local access solutions

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Preface

The emergence of modern Information and Communication technologies fromradio and telephones to wireless Internet applications has helped people all overthe world. In industrialized countries these tools have played an integral part in

economic, social and political development providing means for communication,information and knowledge sharing.

In developing countries the ability to communicate is more important now thanever. The divide between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots iswidening and information and communication technologies have the power toturn this development around to the benefit of millions.

The United Nations Information and Communication Task Force is a multi-stakeholder body put together by the United Nations Secretary-General KofiAnnan to forge linkages and partnerships to use ICTs for achieving the

Millennium Development Goals.

In spite of the many challenges faced by people in the developing world, theirneed for communication and empowerment through information is so large thatinnovation has spurred many interesting solutions. The local demand forinformation services has created many interesting solutions. This publication isan effort to highlight some of these initiatives to change the gloomy view that iscurrently being perpetuated in the world.

I hope that the essays you will find in the following pages will provide you withinspiration and hope for the future.

Finally I would like to extend my gratitude to all those people that havecontributed to this publication, the authors, the members of the UN ICT WorkingGroup on Low Cost Access and Connectivity, the UN ICT Task Force secretariatand our editor Catherine J. Steele.

Astrid DufborgUN ICT Task Force


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Low Cost Access and Connectivity

Local Solutions

A UN ICT Task Force Working Group Paper Series

I. GHANADemand and Supply for Access and Connectivity: The Case of GhanaBy Professor Clement Dzidonu.p. 1-20

II. UGANDAWomen of Uganda Network (WOUGNET): ICTs as tools for informationaccess among women in UgandaBy Dorothy Okello, Coordinator, WOUGNETp. 21-37

III. INDIAConnectivity and Access in IndiaBy Vickram Crishna and Arun Mehta.p. 38-57

IV. LAOSLow Cost Access and Connectivity for Laos

By: Vorasone Dengkayaphichith ..p. 58-74

V. MOZAMBIQUEThe Long Road to Universal Access in MozambiqueBy Americo Muchanga and Bjrn Pehrson.p. 75-88

VI. BENINQuelles technologies, quelles actions et quels bnficiaires pour mettreles NTIC au service du dveloppement au Nord du Bnin ?By Thomas Baboni et Javier Sim..p. 89-95

VII. CAMEROONStratgies dintgration du Cameroun la socitde linformation et de la communicationBy Jean Lucien Ewanguep. 96-103


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DEMAND AND SUPPLY FOR ACCESS AND CONNECTIVITY:THE CASE OF GHANA

Professor Clement DzidonuSenior Research Fellow

International Institute for Information Technology (INIIT)Accra, Ghana

E-mail: [email protected]

Table of Contents

1.0 A Review of the Policy and Regulatory Framework for Facilitating Access andConnectivity in Ghana

1.1 Establishing the Regulatory Agency1.2 Liberalization of the Communications Sector

2.0 The Landscape of Access and Connectivity in Ghana: Examining Some KeyIndicators of Demand and Supply

2.1 On the Provision of Telephone Services2.2 On Regional Distribution of Demand for Access: Fixed and Payphones2.3 On the Provision of Mobile Services2.4 Meeting Public Demand for Access: The Communications Centers2.5 On the Level and Spread of Internet Access and Connectivity

3.0 Examining the Supply-Side of Access and Connectivity: The Landscape of theGhanas Communications Backbone and Internet Connectivity Infrastructure

3.1 On the Nations Communications Network Backbone3.2 Exploring the Landscape of Internet Access Infrastructure

4.0 Sectorial Analysis of the Demand Side of Access and Connectivity4.1 On Ownership of Computers4.2 The Degree of Internet Access, Usage and Presence

5.0 Analyzing the Limiting Factors to the Growth and Spread of Access and Connectivityin Ghana


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Abstracts

In this paper the term access and connectivity is used to broadly examine a number of issuesrelating to access to communications infrastructure and services with specific reference to accessto telecommunication services (fixed and mobile) and to the Internet and its resources bysubscribers; namely, individuals and organizations in Ghana. A review of regulatory frameworkguiding the development of the communications sector in Ghana is provided as well as the detailsof the landscape of communications sector. Also examined are issues relating to demand andsupply of services as they relate to the much broader issue of access and connectivity. The paperexamined the rural and urban disparity of access and connectivity in quantitative and qualitativeterms and also considers the access and connectivity question in terms of specific target sectors;namely: education, public and private sectors as well as the ICT sector. Also addressed areissues relating to the affordability and sustainability of access as well as some of the factorslimiting access and connectivity in Ghana with specific reference to the Internet.

1.0 A Review of the Policy and Regulatory Framework for Facilitating Access andConnectivity in Ghana

Ghana has been one of the African countries who in the late 1990s was in the forefront of theliberalization of the telecommunications sector to attract investments and improve competitionwithin the sector. The communications sector was deregulated in 1994 when the Governmentinitiated the implementation of theAccelerated Development Program 1994-2000 (ADP 2000) -- afive year program for restructuring of the communication industry. This reform program hasbrought about a number of significant changes in the communications sector, including theintroduction of cellular phones, FM radios, cable TV and the Internet. The emergence of thesecommunications services on the Ghanaian scene gave rise to a number of institutional andregulatory initiatives including:

the separation of posts and telecommunication (P&T) into different corporations the separation of regulatory responsibilities from operational and service provision

functions the diversification of sources of telecommunication services and the creation of a new Ministry of Communication

On the whole the aim of the ADP was to create a national communications agency, increase theteledensity of the country, allow private participation in some sectors of the industry and permitother network operators to have the same rights and privileges to compete with the nationaloperator, Ghana Telecom Ltd., as a step towards introducing competition at all operational levelsof the telecommunications market place.

