 | Issue: | Global-ICT 2007 |
| Article no.: | 2 | |
| Topic: | ICT in the Democratic Republic of Congo | |
| Author: | S.E. Minister Kyamusoke Bamusulanga Nta-Bote | |
| Title: | Minister of Postal and Telecommunications | |
| Organisation: | Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) | |
| PDF size: | 276KB |
About author
H.E Minister Cyprien Kyamusoke Bamusulanga Nta-Bote (MP), is an elected member of parliament for the Shabunda district in the South -Kivu Province of the D.R. Congo. The Minister extensively worked with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in his native Congo, Tunisia, and Quebec. He also worked for the World Bank in the Ivory Coast. Mr Cyprien Kyamusoke is a Chartered Certified Project Analyst. H.E Minister Cyprien Kyamusoke Bamusulanga Nta-Bote graduated from the University of Kinshasa (1977) with a Degree in Economics.
Article abstract
ICT does not yet reach much of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s society, the way it works, lives, learns and plays. It wishes to transform itself into a continental telecommunication hub and the private sector has an important role to play in this transformation. Remote populations, and especially women, must be empowered by ICT training. Wireless networks are Congo’s best hope to reach the people and bridge the digital divide. Increased mobile penetration can be a major driver of economic growth.
Full Article
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a country in the heart of Africa, the size of Eastern Europe. The DRC has undergone rapid changes in a short period of time; with 65 million people, we are one of the largest markets on the continent. We have witnessed the exponential growth of global trade and it has had an impact on our local economic performance, too. The onset of the digital age has made it natural, even essential, for the DRC to transform itself into a continental telecommunication hub capable of attracting the attention of major companies in the ICT industry. Though ICT has not yet permeated every facet of the way we work, live, learn and play to, it is our focus and commitment to allow it reach every facet of our nation. We have made a conscious effort and commitment to give key stakeholders, the people, public and private sectors the opportunity as a government to contribute their ideas and hence share in the creation of Congo’s telecommunications and digital future. Although companies have been spending large chunks of their IT budgets on ensuring that their systems talk seamlessly with each other, not many companies have invested in examining ways to improve human intensive communication processes. It is a major task, but one that can be achieved if we all contribute our unique expertise and resources. We believe that the private sector has an important role to play in helping bring the benefits of ICT to people and communities in Congo. The economic benefits of this newfound access to information and communications are increasingly well quantified in this nation; a ten per cent increase in mobile penetration in Congo can boost the annual economic growth rate by 0.6 percentage points. This is a substantial boost, given that most African nations’ economies grow by only a few percentage points each year. Thanks to the economies of scale generated by the vast global market, the cost of buying and using a mobile phone is falling steadily and mobile penetration is rising rapidly in our country. There is, nevertheless, still much to do to improve the affordability of telecommunications. Some of our people regard mobile phones and broadband Internet as luxuries rather than essential communications tools. This often leads telecom operators to increase the cost of mobile phones and mobile calls, so many people cannot afford to purchase and use a handset. We are committed to providing a wide range of telecommunications services through national telecommunication companies with low costs resulting from economies of scale. More than half of all Congolese are women, development is impossible if we do not include them, if the country is to share in the benefits of the global information society. It is imperative that our women’s productive potential is given free reign by empowering them through ICT training. Well-informed women, for example, can avoid HIV/AIDS that so ravages the continent and can reduce early pregnancies in adolescent girls. Well-informed women can also contribute greatly to the economy of our nation. We support, and will continue to support, all ICT companies planning to do business in the DRC market. We have seen the positive contribution of ICT companies operating here and we just say keep it up. Although the DRC was the first African country to accommodate and experiment with the GSM system in 1987 we still need more investors in this sector to expand coverage and usage. Finally, wireless provides the best hope we have to bridge the digital divide. We have seen this in the imaginative use of GSM phones in this country, the development of services such as mobile broadband and WiMAX offer scaleable solutions for real broadband access, not just in low-income communities but also in sparsely settled areas in developed communities. For this to happen, however, it is essential that we sweep away barriers to the development of these services, in particular, we need enough flexibility in spectrum allocation so that we can offer high-speed wireless broadband. We are a long way from this now, but the barriers are bureaucratic not technical. In addition, we should put an end to counter productive trade barriers, such as tax regimes, IPR (intellectual property rights) and standards requirements that effectively put ICT services out of the reach of poorer communities in our country. We believe that ICT solutions will provide a practical way to connect the country and the world. It is our responsibility as policy-makers to take down these barriers. In many ways, unfair perceptions have dogged Congo. The country is all often associated with such risks as unstable political environments, unpredictable economic performance and lack of financing and skilled staff. The political determination to address both the perceptions and the reality is here today. In the near future we hope to have companies like Cisco, Motorola, and Alcatel Lucent, ZTE, Nokia and others opening their offices in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
