Strengthening National Information
and Communication Technology
Policy in Africa:
Governance, Equity andInstitutional Issues

Melvin Ayogu

ATPS SPECIAL PAPER SERIES No. 13

Published by the African Technology Policy Studies Network, P.O. Box 10081, 00100
General Post Office, Nairobi, Kenya.

© 2002 African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS)

PUBLISHED BY ATPS COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT

ISBN: 9966-916-30-x

ABOUT THE AFRICAN TECHNOLOGY POLICY STUDIES NETWORKThe African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) is a multi-disciplinary network of researchers, policymakers, actors in the private sector and other end users interested in generating, promoting and strengthening innovative science and technology policies in Africa. With a regional secretariate
in Nairobi, the network operates through national chapters in 17 countries, with an expansion plan tocover the entire sub-Saharan Africa.
One of the objectives of the network is to disseminate research results to policy makers, legislators,
the organized private sector, civil society, mass media and farmers’ groups through ppublications,dialogue and advocacy. Among its range of publications are the Working Paper Series (WPS), Research Paper Series (RPS), Special Paper Series (SPS) and the Technopolicy Briefs.
Papers published under the ATPS Special Paper Series are those commissioned as concept papers, think pieces, leading conference papers and keynote addresses. In keepingwith our knowledge brokerage function, ATPS publishes, with permission of the author(s)or journal editors, papers (published or unpublished) produced by distinguished academics/researchers for a different purpose but judged by ATPS to be of excellent quality. Thesepapers address significant policy questions relevant to the work of ATPS and/or support
the Southern voice or an African perspective. We also consider theoretical papers that
advance our knowledge of science and technology policy issues.
ATPS is supported by a growing number of donors including the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Rockefeller Foundation, the World
Bank, the OPEC Fund, Ford Foundation, Coca-Cola Eastern Africa, the African Development Bank,and the Royal Dutch Government.

List of Abbreviations and Acronyms
ADF
AIC
AISI
CATV
DRC
GPRS
ICT
IP
ISP
IT
ITU
NBER
SADC
TLD
TRIPS
UNECA
USO
WAP
WTO

African Development Forum
African Internet Connectivity
African Information Society Initiative
Community Antanae Television
Democratic Republic of Congo
General Pocket Radio Services
Information Communication Technologies
Internet Protocol
Internet Service Provider
Information Technology
International Telecommunication Union
National Bureau of Economic Research
Southern Africa Development Community
Top Level Domains
Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
Universal Service Obligations
Wireless Application Protocol
World Trade Organization

Table of Contents
1.

2.

3.

Introduction
1.2.
Nature of ICTs
1.2.1. Digital Convergence1.2.2. Communication links
1.2.3. Data transmission speed (bandwidth)
1.2.4. Provisioning
1.3.
What has happened in ICTs generically?
1.3.1. Legislative and regulatory regimes
1.3.2. Ownership and market structure
1.3.3. Cellular communications and Internet-based services
1.3.4. Mobile technology and transmission media
1.3.5. Numbering and addressing
1.4.
What has happened in the governance of ICTs?
1.4.1 Licensing
1.4.2. Universal Service Obligations [USO]
1.4.3. Interconnection
1.4.4. Pricing of services on digital networks
1.4..5. Numbering in the digital era
Key issues for decision makers
2.1
IP Telephony
2.2.
Equity and Access2.2.1. An example from the CATV industry
2.3.
Legislative and regulatory
2.4.
Institutions of Governance
The Research Agenda
3.1.
The Research Problems
3.1.1 Problem I
a. Nature of Governance [Policy Legislation]
b. Requisite Institutions of Governance [Regulatory Institutions]3.1.2 Problem II
a. Encouraging Competition [Protecting the Process]b. Encouraging Innovation/ Investment Incentives

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Research Methodology
4.1.
Research framework
4.2.
Data sources
4.3.
Thematic papers
5. Organizational Outline
5.1.
Activities
5.2
Potential Outcomes
References

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1.

Introduction

This paper provides a framework for a research agenda on governance of information communication technologies (ICTs) in Africa. It addresses the background, importance and developments in
ICTs in general and the governance in particular. The paper also reviews events in Africa and elsewhere, highlighting the importance of governance of ICTs for growth and development in the continent.
1.2 Nature of ICTs
1.2.1 Digital convergence
Digital convergence is a new term that describes the merging of applications, such as the media,
computers and telecommunications. The centerpiece of this fusion is ICT and the attendant amenities. Telecommunications is the process of moving data: audio information (sound) and video information (pictures) over long distances through transmission lines. The basis of transmitting data andsound over media is the digital communication technology. The three main domains of telecommunications are audio transmission, video transmission and data communications (or digital transmission)1 .
1.2.2. Communication links
These are the physical means that link the elements of the system; transmit and receive information.
Communication links consist of the hardware and circuitry that join computers and terminals (orclient equipment) permitting the flow of traffic between them. Transmission media may consist of
coaxial cables, copper wires, fiber optics, cellular radio, satellite links and microwave or radio wave
circuits. A communications network can provide many types of service. The three types of commonlyused transmission circuits categorized according to direction of traffic flow and volume of transmission are simplex, half duplex and full duplex. The most basic type of service is the simplex. This
service provides one way communication, such as in radio or television broadcast. Simplex channels are not often used because it is not possible to send error or control signals to the transmission

1

This framework paper has benefited from many sources, including the author’s experiences, and though not always specificallycited in the text, all of the sources consulted are listed in the bibliography. The technical details in this section rely mainly on Peterson(2000).

