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Article: Africa strives to get online: a combination of poor infrastructure, high access costs and lack of incentives for foreign investment is holding back internet growth in Africa.(Africa)
- Article from:
- Telecommunications (International Edition)
- Article date:
- April 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Horizon House Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The internet. For most of us it's a basic utility, as pervasive, reliable and instantaneous as turning on a tap or switching on a light. Not so, however, for hundreds of millions of Africans for whom the Digital Divide is already wider than the Rift Valley, and growing rapidly.
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High access costs, chronic lack of infrastructure, poorly coordinated ICT policies and obstructive regulation are conspiring to keep the internet out of reach of 99 per cent of the continent's population.
Sadly, behind the hope and hype that have characterised African ICT development conferences from Dakar to Dar es Salaam, nowhere near enough is being ...