The ADP Program ended in 2000 with the realization of a number of its objectives includingincreasing the teledensity from 0.34 lines for 1000 inhabitants in 1994 to 1.16 lines in 2000;increasing the number of public phones per 1000 inhabitants from 0.001 in 1994 to 0.16 in 2000;

the creation of the National Communications Authority (NCA) in 1996; the licensing of a secondnational operator; the partial privatization of Ghana Telecom with Government maintaining a70% share; and the liberalization of the communication sector.


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1.1 Establishing the Regulatory Agency

The National Communications Authority (NCA) was established by an Act of Parliament in 1996to regulate communications sector. The specific objectives of the Authority are to:

ensure that communications services are provided throughout Ghana, as far as they arepracticable and reasonably necessary to satisfy demand for the services; ensure that communications system operators achieve the highest level of efficiency in

the provision of communications services and are responsive to customer and communityneeds;

promote fair competition among persons engaged in the provision of communicationsservices;

protect operators and consumers from unfair conduct of other operators with regard toquality of communications services and payment of tariffs in respect to the services;

protect the interest of consumers; facilitate the availability of quality equipment to consumers and operators; promote research into and the development of technologies and use of new techniques

by providers of communications services and to

develop adequate human resources in collaboration with such other governmentdepartments and agencies, as the Authority considers appropriate

1.2 Liberalization of the Communications Sector

The liberalization of the communications sector was a key component of the ADP. As part of itspolicy to liberalize the sector and open it up for competition, the Government granted a secondnational operating license (the "SNO License") for the provision of telecommunications servicesto Westel Telesystems. As with the license issued to Ghana Telecom (GT) the SNO Licensepermits Westel Telesystems to provide domestic and international telecommunications serviceswithin Ghana including voice telephony, leased lines, public pay phones, telegraph and telex,data, mobile and value added communication services. The GT License and the SNO Licenseallows each of the licensees to:

develop, own and operate a fixed telecommunications service system, develop, own and operate a wireless system; develop, own and operate transmission, reception, switching and any other associated

equipment for the exchange of wireline and wireless communications; develop, own and operate earth stations to be connected to other public and private satellite

communication systems; connect to other licensed public and private systems in Ghana and to public and private

telecommunications systems abroad; procure, distribute, sell, rent, install and maintain customer equipment; and offer any other related activities under the scope of the license

The GT License and the SNO License were each granted for an initial period of 20 years, with thepossibility of renewal at the expiration of the initial term as long as the licensee is in compliancewith the material provisions of its license. During the first five-year period of each license, theSNO and GT will be the exclusive operators of fixed telecommunications services in Ghana. Thisexclusivity period ended in February 2002. The liberalization of the communication sector alsoresulted in licensing Capital Telecom to provide telecommunications services to the rural areas.


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The Mobile Sector

The liberalization also brought about the introduction of mobile services into Ghana. CurrentlyGhana has four cellular phone operators:Millicom (Ghana), Celltel Ltd, Scancom Ltd and GhanaTelecom. They are all operating a GSM 900 based fully digital mobile telephone service covering

voice and data (SMS) service. Millicom, the first cellular network operator, started its operations1991. Celltel Ltd. was licensed in 1993, and became operational in 1995. Scancom Ltd. waslicensed in 1994 and became operational in 1996, and Ghana Telecom started its mobile servicesin 2001.

On the use of mobile services, according to the findings reported in the CTO and Gamos LtdStudy [1], the use of mobile phones in Ghana is a long way behind the use of fixed line phones -80% of those who participated in the study do not use mobiles (compared with only 13% notusing fixed line phones). Of those who do not use mobile phones, 98% regard themselves ashaving no access to a mobile phone.

Internet and Connectivity Service Providers

The explosion of Internet access partly due to the licensing of a number of ISPs is oftenregarded as one of the key impacts of the liberalization of the communication sector in Ghana.The Internet service market is one of the dynamic and competitive areas of Ghanas informationand communication sector. Currently over one hundred ISPs have been registered by theNational Communications Authority to provide Internet services in Ghana. The majority of theseprovide standard dial-up services of up to 56K modem speed to their customers. A numberprovides corporate link services via lease line links, wireless link and through VSATconnections.

The major ISPs operating in the country include: Network Computer Systems Ltd (NCS),Internet Ghana Ltd. and Africa Online (GH) Ltd, Some of the Universities and the ResearchInstitutes also provide Internet services to their staff and students and to the public on a limitedscale. A number of the larger ISPs like the NCS and Internet Ghana also serve as connectivity

and gateway service providers to large corporations and the smaller ISPs.

