These editions of the magazines concentrate on discussing the impact of ICT on developing countries and emerging markets in Africa and The Middle East.
The region as a whole is developing in leaps and bounds. Governments across Africa & Middle East spent a combined US$12.8 billion on information and communication technologies (ICT) in 2019, according to the latest findings from International Data Corporation (IDC). The global technology research and consulting firm expects this figure to continue rising over the coming years at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.8%, crossing the US$15 billion mark by 2023.
However, in spite of huge strides in recent decades there is still a great digital divide to overcome within and between countries in the region.
Past editions have extensively treated important issues such as the ‘digital divide’ in AME, that is the gap between those connected, and those not connected, to modern mass communications. Further, how ICT is impacting the development of national and regional economies. The magazine has also discussed the role of ICT in disaster management for the region.
Africa and the Middle East I 2023
Theme: The Role of ICT in Fostering Economic Development. To generate economic growth that leads to sustainable development, Africa must shift its focus to retaining and creating wealth, better managing its resources, fostering inclusiveness, moving up on global value chains, diversifying its economies, optimizing the energy mix, and placing human capital at the centre of policymaking. For this to happen, African policy must foster investment in research, development, and innovation (R&D&I) to reboot the continent’s economic structures and catch up technologically with the rest of the world. Innovation, and the digital information technology that accompanies it, has become a necessary component of any effort to address such challenges as food security, education, health, energy, and competitiveness. The world is driven by innovation: unless African policymakers reap the potential benefits of R&D&I, the global divide will keep growing. The problem is that innovation is talked about and debated, but not strategized.It is here, paradoxically, that the COVID-19 pandemic, despite all the economic and social devastation it has caused, provides an opportunity for African countries to innovate and go digital. African countries will have to rebuild their economies. They should not merely repair them; they should remake them, with digitalization leading the way. So far, civil societies seem to be more ready than policymakers to embrace digital technology. With no help from government, the digital technology industry has grown in Africa—through incubators and start-ups, tech hubs and data centres. Information and communication technology (ICT) activities are spreading across the continent, and young Africans are responding with digital technology to the challenges posed by COVID-19. For example, at an ICT hub in Kenya, FabLab created Msafari, a people-tracking application that can trace the spread of infections. A similar application, Wiqaytna6, was developed in Morocco. In Rwanda, the government is demonstrating what enlightened policies can achieve. The country has invested heavily in digital infrastructure—90 percent of the country has access to broadband internet, and 75 percent of the population has cell phones. Early in the pandemic Rwanda parlayed that technological prowess into developing real-time digital mapping to track the spread of COVID-19, expanded telemedicine to reduce visits to clinics, and created chatbots to update people on the disease.These are promising endeavours, but digitalization is not widespread in Africa. Rwanda is the exception. Only 28 percent of Africans use the internet, a digital divide that prevents the continent from taking full advantage of digital technology’s ability to mitigate some of the worst effects of the pandemic.That slow spread of internet technology also makes it difficult for the continent to leapfrog obstacles to sustainable development. To generate transformative growth, digitalization cannot be left mainly to civil society and the private sector. The socioeconomic divide in Africa feeds the digital divide, and vice versa. Digitalization needs to be scaled up forcefully by policymakers to unlock structural transformation. Africa and the Middle EastI 2021
Theme: Intelligent connectivity for the Developing World Intelligent connectivity enables transformational capabilities in transport, entertainment, industry, and much more. For technical systems to digitally match human actions with connected environments, however, they must meet the speed of our natural reaction times. 5G networks must be ultra-reliable, as many critical tasks will be executed remotely. They will also rely on cost-effective edge infrastructure to enable scaling. According to GSMA,5G could account for as many as 1.4 billion connections by 2025. By then, 5G networks are likely to cover one-third of the world’s population. Africa and the Middle East 2019 II
Theme: What next for the Telecom Revolution in Africa & the Middle East? Africa presents great opportunities in the telecom sector. The liberalisation of the sector, the extension of services by multinational conglomerates and the active competition currently in place in the sector have all contributed to the telecom revolution. Since the processes of liberalisation and privatisation have been taken into consideration by African countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, the Sudan, South Africa and Kenya, their telecommunication infrastructures have improved drastically. Many African governments have developed their telecommunication infrastructure by privatising their former state-owned enterprises. As a result, the telecom sector in Africa has opened up new vistas of business opportunities. Africa has been the fastest-growing mobile market in the world during the past five years. There are now more than 82 million mobile users in Africa: Nigeria’s mobile market is growing at over 100% per year. Mobile telephony has a positive and significant impact on economic growth, and this impact may be twice as large in developing countries as in developed countries. Africa and the Middle East 2018