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end. A half duplex channel can send and receive transmissions, but not at the same time. Only one
end transmits at a time, while the other end receives. Additionally, it is possible to perform error
detection and request the sender to retransmit information that arrived corrupted. Internet surfing andtalk-back radio are examples of half duplex. Full duplex is a channel that allows two way communications simultaneously. There is no need to switch from transmit to receive mode like in half duplex.
It is like a two-lane bridge on a two-lane highway. An example of a full duplex is a television talk show
where the host has a number of people talking at the same time.
1.2.3. Data transmission speed (bandwidth)
Bandwidth refers to how fast data flows on a given transmission path or the transmission capacity ofthese lines. An Internet Service Provider (ISP) pumps communications bandwidth, or Internet connectivity through electric ‘pipes’ that connect a computer to the Internet. These pipes are wires andthey take a variety of forms, from standard telephone lines to cables and leased lines. Bandwidth is
proportional to the amount of data transmitted or received per unit of time, and the transmissions aremeasured by how many bits of data cross the wire each second. Slower transmission speeds aremeasured in kilobits per second (kbps), while faster transmissions are in megabits (Mbps) or gigabits(Gbps).
The volume of data and the speed of transmission depend on the grade of the lines. The higher thegrade the higher the capacity. These are classified into narrowband, voice grade, and wideband.
Narrowband is a comparatively thin slice of bandwidth for transmitting sound and data signals. At
operating speeds of 2.6 kbps per second to 1.54 Mbps per second, it is most often known as T-Carrier[T-1]. Outside North America, narrowband, known as E-1, has an upper limit of 2.0 Mbps, not 1.54
Mbps. Services that deliver at speeds between T-1 and T-3 (45 Mbps) are generally called widebandor broadband services. Mutliplexers and concentrators allow more devices to share a single line.
This permits many slow-speed devices to send data concurrently over a single circuit. Data concentrators use buffering circuits to make maximum use of high volume lines with slow-speed terminals.
Multiplexers allow data from several sources to be transmitted over one line.
1.2.4. Provisioning
The technology for information communication resides in the provisioning and in the equipment.
Provisioning refers to the part of system external to the user, namely, all the elements involved in how
you connect with others globally. Equipment refers to the hardware that one uses to make the connections. The simplest instance of digital convergence is the computer telephony. Basically, it is an
end-to-end digital technology that allows regular voice calls and the transmission and reception of
messages through Internet-video, Internet-fax, and e-mail. The core of the problem with access liesin provisioning.

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1.3 What has happened in ICTs generically?
A new age has dawned where goods are paid for, delivered and used without leaving the information
systems and communications networks where they were created. In a networked economy, theinvestment capital is knowledge and the means of production is the human intellect (ITU, 1999, p.1).
The 1990s so far, are seen as the era of the greatest policy reform in communications technology thatthe world has ever witnessed. National carriers were privatized, new competitors and services authorized and old orders jettisoned by the pace of technological change (augmented in no small measureby the positive winds of good governance).
1.3.1. Legislative and regulatory regimes
Advances in ICTs, particularly the Internet, have introduced new challenges in the regulatory andlegislative regimes and have begun to blur, if not erode, the traditional definitions and jurisdictionalboundaries. Since the beginning of the 1990s, more than 150 countries have, in some form, modified
their existing regulatory regime on ICT. Unique among those changes is Malaysia’s 1998 Communications and Multimedia Act. The Act consolidates telecommunications, broadcasting and computing into one industry with one regulator. Pressures for convergence in regulation is from theincreasing overlap of telecommunication regulation with content or broadcasting regulation. These
pressures are expected to increase only as telephone and cable operators cross-enter product lines
previously delimited, and as the delivery capability of the Internet improves depending on governanceand prospects for the deployment of broad band. This issue also depends on the articulation between competition and the regulation of incentive.
To know what is happening in ICTs, beyond raw computing power and higher throughput, one mustfirst understand the trends in all aspects of telecommunications and the evolution in wireless communications (or in transmission media generally). Although new technologies and services are
evolving faster than the bodies that regulate them (regulations traditionally occur with a lag), one of
the most noticeable trends in telecommunications has been the proliferation of new legislation andregulatory authorities. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) (1999a), there
were only 10 independent telecommunications regulators in Africa at the beginning of 1990s, but by
August 1999, the numbers had increased to 84. Additionally, existing regulators have become more
powerful and acquired more resources from governments that recognize the positive role of communications industries in the welfare of their citizens.
1.3.2. Ownership and market structure
Approximately 25 percent of African countries, between 1989 and 1997, partially altered the ownership structure of their ICT sector although the drive to restructure gathered momentum only in thesecond half of the 1990s. During this period, 62 percent of the 42 ITU member states in Africa
unbundled posts from telecommunications, while close to 75 percent turned telecommunications