Ghana now has over 2.5MB long-haul link to the international Internet backbone via thesegateway service providers. The services provided by the ISPs in Ghana include:

Dial-up access to the Internet Leased line Connectivity for corporate bodies National Backbone connectivity services Wireless connectivity for SMEs, as well as corporate bodies and institutions. Web hosting and Publishing Services Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) services Web broadcasting services Electronic Commerce (e-commerce) services


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Table 1: Major Communications Service Providers

Telecom Operators [Fixed Line]

National operator Ghana Telecom

SNO Westel Telesystems

Regional Telecom operators Capital Telecom Ltd

Mobile OperatorsMobile operator 1 Ghana Telecom Limited

Mobile operator 2 Milicom Ghana Limited

Mobile operator 3 Scancom Ghana Limited

Mobile operator 4 CelTel Ghana

VSAT Service Providers

Provider 1 Westel Telesystems

Provider 2 Ghana Telecom

Major Internet Service Providers

Provider 1 Network Computer Systems

Provider 2 Africa Online

Provider 3 Internet Ghana

Provider 4 Africa Express Comms. LtdProvider 5 Ghana Telecom

Major Backbone Access Providers

Provider 1 Volta Comms Ltd (VoltaCom)

Provider 2 Ghana Telecom

Major Public/Corporate DataNetwork Service Providers

Provider 1 Data Telecom Ltd

Provider 2 Volta Comms Ltd (VoltaCom)

Provider 3 GS Telecom Ltd

Provider 4 Afripa Telecom Group

Provider 5 Satellite Connexions

Source: National Communications Authority, Ghana

2.0 The Landscape of Access and Connectivity in Ghana: Examining Some KeyIndicators of Demand and Supply

2.1 On the Provision of Telephone Services

Despite the achievements of the Accelerated Development Program targeted at reforming andliberalizing the communications sector, Ghana still faces a huge unmet demand for access tobasic telephone services and to other communications services including those relating to

connectivity to the Internet. For example, by 2002, Ghana had only 242,100 lines; 455,000 fixedline and mobile subscribers; a teledensity of 1.16; a waiting list for main telephone lines estimatedat close to 15,567; and a public telephones (per 1000 inhabitants) estimate at 0.16. Table 2below provides details of some of the key basic telecommunication indicators as a measure oflevel of access and connectivity in Ghana.


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Table 2: Basic Telecommunications Indicators (2002)

Level of Access and Connectivity

Total No. of Tel. Subscribes (fixed line + mobile) 455,000

Total Fixed Line Subscribers 225,000

Mobile System Subscribers 230,000

Total Number of Subscriber (per 100 inhabitants) 2.08

Main Telephone lines 242100

Teledensity 1.16

Main Tel. Line Capacity Used 82.2%

Main Telephone Line (Residential %) 42.0%

Total Residential Main Line 99,600

Residential Main Lines (per 100 inhabitants) 2.4

Digital main lines (%) 100%

Waiting list for main lines 15,567

Public telephones 4180

Public Telephones (per 1000 inhabitants) 0.17

Public Telephones as % of Main Lines 1.35

Mobile subscribers 19,3800Mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 0.93

Mobile Subscriber as % total Tel Subscribers 44.5Source: ITU World Telecom Indicators (2002) and National Communications Authority, Ghana

On the usage of telephone services; the findings of the study [1], reported in [2] shows that thevast majority of the respondents regularly use the fixed line telephone as a means ofcommunication and that usage is lower where there is no telephone coverage; in other words,coverage of the telephone network is an important determinant of level of usage of the service.

The study also shows that about 79% of respondents in what could be described as no serviceareas regularly access telephones -- an indication that there is a huge demand for telephoneaccess in these areas. This in effect points to the fact that there is a substantial un-met demand

for telephone connectivity within the country.

On the whole, these findings show that there is a huge gap between supply and demand for fixedtelephone line services and that the local telecommunication sector has the potential to grow ifthe necessary financial and technological investments are made to develop and expand thetelecommunication infrastructure to increase capacity to satisfy the documented unmet demandfor services. Also raised in [2] are issues relating to poor quality of service (QoS), unreliability ofservices, poor customer services and relations and problems relating to non-competitive fixed linephone access pricing structure.

On Access and Affordability of Telephone Services

On the question of access and affordability, telephone access tariffs in Ghana are still high evenby African standards. For example, telephone connection charges for both residential and

business users are about $75 with a 3 minutes local call of close to $1. Details of various accesscharges for both fixed-line and mobile services are provided in Table 3 below.


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Regional Distribution of Access to Telephone Services

66%

12%

6%

4%

3%

3%

2%

2%

1%

1%

Greater Accra

Ashanti

Western

Eastern

Central

Brong Ahafo

Volta

Northern

Upper East

Upper West

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Greater Accra

Ashanti

Western

Eastern

Central

Northern

Upper East

Volta

Brong Ahafo

Upper West

Fixed Telephone Subscriber Base Public Payphones (2001)

The regional distribution of the fixed line telephone subscriber base and the public payphones asillustrated above shows that the predominantly urban regions like Greater Accra and to some

extent the Ashanti and the Western regions, have close to 80% of the access to telephoneservices. The rural areas on the whole have a considerably low telephone subscriber base aswell as a low density of public payphone access. The urban-rural disparity of access andconnectivity is in effect very pronounced in the case of Ghana.