Theme: Network Challenges in Africa, including Disaster Management Africa has made considerable gains with regards to network communications in the last decades. It’s Internet penetration grew by more than 400%; its international bandwidth has been multiplied by 20 in just five years between 2009 and 2014; during the same period Africa’s terrestrial backbone has doubled (Internet Society, Internet Development and Internet Governance in Africa, 2015). This achievement required considerable private and public investment and brought hope for Africans, particularly its youth. However, all these hopes might be dashed by the increasing number of network shutdowns in Africa and the developing world in general. For example, just in 2016, there were at least 56 shutdowns of the Internet around the world, most of them in developing countries. These shutdowns affect individuals and organizations that depend on the Internet for their daily lives. At the “Keep it on” workshop in Nairobi at the African Internet Summit, around 30 young participants listed the reasons why no one should shut down the Internet and there were many. Africa and the Middle East 2011
Theme: When mobile goes broadband Mobile broadband is more than a question of bandwidth and speed. With mobile broadband we will all be able to communicate, access, share, research, develop and create information take part in social activities benefit, whenever convenient, from a host of vital services anywhere mobile networks reach world, from any terminal device. The availability of true mobile broadband is still limited in many regions, but it will grow strongly throughout the region in the years to come. Networks infrastructure deployment, affordable terminal devices, relevant local language applications and a concerted push by local service providers will all be needed – and are all coming faster than most of us expected. Africa and the Middle East 2009
Theme: Connecting for a better world – opening the doors to progress Wireless, portable and mobile – or not – brings connectivity where wires cannot or, often, just do not reach. Wireless brings hope and opportunity to underserved and remote regions. Every ten per cent increase in telecommunications penetration, according to one often quoted estimate, brings an increase of at least 1.2 per cent in GDP. New technologies, mobile money – to cite just one, might bring even greater increases. What will be the impact of Africa’s extraordinarily rapid adoption of mobile and wireless technology> Africa and the Middle East 2007
Theme: ICT for the people – Economic and social development in Africa and the Middle East Connect-World series of magazines is the leading magazine in the telecom and ICT industry that brings together the leading industry players, regulators, associations and governments, to discuss how technological integration and digital inclusion helps reduce the gap the leading industry players, regulators, associations and governments, to discuss how technological integration and digital inclusion helps reduce the gap between the developed and developing world. Africa and the Middle East 2005
Theme: IP – Intelligent Positioning for Growth Connect-World series of magazines is the leading magazine in the telecom and ICT industry that brings together the leading industry players, regulators, associations and governments, to discuss how technological integration and digital inclusion helps reduce the gap the leading industry players, regulators, associations and governments, to discuss how technological integration and digital inclusion helps reduce the gap between the developed and developing world. Africa and the Middle East II 2003
Theme: NEPAD Connect-World series of magazines is the leading magazine in the telecom and ICT industry that brings together the leading industry players, regulators, associations and governments, to discuss how technological integration and digital inclusion helps reduce the gap the leading industry players, regulators, associations and governments, to discuss how technological integration and digital inclusion helps reduce the gap between the developed and developing world. Africa and the Middle East II 2002
Theme: Finding the way hard decision for African Telecommunications The growth in data transmission, together with the exponential rise in video and images in general, and the tendency to funnel more through fewer, converged, networks are largely fuelling the need for greater broadband capacity and speed. Not so long ago, we looked to universal telephony as a goal all nations should strive for to meet the needs of their citizens. Today, the growth of the Information Society has raised the bar; universal access to broadband is now the goal – indeed the necessary pre-condition – for digital, economic and social inclusion. This has stretched the resources of governments, service providers, equipment suppliers, businesses and all others involved in the provision and use of broadband. Africa and the Middle East I 2002
Africa and the Middle East 1999
Africa and the Middle East I 2003
Theme: Access through broadband: A new initiative for small and medium businesses Connect-World series of magazines is the leading magazine in the telecom and ICT industry that brings together the leading industry players, regulators, associations and governments, to discuss how technological integration and digital inclusion helps reduce the gap the leading industry players, regulators, associations and governments, to discuss how technological integration and digital inclusion helps reduce the gap between the developed and developing world. Africa and the Middle East I 2022
