Furthermore, it is not possible to argue that telecommunications in Africa are not well managed. In order to understand the problem of telecommunications underdevelopment, it is necessary to look elsewhere. As the analysis presented above shows, what is really lacking in African telecommunications is not revenues or even management abilities but rather the basic network infrastructure upon which telecommunications services can be developed. Telecommunications users are being effectively taxed twice to pay for the government's ambitions in other sectors. Those countries, particularly island states and foreign dependencies, which have a well developed tourism sector generally have a higher penetration of telephones and generate substantial revenues.
Telecommunications services provide a platform for economic growth.
Few companies today can survive without a telephone and most rely on fax, telex and other electronic forms of communications too. Telecommunications also facilitates the flow of information which is essential in making a market-based system work. It acts as a feedback cycle between suppliers and their customers. This system of information flow becomes all the more important for international trade where suppliers and customers are geographically removed. It is evident from available data that flows of international telephone traffic mirror almost exactly patterns of international trade.