Comparing Regional Population Distribution with Fixed and Payphone Distribution

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Grea

terA

ccra

Asha

nti

Western

Easte

rn

Central

Bron

gAh

afo

Volta

North

ern

Uppe

rEast

Uppe

rWest

Fixed Tel. Line Population

0%10%20%30%40%50%

60%70%80%90%

100%

Grea

terA

ccra

Asha

nti

Western

Easte

rn

Central

North

ern

Uppe

rEast

Volta

Bron

gAh

afo

Uppe

rWest

Payphones Population

Comparing the regional distribution of population with access defined in terms of access to fixedtelephone lines and payphones, shows that the population in the urban based regions like

Greater Accra, Ashanti and the Western regions has disproportionate access to telephoneservices compared to the population in those regions that are predominantly rural based. Alsogiven that access to Internet services in most cases depends on access to telephone networkservices, it could be argued that the rural populations are also considerably disadvantaged interms of Internet access and connectivity. In fact, evidence shows that there is a huge disparitybetween the urban and rural areas in terms of Internet access and connectivity.


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2.3 On the Provision of Mobile Services

In relation to the demand and supply of mobile services, although there has been an explosionin services, the over-subscribed nature of most of the mobile networks has given rise to poorinterconnectivity and quality of service (QoS). According to [2], because of the limited coverage ofthe fixed line telecommunication infrastructure, the long waiting time (of close to a year or more)to get a fixed line phone connection and in some cases the poor quality of services of the fixedtelephone operators, the use of mobile phones as an alternative means of communications israpidly developing in Ghana. However the geographical coverage of the mobile phone services ison the whole still limited --- with some mobile operators having services in just some of the mainurban centers and cities.

Although mobile phones offer the convenience of mobility and time saving as per the findings ofthe CTO and Gamos Study [1], the cost of acquisition and ownership (including usage cost) ofmobile phone services is comparatively much higher than in the case of fixed line phoneservices. In effect only a small section of the population can afford mobile phones and services.

In fact it has been discovered that in the case of Ghana, the availability of mobile services in aparticular community does not necessary translate into a high acquisition of mobile phones andthe usage of mobile phone services. According to [2] a major barrier to the use of mobile services

is the cost of acquisition, ownership and the cost of usage of the service. Affordability, it is pointedout, is a major barrier to the use of mobile phone services in Ghana.

The point is also made in [2] to the effect that subscribers of mobile services in Ghana are alsoexperiencing problems associated with poor quality of service (QoS) resulting from, among otherthings: poor interconnection between the mobile phone networks and between the mobilenetworks and the fixed telephone networks; poor call completion rates mainly due to the over-subscription of the existing capacity of the networks of the mobile service providers; and theunfair pricing structure for the use of mobile phone services. Competition in the mobile sector hasnot contributed to addressing a number of the poor QoS issues facing the sector.

2.4 Meeting Public Demand for Access: The Communications Centers

In Ghana, communication centers no doubt serve as the most popular telephone and other basiccommunications service access points in most parts of the country. Because of their availabilityand easy reach within most neighborhoods and communities, communications centers are thepreferred means of access to telephone, fax and Internet services for most households in Ghana--- Customers according to the findings of the CTO and Gamos Study [1] prefer these centersover public payphone booths.

According to [3], most communities in both the urban centers and rural areas have a number ofstrategically located communication centers serving on average 5 to 10 households in a givenneighborhood. The use of these centers is popular in communities in which the majority of thehouseholds do not have telephones at home. Most of these types of neighborhood are inhabitedby low income households. The communication centers therefore play a key role in facilitatinguniversal access to communication services for a large section of the Ghanaian society. Most ofthese centers provide local telephone access with some providing IDD, fax services and cyber

caf services. A key observation is that; the majority of Ghanaian without Internet access athome or work places makes use of the cyber caf facilities of the communications centers to gainaccess to the Internet.

As pointed out in [2], it could be argued that the overwhelming popularity of communicationcenters is yet further evidence of the large pool of unmet demand for telecommunication systemsin the communities. The potential for growth in the telecommunications services sector doestherefore exist. In other words, there is no doubt that the popularity of the communicationscenters apart from demonstrating the publics need to have access is also an indication of the


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huge gap that now exists between the demand and supply of alternative means of affordableaccess.

2.5 On the Level and Spread of Internet Access and Connectivity

With the availability of a reasonably adequate national communication backbone and variousInternet connectivity infrastructure options and solutions, Ghana, like most African countries, nowhas full Internet connectivity, with long-haul connection to the international backbone of theInternet at rates above 2.5MB. In fact, Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African country (outsideSouth Africa) to have full Internet connectivity, in 1995 [4]. Prior to this there were a number of e-mail systems, based primarily on Fidonet and UUCP.

Table 4: Other ICT Indicators

PC (Per 1000 persons) 3

Internet Hosts 235

Long-Haul Internet Bandwidth 2.5+ MB

Internet Users (per 1,000 persons) 40,500

Radios (per 1000 persons) [2000] 710

TVs (per 1000 persons) [2000] 118

Source: ITU World Telecom Indicators (2002) and National Communications Authority, Ghana

With over a dozen major ISPs currently operating in Ghana, a number of organizations in thepublic and private sector have at least a dial-up link to the Internet. These include the largeprivate sector businesses like financial institutions, the National Utilities, the mining companiesand small and medium size (SMEs) businesses, the universities, colleges and researchinstitutions as well as a dozens of secondary schools; the Government Ministries and other PublicSector Organizations (PSOs); International Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations(NGOs), and hundreds of thousands of individual subscribers. Most of the connectedorganizations and private individuals with access use the Internet mainly for e-mail and forbrowsing the Web. The larger organizations especially those in the private sector have somepresence on the Web, but most of the SMEs do not have websites.