Theme:How can ICT help AME countries recover from COVID 19? It has become clear now that COVID-19 is not just a health crisis, it is also a development pandemic as well, with catastrophic impacts globally and especially in Africa. Even before COVID-19 hit, there were many development challenges in Africa. Some countries such as South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are emerging from conflict. In the Sahel region, countries are battling violent extremism. We have socio-economic challenges in the Lake Chad region and in the Horn of Africa after a locust invasion that compromised food security. We already have many healthcare problems on the continent, HIV and AIDS being one of them. And it is not long ago that West Africa had to deal with Ebola, which also crashed economies and health systems and institutions in affected countries. Recovery for affected countries was ongoing.The other side of that is that prior to COVID-19, Africa was seen as emerging. Despite the problems in some parts of the continent, a sense of promise and hope was starting to develop, with some of the highest performing economies being on the continent. We had a sense of an emerging demographic of young industrialists, people in financial technology developing mobile money. And we had recently signed the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)agreement, which also boosted the confidence of the continent as a serious place for investment. The COVID-19 pandemic is shattering that hope, that promise, and that confidence.We have seen the UN Economic Commission for Africa revise projections downwards, showing growth contraction of up to -2.6% from over 3% growth. This could push up to 27 million people into poverty. We have now a region that is stripped of its own sources of financing for development. Oil prices that were already low have tumbled yet over 40% of Africa’s exports is in that industry. Countries like Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon that are key exporters of oil are really suffering. Also, prices of commodities such as coffee and cocoa are now projected much lower than previously, and overall trade has dropped by at least 30%.We have reduced remittances, which are a key source of household incomes and a major share of GDP in Africa—ranging from 5% of GDP to 23% in countries like Lesotho and more than 12% in the Comoros, Gambia and Liberia. The air transport sector that provides opportunities for a lot of small and medium enterprises and employs 6.2 million people on the continent, has been hit hard. And then of course we see Africa’s strongest companies and industries already showing distress.We see a lethal combination of these losses. FDI could crash perhaps up to -15%. We don’t know the full extent of COVID-19 impact, but projections look extremely severe for the continent. Africa and the Middle East 2020
Theme:Digitization and technology growth in Africa & the Middle East The Middle East is on the verge of a massive digital disruption. In the past decade, the cross-border data flow connecting the Middle East to the rest of the world has increased more than 150-fold. Several countries—including Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates—are leading the digital consumer charge, with high smartphone-adoption rates and social-media use. However, digitization is uneven from country to country, and businesses and governments across the board have struggled to keep up. Building on a history of innovation, the region has the chance to transform itself into a leading digital economy—and to realize significant economic benefits—if it can bring stakeholders together to focus on developing the region’s governance, business, funding, and talent. Citizens themselves are leading the Middle East’s digitization charge. As measured by digital consumer adoption, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates are among the top countries in the world, with more than 100 percent smartphone penetration and more than 70 percent social-media adoption—even higher than in the United States. 2018 saw the rise of new broadcasting business models such as OTT (Over The Top) and video-on-demand services, where film or TV content is streamed via the internet. According to IHS Markit, the number of households that stream OTT services in the Sub-Saharan African region alone grew 21.8 percent between 2010 and 2017, while TV households grew with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.6 percent, during the same period. Africa and the Middle East 2019
Theme:Advances in the Digital Divide: Africa & the Middle East is leading the charge! Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is constantly transforming the way we live and do business, with the development of new and innovative ways to access, communicate and disseminate information, as well as education and entertainment across the world. Although much progress has been made, there are persistent challenges, mainly affordability, still causing barriers to inclusivity, accessibility and equal opportunity, particularly in remote communities in Africa. Increasing Internet connections suggests a bridging of the digital divide yet, as more people are connected, digital inequality paradoxically increases. Inequality exists not only between people online and offline, but also between those who have the skills and financial resources to use the Internet optimally, and those who do not. Without policy interventions to reduce these disparities offline inequalities will simply be mirrored online – or potentially even amplified. Many individuals and households do not use the Internet or do not have the devices to access the Internet. Thus, as at 2018, South Africa has far more Internet users than other African countries, yet half of the population is still offline. What more can governments and companies do to close the digital divide? Africa and the Middle East 2017