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operations into state corporations. Little or no privatization has occurred in broadcasting. The trend
in liberalizing this segment of the market has been to allow de novo entry.
Reforms vary widely across regions, and even within the same regions:• Senegal has introduced a second cellular network provider• Ghana and Uganda both have licensed second fixed landline local exchange network
carriers• Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have moved from duopoly tofull competition• Kenya and Nigeria have advanced in cellular communications competition• South Africa is still wobbling in her overall ICT policy• Niger and Chad have private participation in the long distance segment of their telephony• at the other extreme end of inertia are countries like Congo, Eritrea and Somalia who, by mid
1999, had no local Internet access (see table 1).
Nonetheless, ITU (2001) characterizes the new millennium as remarkable because for the first timein more than 100 years, the number of incumbent carriers with private capital participation has tilted
the balance in favor of private equity. Americas lead the world with nearly 75 percent of countries inthat region having privatized their network infrastructure, followed by Europe with 63 percent, AsiaPacific with 53 percent, Africa with 35 percent and Arab States with 29 percent. Many countries,
including the USA, continue to restrict the origin of capital and the amount of equity or control that
foreigners may have in the service providers, particularly broadcasting.
Despite the overall increase in competition that has emerged with changes in the regulatory climate
and ownership structure, much is yet to be achieved. Approximately 60 percent of all countries stillprohibit competition in basic services: local, trunk, international or leased line markets. However, thislack of competition has not spelled easy life for network carriers and other incumbent operators.
Potential and actual threats from new technologies and services that can bypass existing local
networks and regulatory restrictions signal competition and difficulties for governments that attempt
to lean against a free market2. An example is the pressure from mobile services.
1.3.3. Cellular communications and Internet-based services
Unfortunately, the relatively high degree of competition (compared to the fixed line), diverse ownership, and innovation in mobile markets are dampened by the high cost of spectrum auctions to theindustry. This new generation of spectrum-hungry mobile services is expected to broaden the access by end users to mobile data applications. Like the mobile telephone services, Internet access2

See ITU (2001, p.5) for a recount of some of the ways in which technological innovation has broken down barriers to competition
by lowering the cost of regulatory avoidance, and in so doing allowed regulatees to punish (impose revenue loses) regulatory regimesthat “lean against the wind of change.”

STRENGTHENING N ATIONAL I NFORMATION AND C OMMUNICATION T ECHNOLOGY POLICY IN AFRICA

5grew principally outside the core business of incumbent carriers, providing fertile ground for the riseof new service providers and the opening of markets to competition. Except for government intervention to prohibit incumbent carriers and their subsidiaries from entering Internet services, the market isdominated by ISPs that are controlled by incumbent operators.
Ranked next to mobile services in competitiveness are lease line markets. Unfortunately, prices inthis segment have remained high despite the declining cost of supplying transmission capacity.
Lease lines are the building blocks of e-commerce and other Internet protocol (IP)-related services.
The cost of international lease lines has been a source of considerable concern to low-income
countries. The problem is the Internet sharing costs among members of the international telecom
and Internet community. ISPs outside the United States have to pay the full cost of international leaselines to US Internet backbone providers. These costs increase for ISPs located in countries that are
far, geographically, from the main Internet backbone providers. This means that many low-income
countries have to bear higher costs than ISPs located in the United States or in countries that arecloser to the main Internet backbones. This asymmetry already holds far-reaching implications forworldwide competitiveness in the growing e-commerce and other information-based products.
1.3.4. Mobile technology and transmission media
Other notable trends in ICTs are in mobile technology, mobile computing equipment and wirelesstransmission media. All these trends have implications for mobile commerce [m-commerce]. Advances in mobile technology are turning cell phones from devices for simple voice communication
into powerful mobile computers, permanently connected to the Internet.
Wireless application protocol (WAP) and high-speed data transfer drive the trend. The initial arrival of
WAP was dampened by the slow rates of data transfer over existing networks making it difficult toachieve anything on the Internet from a cell phone. This is now set to change with high speed datatransfer through general packet radio services (GPRS), a cellular network technology that boosts
data transfer speeds to at least that of fixed telephone lines. It also has bluetooth that replaces infra
red with powerful wireless connecting devices like printers, computers and cell phones.
1.3.5 Numbering and addressing
Numbering and addressing are now important aspects of communications technology. Names andaddresses are not only markers that guide the movement of information from source to destination in
a networked economy and an information-saturated environment (informatics jungle) but they havealso become public identifiers with important implications for marketing, visibility (branding) andease of use. Some e-commerce vendors, for instance, offer discounts on their products to customers
residing in certain parts of the world. Vendors can automatically establish residency by detecting IP
addresses and the physical (registered) location when e-mail requests for preferential treatment
arrive. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in Cambridge, Massachusetts currently

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offers this facility to students, academics and researchers in some developing countries, including
Africa.
The evolution of numbering and addressing are driven by three major trends:• the proliferation of new communication devices such as facsimile, pagers, satellite phones
and mobile phones• the increase in new services, such as free telephone calls (toll-free ‘800’ numbers), interna
tional premium rate, and shared cost services, all demanding separate numbering domains
and for some, international or global coordination of numbering• the liberalization in the telecommunications sector that require the allocation of numbers tocompeting service providers, the addition of carrier access codes to numbering plans,
and the ability to transfer numbers across service providers. In Internet domain name regis
tration, ITU estimates the number of domain names presently registered at over 8.5 million,
but this is expected to increase to 28 million by 2002.
1.4 What has happened in the governance of ICTs?
1.4.1. Licensing
Diversity in licensing regimes is important in the age of globalization and digital convergence. It has
been argued that “asymmetrical licensing regimes may impede growth and make the implementation of global services and transition to new generation regulatory frameworks that will be required forthe age of cybernetworks more complex (ITU, 1999 for instance). The diversity in the regimes reflects
the diversity in views from one country to another on the role and goals of licensing. There is also anelement of path-dependency because the liberalization program in each country depends, to a large
extent, on the existing political and industry structure. Despite this diversity, there are noticeable
trends, for example, in the themes underlying individual country licensing regimes. These include:• ensuring universal service obligations or the availability of public service• promoting the expansion of network infrastructure• deploying optimal technology• maintaining installed capacity• ensuring sustainable competition in the market for IT and related services
1.4.2 Universal Service Obligations [USO]
The governance trend in universal access is singled out because it is highly controversial and isbelieved to be one of the few areas that will always be present and controlled by the government toachieve the desired objective because of market failure. This will continue even after competition
has spread across market boundaries. Many new policies geared towards improving universal
communication services share a new emphasis on the importance of public access points forbroadening access to the array of communications technology that has been installed. Some regu-