Although the Internet subscriber base has increased in the last couple of years, the majority ofthose with access are based in main urban centers, with the rural areas grossly underserved.Basic telephone coverage in the rural areas is limited, with a large section of the country, eitherhaving limited connectivity to the Internet or extremely low speed connectivity. In effect theInternet has yet to spread to the rural areas of Ghana.

In fact,one of the greatest challenges of providing Internet services in Ghana relates to what isnormally referred to as the 'last mile' problem; that is, how to extend the services to the remotecenters to spread the use of the technology. There are three main reasons for this lack of ruralconnectivity: (i) lack of adequate telecommunications infrastructure in these areas to support theconnectivity, (ii) the affordability of the service and (iii) lack of awareness by potential users of theInternet in some cases and ignorance about what it can be use for.


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3.0 Examining the Supply-Side of Access and Connectivity: The Landscape of theGhanas Communications Backbone and Internet Connectivity Infrastructure

We examine in this section the broad issues relating to the basic infrastructure for supporting

access and connectivity with specific reference to the components of the communicationsbackbone of the country and the specific types of infrastructure for supporting Internet access andconnectivity nation-wide.

3.1 On the Nations Communications Network Backbone

Ghanas communications network backbone for supporting domestic and international data andvoice services is made up of a number of separate (not-integrated) networks owned by differentoperators. These include:

(i) a partial national fibre backbone network, consisting of the fibre networks of Voltacom, madeup of about 900km of fibre covering a major session of Southern portion of the country; theGhana Telecoms Metro Fibre Network covering sections of Accra, the capital city; and the28,800 km SAT-3/WASC submarine fibre cable network (partly owned by Ghana Telecom and adozen other Telecom Operators of a number of African countries including, South Africa, Nigeria,Benin, Cameroon, Senegal etc);

(ii) a satellite network with VSAT facilities, made up of components invariably owned by GhanaTelecom and other private corporate bandwidth access service providers like ISPs and InternetGateway and Bandwidth Service Providers and

(iii) Microwave Network, comprising of various inter-city microwave links owned mainly by GhanaTelecom. In addition some of the mobile service providers have installed there own networkcovering some section of the country.

3.2 Exploring the Landscape of Internet Access Infrastructure

Internet access in Ghana is based on a variety of connectivity infrastructures. Generally, thesecan be classified in terms of types of (i) long-haul and short-haul connectivity to the Internetbackbone being deployed by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Bandwidth or GatewayService Providers, (ii) connectivity options available to subscribers, namely individuals andorganizations; and (iii) client access systems and platforms used by subscribers to access theInternet. We examine each of these below.

Types of Long-haul and Short-haul connectivity to the Internet Backbone

The majority of ISPs and Bandwidth or Gateway Service providers in Ghana connect theirsystems to the Internet backbone mainly via a long-haul satellite/VSAT link with downlink facilitiesin either North America (mainly USA) or Europe. A number of these providers do have anationwide VSAT network that connects their POPs (points of presence) in key regional capitals

and major towns to the Internet backbone via a central VSAT base/hub or gateway facility in thecapital city, Accra.

Some of these providers connect sections of their national networks via leased- landline and/orwireless links that provide a short-haul connectivity of their POPs and in some cases their majorcorporate subscribers to their central system/hub at their headquarters which then connects tothe Internet backbone over a long-haul link. The bandwidth of the long-haul connectivity to theInternet backbone by local ISPs and Internet Gateway Service Providers is on overage above2.5MBits/sec.


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Short-haul Connectivity Options Available to Subscribers

Subscribers including individuals and organizations connect to the Internet through their localISPs through a variety of means. These include: dial-up connectivity (landline); dial-upconnectivity (wireless/cellular); leased landline connectivity; wireless [non-dial up] link (2.4GHz,3.4GHz etc), and direct VSAT link (C-band. Ku-band).

Dial-up connectivity which is popular with households and some SMEs is mainly via land-linetelephone links using standard 56K modem access to local ISPs with or without a POP in thelocality of the subscriber. Most ISPs have POPs in the major cities of Ghana but subscribers in alarge section of the country, especially those in the rural areas and the northern parts of thecountry still have to link to the nearest POP of their ISPs by making trunk calls.

A number of the ISPs also provide dial-up wireless access but this type of connectivity is notcommon. Some local ISPs are also providing a non-dialup wireless link (2.4GHz, 3.4GHz etc),services to subscribers like the schools, telecenters, Internet Cafs, and SMEs as a fasteralternative to dial-up connections. Direct VSAT connection to the Internet via either a local ISP orvia an international bandwidth provider with a local agent is increasingly becoming a faster andmore affordable alternative to the Internet for a number of Universities and corporate subscribers.

Types of Client Access Systems and Platforms

Subscribers including individuals and corporate subscribers to the Internet use a variety of accesssystems and platforms including: stand-alone computers, wiredline local area networks, wirelesslocal area networks (WLANs), wiredline campus networks (spread-over a number of buildings onthe same campus), wireless campus networks (spread-over a number of buildings on the samecampus), corporate backbone networks (wiredline, wireless or combination) and nationalbackbone networks (wiredline, wireless or combination).