Theme:Connecting the unconnected: Developing actionable solutions to internet connectivity barriers in Africa. The Internet in Africa is limited by a lower penetration rate when compared to the rest of the world. Measurable parameters such as the number of ISP subscriptions, overall number of hosts, IXP-traffic, and overall available bandwidth all indicate that Africa is way behind the “digital divide”. Moreover, Africa itself exhibits an inner digital divide, with most Internet activity and infrastructure concentrated in South Africa, Morocco, Egypt as well as smaller economies like Mauritius and Seychelles Africa and the Middle East 2016
Theme:Improving broadband and access across Africa. Broadband is revolutionizing the way we solve problems at the individual, community, business, and societal level. Moreover, there is growing evidence of its importance to job creation, productivity, economic growth, and social inclusion. Individuals and businesses connect to broadband networks to reach experts, teachers, and other professionals; to access healthcare and education; to find employers, employees, markets, and suppliers; to enjoy entertainment; and to participate in government programs and services. Broadband also supports growth of traditional local clusters such as tourism, agriculture, and manufacturing. Africa and the Middle East 2013
Theme:Connecting the unconnected: Developing actionable solutions to internet connectivity barriers in Africa. The Internet in Africa is limited by a lower penetration rate when compared to the rest of the world. Measurable parameters such as the number of ISP subscriptions, overall number of hosts, IXP-traffic, and overall available bandwidth all indicate that Africa is way behind the “digital divide”. Moreover, Africa itself exhibits an inner digital divide, with most Internet activity and infrastructure concentrated in South Africa, Morocco, Egypt as well as smaller economies like Mauritius and Seychelles Africa and the Middle East 2015
Theme:Delivering broadband effectively to Africa and the Middle East Internet access can be provided using a range of different types of technology, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. The best overall solution will usually combine several. Africa and the Middle East 2014
Theme: Anything can be hosted, anything can be virtualized XaaS is finally in town – with intelligent routing and virtualization, but is the business climate up to it? “Desktop as a service” has all data and software in the Cloud as a companion to VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) – is this the face of the future office? How is XaaS complement the multi-device users and enterprises with BYOD policy? Africa and the Middle East 2012
Theme: Broadband fulfilling the promise of communications While Broadband in the West is necessary to resolve congestion, in the developing world it is a bringer of hope, a tool of progress and a promise of prosperity. There, Broadband opens up capabilities with giant leaps rather than step-by-step, and make possible ideas such as desert techno-cities, high-tech tourism, remote contact centres and more. Broadband connects these regions to the world centres of business activities and allows numerous new initiatives to flourish. Reliable connectivity is the foundation of lasting business relationships – the promise of communication. Africa and the Middle East 2010
Theme: Tying it together Making it all work together effectively – the technology and its applications – in an economically viable manner is an extraordinarily complex job. Technological convergence, of course, plays a big part; without Swiss army knife multipurpose, multimode devices, and without integrated networks it will not, cannot, happen. Still, there are the ‘soft’ contributions of regulation, billing, applications, education and the like that tie the technology into society, the economy, businesses and our lives. Connect-World will look into this intricate interplay – the ‘soft’ mediation that lets technology – both hard and soft – function in the ‘real’ world. The theme for this issue will be Tying it together. Africa and the Middle East 2008
Theme: Convergence and data – pushing the limits of the network, pushing the limits of economic and social development. Connect-World series of magazines is the leading magazine in the telecom and ICT industry that brings together the leading industry players, regulators, associations and governments, to discuss how technological integration and digital inclusion helps reduce the gap the leading industry players, regulators, associations and governments, to discuss how technological integration and digital inclusion helps reduce the gap between the developed and developing world. Africa and the Middle East 2006
Theme: Universal Broadband Access – Basic Right? If so, How and Why? Connect-World series of magazines is the leading magazine in the telecom and ICT industry that brings together the leading industry players, regulators, associations and governments, to discuss how technological integration and digital inclusion helps reduce the gap the leading industry players, regulators, associations and governments, to discuss how technological integration and digital inclusion helps reduce the gap between the developed and developing world. Africa and the Middle East 2004
Theme: Pervasive Connectivity As A Tool For Development (AME) Connect-World series of magazines is the leading magazine in the telecom and ICT industry that brings together the leading industry players, regulators, associations and governments, to discuss how technological integration and digital inclusion helps reduce the gap the leading industry players, regulators, associations and governments, to discuss how technological integration and digital inclusion helps reduce the gap between the developed and developing world. 