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lators require licensees to provide a certain number or proportion of public access points before
issuing licenses. Others pursue more complex incentive schemes that include some or all featuresof a multimedia telecentre.
In contradistinction, some regulators, convinced of the virtues of open markets are introducing someelements of competition to fulfil universal access goals. For instance, competitive tendering for theprovision of payphones to unserved villages has been used in Chile for some years and in Peru since1998. In Chile, a specially constituted council examines applications and awards each tender to thebest bidder. Initially, this was the bidder that required the lowest subsidy, but now other factors, suchas rollout speed are considered. The Ministry for Communications in Australia is also thinking ofdeveloping a process that will subject the Universal Service Obligation (USO) to competitive tender.
There is also the interfacing of technology and regulation in conditioning progress to meet USO, forexample, the role of peripherals and intelligent networks, in conjunction with sophisticated voicetechnology that are offering new opportunities—broadening the range of custom services available—
or extending communications access and use. The celebrated case of these new opportunities
perhaps is virtual telephony that is now quite widespread among homeless people in the UnitedStates and is also being sold successfully in other countries like Botswana and Chile. Virtual telephony provides the subscriber with a telephone number and a voice mailbox, enabling the customer
to receive messages and access them from any telephone. An upgraded yet economical service
radio pages the subscriber when new messages arrive. This is identical to the mail notification
option that has virtually become standard on most e-mail applications and is offered as “instantmessenger” on Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL and Netscape at no additional expense.
1.4.3. Interconnection
Interconnection is at the heart of competition and convergence and it is another area where differences in governance exist. In the long run, it will allow individuals to access networks and services of
their choice. National authorities have chosen one or a combination of approaches to different
interconnection issues but most give precedence to the “will theory of contract.” Following are someapproaches to the issue:• leave it entirely to commercial negotiation between parties, but if parties reach a deadlock,they may appeal to competition and antitrust law• leave the issue entirely to commercial negotiation between parties, but subject to regulatoryintervention if parties deadlock• leave the issue entirely to commercial negotiation between the parties, but the regulatory
authority sets the framework for negotiations and approves the agreement, or intervene ifthey reach a deadlock• allow regulatory authorities to prescribe specific issues from the outset and parties to negotiate over the remaining issues

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New Zealand and some countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and most countries in Africa follow (a)and (b) that rely on market forces. Europe and the Americas have relied on options (c) and (d).
1.4.4. Pricing of services on digital networks
Prices are central to the development of products and services. Efficient pricing in networked industries are particularly important because of network externalities, lock-in effect and other peculiar
characteristics. Network externalities means that the effect of using the good extends beyond thebenefits to the parties involved in the transaction. Therefore, the price of (reflecting private or individual valuation) such a product may not reflect the social value. Consequently, too little may be
produced or demanded relative to what would be ideal in that society. Lock-in effect signals switching of costs whereby customers subscribing to a service may incur a non trivial expense to transfer toanother supplier due to system incompatibility, high set up costs, or other implicit costs, for example,
when a telephone number cannot be transferred across providers or when e-mail addresses have tochange. Ex ante, the customer may face competition yet ex post he/she could become a captive
customer to a de facto monopolist. The dynamics of competition in the industry, such as in productdevelopment, may also be unbalanced because the “winner keeps all.” In such a contest, where acompetitive outcome is not guaranteed, governing the price profile in the market becomes important.
So far, the most common standards for judging the overall fairness of the prices and profits of anincumbent network operator are return on investment and improved productivity.
1.4.5.

Numbering in the digital era

The IT community cites domain names as the focal point of change in Internet governance. The
problem of adding new top-level domains [TLDs] to the root of the Internet that appeared simple has
set sweeping global changes in Internet administration in motion. The staggering growth of theInternet has increased unresolved issues including the following:• who has the right to add TLD names?
• how many TLDs should be served?
• how should conflicts between domain name registrations and trademark rights be resolved?
These and others matters raised in the following section need to be resolved to promote innovation
while preserving rights of individuals and entities.

2.

Key Issues for Decision-makers

2.1. IP Telephony
The popular trend of making and receiving telephone calls through the Internet and other networks
based on Internet protocol (IP) is a pressing policy issue. Customers can access IP telephony atmuch lower costs than those of conventional circuit-switched networks, particularly on long-distanceand international calls. This is partially because traffic pricing on IP-based networks does not depend on distance. Many operators, worldwide, have announced intentions of eventually moving all
their global traffic to IP-based networks.
While IP telephony offers cheaper calls for consumers, the economics is much more complex for
carriers because their revenue and technologies may be affected adversely if customers move toother services or companies. There is also the risk of technological obsolescence and its implications on profitability and recovery pricing. Technological obsolescence will inevitably occur, as IPbased networks increasingly become the technology of choice in the deployment of new networkinfrastructures. For developing countries, IP telephony presents an additional dilemma because
while it promises to reduce the cost of international telephone calls, it may also reduce revenues fromcalls that are currently helping in funding the extension of the domestic network and also in meeting
universal service obligations.
Governance of IP telephony has taken different forms. Some countries prohibit it, some license it,and some pay no attention to it. Most countries, however, have not yet taken a stand. The researchissues to consider are to:• emphasize the potential conflict between existing regimes and technological change—theserious implications of technological obsolescence and the need for governments to rec
ognize these implications in policy frameworks• recognize that while IP-based networks can improve the odds of under-served communities
in joining the information society, several conditions are prerequisite for a successful transition to IP-based networks
What are these underlying policy, regulatory and technical issues, and is there a consensus on them?