The vast majority of dial-up household-based subscribers use stand-alone computers (desktop orlaptops), while organizations and institutions mainly connect their users via computer network-based systems with a common Internet gateway access. Most of the organizations connects viaa LAN (wiredline or wireless LAN), with only a limited number of organizations having campus or

corporate backbone network connectivity to the Internet. A number of the Banks and some of thevery large corporations with national branches have a nation-wide backbone network throughwhich their employees connect to the Internet via a gateway facility at corporate headquarters.On the question of types of usage of Internet access, on the whole, subscribers (includingindividuals, households and corporate subscribers) use their Internet access mainly for e-mail,web access and browsing and in some cases for information distribution, publicity and marketing,and for access to research, learning and teaching materials, etc.

4.0 Sectorial Analysis of the Demand Side of Access and Connectivity

We present below some of the relevant findings of the Scan-ICT study [5] on the deployment andexploitation of ICTs within key sectors of the Ghanaian economy. Specific emphasis is laid onthose aspects of the findings of the study which relate to the broader issue of access andconnectivity within key sectors like the ICT Sector, the public and private sectors as well as theeducational sector. For each of these sectors we examine issues relating to (ii) the spread ofownership of computers (specifically home ownership) as a measure of the degree of spread of akey access and connectivity device --- the personal computer; and (ii) the degree of Internetaccess, usage and presence (web presence).


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4.1 On Ownership of Computers

The ICT Sector

The findings of the Scan-ICT study show that the staff of the majority of the ICT companies hasand uses computers at home. About 86% of the companies surveyed indicated that some

proportion of their staff do have computers at home. Of these 53% stated that less than 10% oftheir staff has computers at home with only about 2% indicating that all their staff (100%) hascomputers at home.

Distribution of Home Ownership of Computers

About 75 % About 100%

About 25%

About 50%

Below 10%

Source: The Ghana Scan-ICT Survey, 2002, 2002, INIIT

On the whole, the majority of the companies (80%) surveyed have less than a quarter of theirstaff with computers at home. This figure, coupled with the fact that about 14% of the companiesreport having none of their staff with computers at home, indicates a relatively low prevalence ofhome ownership of computers among the staff of ICT companies in Ghana.

The Public and Private Sector

The results of the nationwide Scan-ICT survey on the home ownership of computers byemployees of public and private sector organizations and establishments show that: a high 81%of organizations have some proportion of their staff that own and use computers at home.Sectorially, about 68% of the public sector organizations have staff with computers at home. Thecorresponding figures for the private sector and the NGO sector are: 81% and 93% respectively.

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

All Sectors Publ ic Sector Private Sector NGOs

Home Ownership of Computers

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

All

Sectors

Public

Sector

Private

Sector

NGOs

Distribution of H ome Computer Ownership

About 100%

About 75 %

About 50%

About 25%

Below 10%

Looking at the findings on a sectorial basis, while as high as 95% of the public sectororganizations reported having less than 10% of their staff having computers at home, the private


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sector organizations recorded just about 67% with the NGO figure at 31%. Only 3% of the publicsector organizations have about a quarter of their staff with computers at home; thecorresponding figures for the private sector and the NGOs are: 22% and 46% respectively.

The Education Sector

The Schools

A number of Ghanaian schools, especially the secondary schools have computers. About 79% ofthe schools reported having computers, with the average number of computers per schoolestimated at 19. Of the schools with computers, about 53% reported using computers to supportschool administrative work, with a high 97% reporting using the computers to support teachingand only 16% indicated using their computers to access the Internet. This survey shows that nota high proportion of schools with computers use the computers for access to the Internet.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

To Support School

Admin. work

To support

Teaching

Access theInternet

Type of Computer Usage in Schools

On the issue of home ownership of computers, the Scan-ICT survey shows that home ownershipof computers by teachers is not widespread in Ghanaian school, only about 25% of the schoolsreported having staff that have computers at home. Close to 63% of the schools reported thattheir staff do not have computers at home. Of those schools with staff who are home owners of

computers, the majority reported that below 10% of their staff have computers at home. Only 2%of the schools reported that close to a quarter of their staff have computers at home.

The Universities and Colleges

A high percentage of university staff indicated having computers at home. Of all the Universityand College departments surveyed close to 82% of the departments indicated having somepercentage of their staff with computers at home. The corresponding figure for the Engineering,Computing and Computer Science departments is 74%.

