Africa’s ICT ranking worries Malawi
African countries are not doing well on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Development Index, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology Principal Secretary, Erica Maganga, said Wednesday
Maganga made the remarks when she opened a two-day International Telecommunicat ions Union Regional workshop in Lilongwe.
She said no African country appears close to the top 50 on the ICT Development Index (IDI) ranking with Mauritius appearing on rank 72, followed by South Africa on rank 92, Cape Verde on 93, Tunisia on 99 and Morocco in the top 100 ranking.
She said Malawi has slightly improved at rank 167 in 2017 from 169 in 2016. The IDI 2017 saw Iceland ranking first.
“It pains me each time I look at these ICT indicators and where African countries are. We are not doing very well and we need to continue doing more,” she said.
The gathering was expected to inform and train the countries’ statisticians, regulators, academia as well as relevant government officials on indicators to be included in the IDI 2018.
ITU Regional Office for Africa, Programme Officer, Anne Rita Ssemboga, said digital technology cannot be ignored.
“Today, we are experiencing the fourth industrial revolution where data and digitalisation has become the new economy. Digital technology now affects every facet of our lives from banking, buying and selling of commodities, accessing education or entertainment, to access to hospitals and public services such as voting,” she said.
She emphasised the need to deal with global disparities and digital inequalities.
“In Africa, less than 30 percent of the population have access to third generation networks and only 10 percent to a Fourth Generation connection. Unless we put in place incentives to invest in digital infrastructure and to migrate from Second Generation, (2G) to Third and Fourth (3G and 4G) Generation networks and beyond, we shall remain under-connected,” she said.
Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority Director General, Godfrey Itaye, said the training is important as it will assist countries in the region to provide accurate and timely data for the compilation of IDI and indicators to be used in the 2018 version.
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