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2.2. Equity and Access
It is known that the (digital) technological revolution is yet to overcome the wide gap between information “haves” and information “have-nots.” This digital divide “is simply an extension of the sameproblem policy makers have traditionally confronted over the decades in attempting to foster universal access and network development” (ITU, 2001, p.1). Reforms in the ICT sector have helped to
improve shortcomings in universal access to basic services between developed and developing
countries. Nonetheless, the situation has worsened in some countries because of various factors
including governance. This gap is most evident in the Internet sector. In 1999, the penetration rate ofInternet use was 20:1 between developed and developing countries. Between 1995 and 1999, lowincome nations increased their share of all Internet computer hosts by a mere 1 percent (ITU, 2001,
ibidem).
2.2.1 An example from the CATV industry
You walk into a hotel room, flip the remote control, and the TV comes alive. The display on the screen
display says, “Hello, Dr. Jane. Welcome to our hotel. We aim to please but if we have forgotten
anything, please enter ‘Gripe’ on the remote and press the enter key.” Welcome to the world of ICT
where the impact of the Internet has been felt most acutely by the cable television [CATV] industry. It
is said to have “revolutionized not only traditional telecommunication markets, but also broadcastingand its associated fields.” The advent of cable modems has turned the CATV systems that provided
only one-way broadcasting in the past, into potentially powerful platforms for Internet access, and into
interactive systems. But the presence of CATV services around the world is uneven. Of the 249
million subscribers globally in 1998, 38 percent were in Asia, 35 percent in the Americas, 26 percent
in Europe and virtually none in Africa. As cited in ITU (2001, p.12), the actual percentage of the world
total subscription attributed to Africa is 0.003 percent. If this communication medium proves criticalto universal access and servicing, Africa would have been left behind even before the event begins.
Africa would be unable to benefit from the affordability that comes with the economies of scope fromcable modem opportunities: the ability to integrate Internet access, voice service, and video delivery
into a package deliverable through the same medium to the home or business.
On governance, most countries have demurred on considering extensive changes in competition
structure that would address the growing pressure for regulators to impose interconnection andunbundling obligations on cable television operators, and on other alternative network operators inthe same way they have done to incumbent telephone companies.
The questions are:• Whether or not to extend, and how to extend to alternative network operators regulations that
hitherto were not meant for them?
• What legal and policy approach should be adopted regarding high speed Internet services
delivered over various platforms including cable television, wireless, satellite, broadcast andSTRENGTHENING N ATIONAL I NFORMATION AND C OMMUNICATION T ECHNOLOGY POLICY IN AFRICA

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un-licensed spectrum technologies, bearing in mind the goal of poverty reduction and ofbridging the digital divide?
Similarly, should “open access” (cross-entry) to CATV systems and other high-speed net
works operated by ISPs be allowed?
What government agency or agencies should resolve these issues and which one of themhas the capability to do so?
In the case of multiple agencies, what happens when there are jurisdictional conflicts oroverlaps that hamper rather than promote the goals?

2.3. Legislative and Regulatory
Inappropriate interconnection requirements can act as a barrier to competitive entry to the industry,undermine investment in new infrastructures and deprive the public of innovative and attractive (affordable) service options. Various regulatory fora worldwide confirm that regulators consider interconnection to be the single most important issue in the development of a competitive marketplace for
IT related services. However, a sound interconnection framework is no easy task, especially since
many regulators must do so when their agencies are still at the formative stages. Besides, the rapid
pace of technological changes and the challenges that come with it are formidable for even the mostsolidly established and experienced authorities.
While the traditional emphasis has been on the need for dominant incumbent network operators tointerconnect with other service providers, there is growing recognition that the ultimate goal is “anyto-any” interconnection. That is, the ability of any network operator to establish connectivity with anyother operator. As first highlighted in the case of CATV, policy makers are facing pressures to consider
broadening the application of mandatory interconnection rules to a wider range of network operators.
Some have chosen to pursue a technology-neutral approach, moving towards any-to-any interconnection. Others believe that more widespread interconnection obligations would benefit more end
users. Yet others maintain that market forces will be adequate in promoting any-to-any interconnection without imposing specific interconnection obligations on every service supplier. The latter argument is forceful when regulatory and administrative capacities are scarce. However, most policy
makers agree on the principle that any network operator who achieves a dominant position that canbe used to stifle competition should be subject to specific interconnection obligations. Meanwhile,the burning policy question is still how to identify the optimal interconnection approach for eachmarket?
Efficient interconnectivity to the fullest extent—voice, data, video and multimedia services—requiresthat a variety of arrangements are put in place. These arrangements include the interconnection of
signaling networks and access to operations support systems and call-related databases including
some portability databases. And for the arrangement to be sustainable, the pricing of interconnection
must be financially viable for all parties.