4.2 The Degree of Internet Access, Usage and Presence

The ICT Sector

About 86% of the ICT companies that were surveyed have Internet connectivity; the majority ofthese have a dial-up access through a local ISP. Some of the medium to large-scale ones dohave leased line access (fixed, wireless) to the Internet via an ISP. Of the companies with accessto the Internet, 28% reported using it for e-mail, 25% for access to the Web and just 11%indicated using the Internet for advertising the marketing of their services while only 12% reportedusing the Internet for providing information and publicity about their organization. With most of thecompanies reporting using the Internet for a number of purposes, the majority are involved inusing it for e-mail and Web browsing rather than for the promoting or marketing of their services


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E-ma

il

Access

tothe

We

b

Down

loa

ding

Ma

teria

ls

Provi

ding

info/pu

blicity

Advert

ising

/mar

ke

ting

Types of Internet Usage

On the question of Web presence, about 65% of the ICT companies surveyed do not have apresence on the Internet. In other words, only 35% of the companies reported having a Web siteon the Internet. Relating to electronic commerce, the vast majority (84%) of the companies

reported no involvement in e-commerce. Although a relatively high percentage of Ghanaian ICTcompanies have access to the Internet, most of them use it for e-mail and web browsing, withvery few using it for facilitating, promoting or selling their products and services. The resources ofthe Internet, as a tool for business and commerce, have yet to make their mark on the GhanaianICT sector and industry.

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Internet Access Web Presence E-Commerce

Internet Access, Web Presence and E-commerce

Involvement

The Public and Private Sector

The Scan-ICT survey on the level of Internet connectivity within the public and private sectorshows that: close to 81% of the public and private sector organizations including the NGOs haveaccess to the Internet. Sectorially, 69% of the public sector organization have Internet access

compared to 90% of the private sector establishment and 100% in the case of the NGOs.


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Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

All Sectors Public Sector Private Sector NGOs

Internet Access

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

All Sectors Public

Sector

Private

Sector

NGOs

Spread of Internet Usage within Organizations

0% (none)

below 10%

About 25%

About 50%

About 75 %

Of the organizations with Internet access, 44% reported that below 10% of their staff uses theInternet; while about 14% reported that about a quarter of their staff uses the Internet. On thewhole, although close to 81% of public and private sector organizations have Internet access, thevast majority of them reported less than half of their staff that using the Internet.

Examining the results in terms of the spread of usage of the Internet within each sector, about

54% of the connected public sector organizations reported that less than 10% of their staff usesthe Internet. The corresponding figures for the private sector and the NGO sector are: 45% and31% respectively.

In relation to the type of usage of the resources of the Internet, about 30% of the organizationsuse the Internet for e-mail while 26% use it for Web browsing and 24% for downloading materials,among other things. Only 14% use the Internet for providing information or publicity materialabout their organizations. A much lower percentage of 7% use the Internet for advertising ormarketing their products or services. On the whole the majority of the public and private sectororganizations do not use the Internet to promote or inform their prospective clients or the public atlarge about what they do or the services they offer.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

All

Sectors

Public

Sector

Private

Sector

NGOs

Types of Internet Usage

E-mail

Access to the Web

Downloading Materials

Providing info/publicity

about the organization

Advertising and/or

marketing

In relation to Web presence, just about 48% of the organizations indicated that they have their

own web site. On the whole a higher proportion of private sector organizations (about 58%) haveweb-sites compared to 41% of public sector companies and 54% of NGOs. By comparing thesectors in terms of the degree of Internet access and the level of web presence of theorganizations within each of the sectors, we see that for all sectors only a small proportion ofthose with Internet access have Web sites. The relatively low level of Web presence of theseorganizations implies that Ghanaian organizations are weak on content development in relation tothe Internet.


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0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

All SectorsPublic Sector Private

Sector

NGOs

Comparing Internet Access and Web Presence

Interne Access Web Presence

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

All Sectors Public Sector Private Sector NGOs

Internet Access, Web Presence and Involvement

in E-Commerce

Internet Access Web Presence E-Commerce Involvement

Across all sectors, the proportion of organizations with Web presence is relatively lower than theproportion with Internet access, and the proportion involved in e-commerce is considerably lowerthan those with Web presence. Also, for all sectors there is a huge disparity between thepercentages of organization with Internet access compared to those involved in e-commerce.Very few Ghanaian establishments across all sectors are using the Internet to promote theirorganization and to do business.

The Education Sector

The Schools

A high percentage of Ghanaian schools dont have access to the Internet. Of the schoolssurveyed nationally 81% of them reported not having connectivity to the Internet. Most of theschools with access to the Internet use it for e-mail, Web browsing and for downloading teachinglearning materials. Of the schools with Internet connectivity, 29% reported that access isavailable to staff only with 14% having access to their students only. About 86% of the schoolsreported making the access available to both their students and staff.

On the duration of access, the vast majority of the Ghanaian schools with access to the Internet

had connectivity for less than a year. About 43% of the schools reported having access for lessthan a year, while 29% reported having access for 1 to 2 years. About 14% indicated havingconnectivity to the Internet in the last 2 to 3 years. None of the schools surveyed have hadaccess for more than 4 years. About 14% of the schools reported having Internet access in thepast, but not the present. In other words their connectivity was terminated for one reason oranother.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

less than

a year,

1- 2 years, 2- 3 years, 3-4 years 4-5 years more than

5 years

Duration of Access to the Internet (To-Date)


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Of the schools with access to the Internet, only 14% indicated having free access, where theschools does not pay for the service from its own resources. As high as 43% of the schoolsindicated paying for their Internet connectivity and usage from their own resources, with another43% reporting paying for some of the cost.

