsEducational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),and the Union des RadiodiflFusions et Televisions Nationalesd'Afrique (URTNA).

The Conference of African Ministers of Transport andCommunications, and Planning resolves to undertake acomprehensive, objective study of an integratedtelecommunication network for Africa. The study is to takeaccount of the need to provide a satisfactory service,particularly to the rural areas, in order to enhance the socio-economic development of the participating countries. In its1983 Cairo Resolution (ECA/UNTACDA/RS.83/26) theministers asked the IACC to Integrate all the pre-feasibilitystudies into this single project, which it was then to superviseand monitor.

The ultimate development goal of the project andeconomical means of the telecommunications, includingsound and television broadcasting and community receptionby satellite ares in African countries using a region Africansatellite system. This system si to be complemented, asnecessary, by any other appropriate technology, and has to beproperly Integrated into the existing and/or planned nationalnetwork.

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Having thus defined the ultimate goal of the project, thefollowing Terms of Reference stipulated the immediateobjectives of the study:

• to undertake technical and economic studies for thedesign, launching, and operation of a regional dedicatedsatellite system for the African region that would cater forthe provision of efficient and economicaltelecommunications, including broadcasting and datacommunications for national and international links,both urban and rural.

• to cover all aspects of the integration of the spacecomponent into the existing or planned network.

• to identify and prepare a broad outline of specificationsfor the design and local production, where possible, of alltypes of equipment required, geared to the Africaneconomic, social, technical and physical environments.

Organizational Structure

The supreme authority for the project is the Conference ofMinisters of Transport, Communication, and Planningassisted by an Interim Executive Committee (IEC). The IECwill consist of one representative from each African countryparticipating in the project. Collectively, the members of theIEC have to direct the activities of the project, to study thevarious reports, and submit recommendations to theConference of Ministers. The IACC will submit reports andrecommendations to the Conference of Ministers via the IEC.

A project office was established in March, 1987 at the ITUheadquarters in Geneva to undertake parts of the study and toensure its day-to-day follow-up.. This office is manned by asmall team of international experts, headed by a projectdirector and recruited by the ITU on the recommendation ofthe IACC. The ITU provides the project staff with supportfacilities within the UNDP structure all over the Africancontinent, as well as resources such as computer facilitiesfrom its headquarters. In addition, the experts benefit fromthe current privileges and immunities that are accorded tostaff in the United Nations system for technical co-operation.

This office is responsible for the supervision of field work,it will compile and analyze reports from field and draw up a

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comprehensive report representing all telecommunicationsoptions to the authorities for their final decision on theimplementation phase. The supervising agencies are thoseinstitutions that are directly associated with the practicalexecution of the project (i.e. ITU. ECA, PATU, UAPT andURTNA). These agencies will play an active role in the project,particularly on a national level.

As the heads of state of the Union Douaniere etEconomique de l'Afrique Centrale (UDEAC) countries havemandated the secretary General of UDEAC to undertake astudy of a sub-regional satellite communication system, andthe ministers of each subregion have decided to continue theirassociation with RASCOM, the IACC has decided to associateUDEAC with the supervising activities of the RASCOMProject.

National-Level Activities

The primary activity is to identify truly development-oriented telecommunication service needs in each country.The study will approach the problem of access totelecommunication services, not just from the conventionaltelephone/telex demand as perceived by the PTT authority,but also as felt by the overall national develop-ment authorityin the form of infrastructural support to other activities. Thiswill bring to the study the cultural, economic and socialbreadth that it needs to satisfy the aspirations of thepopulation of each country.

In order to achieve this objective, multi-disciplinaryNational Co-ordination Committee (NCCs) have beenestablished with he PTT as a focal point. A national co-ordinator has been named in each African country to ensureeffective follow-up at the national level and to act as a contactfor relations with regional activities of the Project.Considering the importance of national-level activities in theRASCOM feasibility study, the project office has prepared asits first priority a document entitled "Guidelines forConducting the National-Level Feasibility Study of a RegionalAfrican satellite Communication System for the developmentof Africa". Its purpose is to aid the NCCs in the preparation ofnational feasibility studies.

The results of the national-level activities will bedocumented in national feasibility study reports covering all

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4. Appropriate Modern Telecommunication Technology forIntegrated Rural Development in Africa (AMTT/IRD, ITU,Geneva, Nov. 1981).

5. Richard L Nickelsen, Appropriate Satellite Systems forRural Telecommunications, IEEE, 1982.

6. Interim Progress Report on RASCOM PROJECT: KenyaNational Coordinating Committee, KP&TC.

7. Report of the Third African TelecommunicationsConference, Monrovia, Liberia, 1981.

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