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The Annual ITU Regulatory Survey reveals that by 2000, at least 101 countries had establishedinterconnection regulatory frameworks of some form, relying on a host of measures including legislation, license provisions, executive orders, directives, guidelines and determinations. As governments and regional organizations work to set the ground rules for interconnection, they inevitably
confront vexing and complex issues involving the basic legislative and regulatory frameworks thatmust be installed and enforced, and also the technical scope and characteristics of interconnection
arrangements. Accordingly, policy makers must resolve basic questions, such as:• which carriers are required to offer interconnection?
• how will the costs be calculated and recovered?
• at what points in the network should interconnection occur?
A closely related issue also arises about network unbundling or the mitigation of incumbency advantages. These incumbency advantages derive from a massive head start in the market, acquired byexisting network operators who for decades operated as monopolies, with huge investments thatentrants find difficult to copy within a short time frame. Unbundling or unpacking allows a competitor
to use parts of an incumbent’s network or purchase network elements on a need-to-use basis.
Many policy experts oppose widespread unbundling mandates because of the concern that it may
undercut incentives to build alternative networks. Nonetheless, once policy makers decide to unbundle, they must also decide on the extent of the exercise but there are technical limitations. Accessto facilities (local loops or switches) to back office functions (operations support systems) can be
unbundled much the same like access to databases and software used to provide network services
but there are other elements that are not easily separated.
Therefore, central to all efforts at unbundling is the need to permit competitors to collocate theirequipment with the incumbent’s network facilities to take advantage of stratified network elementsthat cannot be unbundled. The regulatory issues are onerous, involving not only the technical details
in interconnecting network facilities but also issues on the incumbents’ property rights. Authorities
must balance the need to provide competitors with meaningful unbundling opportunities with theincumbents’ rights to use their property to maximize network operations and efficiency. This is often
a delicate balance to achieve, given the incentive for incumbents to delay and complicate collocation arrangements under the pretext of protecting their property and network operations.
Overall, the regulatory and legislative issues arising from these policy concerns include:• How far, and at what point a regulator should intervene in industry negotiations over intercon
nection?
• Whether to establish binding rules or regulatory guidelines, and under what framework?
An ex ante framework involves setting, in advance, clear and detailed sector-specific rules for all
market players. An ex post model, by contrast, gives market players substantial freedom and flexibility
with intervention only after regulatory infringement has occurred.

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2.4. Institutions of GovernanceOnce a government determines the basic parameters of a regulatory framework, it must then decide
how it wants to govern, i.e., develop the institutional structure. Issues that the government needs toconsider include:• what would be the optimal regulatory structure?
• what should be done to the existing or inherited framework?
• will it be a single integrated agency or a multiple agency to govern each of the components
of digital technology?
• will the agency be organized around functional lines or along some other organizationalmodel?
• will the regulatory authority or agencies, once created, be independent of the dominant
players (i.e., questions of regulatory capture)?
• will the agency or agencies be “independent” from political power?
• to whom is the agency or the agencies accountable?
• from what source will the financing of the authority or agencies come?
• how independent is “independence?”3• what would be the governing structure of the agency or agencies and will it vary according
to the model of organization chosen for each agency?
• will the body be collegial, governed by a director-general, a board, or other governancestructure?
• what would be the optimal decision-making (management) style—active involvement,
participatory/consultative, transparent, flexible, extensive, and accessible?
Other institutions that may be important include arbitration establishments operating within strict timebounds to avoid unnecessary delays, but with recourse for the aggrieved parties to appellate bodies.
Time is of essence to avoid dilatory tactics that could delay competition. Other parallel questions
implicated include but are not limited to who decides which governmental body is empowered topass regulations, to adjudicate, to make policies and to enforce them? In some countries, these may
already be enshrined in the constitution. In others, they may represent matters of the moment requiring careful attention and resolution.

3
Even the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States is only independent within the government. It is still required by law to accountto Congress (the National Assembly) for its activities, and do report to that body periodically.

3.

The Research Agenda

Given the almost universal appreciation and acceptance of the benefits of efficient ICTs in contemporary society, it is puzzling that the pace of ICT dissemination in Africa has not reflected this ostensibly huge expected social benefits. Many argue that policy and regulatory environment affect effective
dissemination either because there is no coherence or internal consistency in the policy. In some
sectors policies are missing.
In recognition of the centrality of telecommunications to ICTs, some attention will be devoted to casestudies and the thematic papers to reform processes in telecommunication industry: the political
economy of the reform (power and distributional issues) and how parallel developments in othersectors of ICTs influence the reform process in telecom? The rest of the study concentrates on ICTs
as a process embodying much “learning-by-doing” by all participants (the innovators and the regulators alike), typical of evolutionary processes.
The emphasis is on governments reviewing issues raised by the following questions:• is there an enabling environment for the effective promotion of ICTs?
• what aspects of convergence are critical for the promotion of equity, access, and the reduction of the “digital divide?”• how should the process be managed to compress the time frame required to achieve areasonable convergence?
• how should the governance proceed; should the convergence of services require adapta
tion in the regulatory framework?
• should a composite regulator handle broadcasting and CATV, telecom, distribution andsales and software-content issues?
• are the legal principles and issues deserving of separate regulators because of the differ
ences in telecom law, broadcasting law, intellectual property law and commercial law?
• are some of the current initiatives, often pursued without government support, sustainable in
the long term?
• how can we use ICTs to improve political participation and equitable access to justice?
African legislative regimes lag behind the developments of ICTs in trade (e-commerce) and in new
financial instruments that are ICT based. For Africa to compete globally, we have to review andupdate these laws and create or reform our institutions to take account of the growth in ICTs.

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3.1. The Research Problems
A chicken in every pot. An egg in every basket. A loaf of bread on every table. At the dawn of the newmillennium, the nations of the world are more interconnected than at any other time in human history.
We can communicate and exchange information in ways and at speeds that would astound generations past. “Indeed, in this age, the challenge for the world’s technologically blessed is to fullycomprehend and utilize the power of communications technologies that are just a mouse click away
(ITU, 2001, p.109).
Unfortunately, for many in Africa “the chicken, the egg and the loaf of bread are still pies in the sky.” For
every globally roaming mobile end user, there are scores of individuals who cannot call a doctor in theevent of an emergency or who have no doctors to call. For every “distance learning” student in the
global village, there is an overwhelming majority in Africa who are without any kind of “connection.”
Therefore, the challenges facing policy makers and regulators alike are:• how to provide an enabling environment for ICTs in Africa that will extend networks to theoverwhelming majority of their constituencies who currently cannot enjoy them
• how to maximize the existing information communication technologies and promote its
evolution
These are questions that implicate the governance mechanisms at work in the respective Africancountries, the objective of this research.
3.1.1. Problem I
What are the appropriate governance mechanisms to provide enabling environments for ICTs tothrive in Africa?
a.

Nature of Governance [Policy Legislation]

The nature of governance raises the following questions:• what are the advantages and disadvantages of the two major types of legislative frame
works?
• what roles do the state of competition in the ICT sector play in the choice of legislative
regimes?
• are bargaining powers sufficiently balanced between the ICT players to warrant serious
consideration of an ex post legislation model in any African country?
• what are the current legislative issues in multimedia law, broadcasting law, telecommunica
tions law, electronic transaction law, wireless law and licensing laws (including frequency
spectrum allocations), competition/ enterprise restructuring and interconnection law?

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16

•
•

what is the appropriate order in which these issues should be tackled (optimal sequencing
issues)?
what is the best combination of interconnection rules and regulations (taking account ofcountry peculiarities) that will extend connectivity to residents and businesses in a service
area to maximize the value of existing networks, draw on the enhanced value and extend
access to areas that were not served within a national boundary?

On clarifying and allocating content liability in multimedia, what is the appropriate policy interface
between national norms and Internet standards? For instance, to specify whether a carrier should be
responsible for content or to hold the provider accountable, with social responsibility resting on allparties to report illegal contents, such as:• intellectual property issues, privacy and compliance with cultural restrictions such as advertising limits, racial slurs, “hate groups,” economic liability for lost or damaged information• internet crime, such as child pornography, hacking, national security issues, harassment
and right to privacy• freedom of African nations set their own standards or conform to global trends• awareness of African nations of the fora and processes that facilitate the decisions on stan
dards
b.

Requisite Institutions of Governance [Regulatory Institutions]

Following are questions on the requisite institutions of governance?
• how can countries install effective regulatory institutions—structure, function, financing, career
trajectories, incentives, research and training (professional development) and enforcement
mechanisms?
• what are the regulatory and legislative capacities in individual countries on information
gathering (pricing, tariffs, cost data, analysis and financial information) needed to formulatesensible policies?
• policies that strike a balance between the demand on regulators in a globalized environ
ment: Demand transmitted by trading partners through the World Trade Organization (WTO)
framework (it’s reference paper on regulatory principles), and those that originate locally,reflecting national realities, in the form of existing legal, administrative, and political condi
tions and institutions• how can the existing legislative and regulatory milieu be changed to accommodate theabove requirements, in particular, the model bill and policy adopted by the 14 member
countries of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) that aims at building a
regional info-communications industry that is competitive, and creates an enabling environ
ment?
• even though the document does not address content, can it serve as a springboard for other
African countries?

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3.1.2. Problem II [The Regulatory Process]How can we maximize the benefits of existing ICTs, and promote its growth and development—the
search for an optimal regulation?
a.

Encouraging Competition [Protecting the Process]While recognizing the dynamic nature of the sector, the complex issue of the separation of content
and transport regulation should be examined and peculiar “coordination failures” that warrant exception to the rule determined.
the issue to address is how competition (mechanisms) should proceed in the various segments,
such as basic services, long distance, cellular services, lease lines, Internet and value-added services, cable television, and multimedia—consistent with the following:• promoting the development of IT capabilities• promoting the growth of robust applications environment for end users consistent with traderelated intellectual property rights [TRIPS]• encouraging democracy (civil society) on the basis of IT-based services• identifying anti-competitive concerns, such as price, cross-subsidies, interconnection, unbundling, and market dominance• identifying the inherent tensions between achieving USO and nurturing a competitive mar
ket and a dynamic ICT sectorb.

Encouraging Innovation/ Investment Incentives [Regulatory Contract and the Long-run]

Encouraging innovation and investment should be consistent with the following:• recognize the types of positive regulatory actions (standards, coordination, transparency,
competition, and exclusivity) that can promote efficient investment in modern technology in
general, and in premium African-content in particular.
• recognize that the means used to assign public resources can be an instrument that has
implications for efficient use and can also exclude valued market participants and discour
age investment and innovation. A licensing regime should be reviewed, to verify that it is not
generating unintended negative consequences. Since licenses for various operations andservices may be “categorized, targeted, limited, expanded, conditioned, burdened, taxed orwithheld in a variety of ways to achieve a desired goal”, there is a need to review the existingor missing licensing schemes to identify service and facility categories. The selection andapplication of various means of authorization—whether individual licenses, class licenses,
concession contracts, permits, registrations, the determination of spectrum allocation, as
signment mechanisms, or public rights-of- way (imminent-domain) should also be acknowl
edged. Additionally, establishment of licensee qualification standards (where they exist),
and the license application procedures should also be reviewed.

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ATPS SPECIAL PAPER SERIES N O. 13

Recognize that there are multiple and evolving innovative ways of establishing access, studying theperformance of “telecentres” and considering their targeted support (through policy instruments) tobridge the “divide.” An example is promoting voice services through multimedia delivery, with IP
telephony a seemingly affordable option in the multimedia pack4 .

4The technology is already here; the issue is that of the appropriate policy intervention, as well as the economics. With the installationof a Web-cam on the end users= terminals, Yahoo subscribers, for instance, can now video, audio, and text-message, functions allof which are accessible from the Tools menu.

4.

Research Methodology

4.1. Research framework
The proposed research strategy recognizes that ICT issues are cross cutting and inherently multidisciplinary in nature, drawing from philosophy and law, IT, economics, business, management,
politics, organizational sociology, among others. Therefore, a workshop on methodology is envisaged where the network of researchers will determine the appropriate multi-disciplinary balance forcountry case studies and analysis. Nonetheless, each case study will survey, document, analyze andsignal policy implications and/or recommendations as appropriate.
4.2. Data sources
Data will be derived from the following sources:• governments• field interviews• United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural organization (UNESCO) Observatory• African Development Forum (ADF) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa(UNECA) on the information society.
The ADF initiative provides a selection of documents and related web sites on governmental actionplans, policies and strategies on the development of information society, and on the evolution ofprivacy and confidentiality, content regulation, multilingualism and access topic domain information.
Internet sources will include:• the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)• the World Bank,• ITU (rural development and universal access)• Acacia Initiative• African Information Society Initiative (AISI)• African Internet Connectivity (AIC)• Internet Resources Directory• L’Afrique sur l’Internet• Economic Internet Toolkit for African Policy Makers

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ATPS SPECIAL PAPER SERIES N O. 13

20

•
•
•

InfoDev
SADC in the next millennium
Rural Telephony in sub-Saharan Africa

4.3. Thematic papers
Thematic papers that focus on technical, conceptual and analytical issues will compliment thestudies. The papers will inform policy making and stimulate debates and further research at fundamental and applied levels. There are two obvious technical topics that deserve such analysis although the workshop could generate additional paper(s). One paper will be on Efficient Regulatory
Institutions, addressing the determinants of strong national regulatory institutions and legislative policies. The analytical framework will rely on a combination of public administration, distributive
politics and institutional economics. It will also emphasize that credible regulation and enforcement
represent the transformation of the political game in an effort to enhance the political security of theincumbent regime. It will also stress that such acquisition and retention of power, as an end in itself,
complicates the attainment of an enabling environment for the development of ICTs (which actuallyis not an end for those with the decision making mandate).
The other thematic paper will focus on tensions between universal service obligations and theprospects for the growth and development of the “connected society” in Africa. It will address thearticulation of public policy and private investment in local networks, backbone networks and in the
Deployment of Advanced Infrastructure. The analysis will draw on the on going policy legislation
debates that discuss how policies designed to promote competition, investment, and universal access may conflict with each other. According to the debates, the tensions are not in the conflicting
objectives but they emanate from specific policies that are implemented in pursuit of these objectives: a case of “good intentions and unintended evils.” Proponents of this viewpoint to regulatory
contracts, standard costs, incumbency disadvantage, and recovery pricing that are the very anti
thesis of the issues we have been grappling with so far. We expect to be challenged, excited, andeven shocked by the analysis on this critical issue.

5.

Organizational Outline

5.1 Activities•••

three research workshops: methodological, progress and final
policy roundtables in selected countries, with the following groups:• legislative portfolio committees on ICTs
• technocrats in the relevant ministries and regulatory agencies• operators in the industry including service providers and consumer advocacy groups
dissemination workshop involving the civil society and the media

Given the centrality of “connectedness” /USO to the whole exercise, we suggest a menu of countries
based on Internet density, Public Access ISPs, call cost (affordability), and teledensity but the final
choices will depend on logistics and budget constraint [see table 1].
5.2 Potential Outcomes•••

governance capacity building: A proactive input into the legislative process and institution
building (interventions through policy roundtables are of essence here).
augmenting the knowledge base on the evolution of ICT policy in Africa: concrete outputs
include virtual publications on ATPS website, and real publications of:• thematic papers• UNESCO Observatory se studies• synthesis in the form of a policy brief• synthesis in the form of a technical brief
lessons from the study countries will benefit other countries in similar circumstances.

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ATPS SPECIAL PAPER SERIES N O. 13

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Table 1: Potential Study Countries from Sub Saharan Economies
Country

Public Access
ISP

call cost($/hr)

Internetdensity

Teledensity

Botswana

3

0.60

1551

5-10

Burundi

1

0.75

43927

na

DRC

1

na

98416

na

Kenya

10

1.36

1935

na

Nigeria

12

0.40

40591

na

South Africa

70

1.60

177

10-20

Tanzania

10

1.94

10730

less than 1

Uganda

3

8.40

1777

less than 1

Notes: Source:- ITU (2001, 1999). Internet density is the ratio of population per user. Teledensity is telephone lines
per 100 inhabitants. These are quick guides to distance from the Information Age or connectedness. DRC is the
Democratic Republic of Congo. Data for Teledensity as at January 2000. “na” means current data not available.

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For more information this series and ATPS Contact:

The Executive Director
The African Technology Policy Studies Network
3rd Floor, The Chancery, Valley Road
P.O. Box 10081 00100 General Post Office
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: +254-2-2714168/092/498
Fax: +254-2-2714028
Email: info@atpsnet.org
Website: http://www.atpsnet.org