Universities and Colleges

Close to about 42% of all the Department and Units within the Universities and Colleges surveyedhave access to the Internet. The corresponding figure for the Engineering, Computing andComputer Science (Eng. & CS) departments is slightly higher at 48%. Of those departments withaccess to the Internet, 41% indicated that access is available to only the academic andadministrative staff, with none reporting access to students only. About 59% of those departmentswith Internet access reported making the access available to both their staff and students. Thecorresponding figures for those Engineering, Computing and Computer Science departments withInternet access show that 47% of them have access available to only their staff while 53%indicate that both staff and students of their departments have access to the Internet

On the duration of access, most of the departments and units within the universities and collegeshad access to the Internet for less than 3 years. Of the departments and units surveyed about

42% had access for less than one year with 21% of them having access between 1 and 2 years,and 17% indicating that they had their Internet access between 2- 3 years. Of all the universitydepartments surveyed, only 1% reported having access to the Internet for more than 5 years.

In relation to what the Universities and Colleges use their Internet access for, about 38% of thosedepartments with Internet access indicated using it for e-mail, with 33% indicating using theInternet for Web access and browsing, and with 29% reporting using it for downloading materials.The corresponding figures for the Engineering, Computing and Computer Science (Eng. & CS)departments are: a high 93% reported using their Internet access for e-mail, 87% indicating usingit also for Web access and 80% for downloading materials.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

E-mail Access to the

Web

Downloading

materials

What Depts/Units use the Internet for

All Departments Eng & CS

In relation to meeting the cost of Internet access, only 2% of the departments indicated that theyhave free access to the Internet. In other words, some other agency pays for the cost of access.

Of all the departments surveyed within the universities, a high 81% indicated that they meet thecost of their Internet access from their own resources, while 17% reported that they meet part ofthe cost. The corresponding figures for Engineering, Computing and Computer Science (Eng. &CS) departments are: 60% meeting all cost and 7% meeting part of the cost.


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0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Free Access Pay for all

Access Cost

Pay part of

Access Cost

Paying for Cost of Internet Access

All Departments Eng & CS

5.0 Analyzing the Limiting Factors to the Growth and Spread of Access andConnectivity in Ghana

Despite the modest achievements in Internet access and connectivity in Ghana, there are still anumber of technological (infrastructural), environmental, operational and financial bottlenecksinhibiting the spread of access and connectivity throughout the country. A key limiting factor aspointed out earlier is the poor telecommunication infrastructure in some parts of the country. Thecoverage of the Internet in a given country can only go as far as the telecommunicationsinfrastructure extends. For example, the findings of the CTO and Gamos Study [1] established alink between the level and the availability of telecommunication services and the level of use ofthe Internet. In other words the availability of the necessary communications infrastructure tosupport access to the Internet is essential for promoting the growth and the use of the Internetand its resources within the society at large. Some of the telecommunication bottlenecks that isinhibiting access and connectivity in the case of Ghana are:

- the non-existence or the inadequacy of telecommunication infrastructure in someparts of the country, especially in the rural areas.

- low-speed lines for dial-up connectivity to the systems of the ISPs

- poor quality of connections, especially in the case of subscribers residing outsidethe cities

- narrow- bandwidth of links to the Internet- limited coverage of telecommunications infrastructure- limited number of lines at the ISPs end of the connection- high Internet connectivity charges and usage cost- high cost of equipment (e.g. computers modems etc)

Other Limiting Factors to the Spread of Access and Connectivity in Ghana

According to [3] some of the other limiting factors to the growth and the spread of the Internet inGhana include:

The high cost of connectivity to Internet backbones: The high cost of the available long-haul linkto the high-speed Internet backbones (in mainly North America and Europe) is one of the keyobstacles to Internet growth in Ghana. As should be expected, this high long-haul connectivitycost usually translates into high subscription and connection charges to the ordinary subscribersand as such raises the issue of service affordability from the point of view of end-users andservice sustainability from the point of view of the ISPs.

The cost to subscribers: Cost to subscribers is another limiting factor. Most organizations andindividual subscribers cannot afford the running cost of access to the Internet through the localISPs. In fact, the user-base of some of the ISPs is very limited as a result.


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Limited financial resources: Most of the small to medium-sized ISPs in Ghana have problemsraising the necessary financial resources needed to get a viable operation off the ground and tosustain it. Some of these start-up ISPs are by local entrepreneurs, most of whom lack thenecessary credit track record to raise finance from the banks and local or foreign investors. Infact, some of the local ISP initiatives have not expanded after years of operation simply becausethey lack the capital to benefit from economics of scale and revenues from a wider user-base.

Organizational bottlenecks: These include: (i) lack of motivation at both management and stafflevel in relation to the need for Internet connectivity to support organizational activities andoperations; (ii) lack of a dedicated technology champion or a group of champions to establish thecase for the for connectivity, (iii) lack of management support and appreciation of the value of theInternet technology to support the operations of the organization; (iv) lack of awareness andappreciation amongst staff and availability of human resources to implement the use of thetechnology at the organizational level

Shortage of technical skill: One other key factor that is constraining the growth of access andconnectivity to the Internet in Ghana is the acute shortage of technical staff to design, install,operate, troubleshoot, support and maintain Internet nodes/hosts and backbone networks as wellas provide technical support for end-users. Numerous Internet initiatives and projects areseriously constrained to the extent of being delayed, postponed or poorly implemented technically

simply because there is not enough technical expertise with the requisite computer networkingand Internet node installation and operation skill to go around. Internet Service Providers as wellas large corporations, organizations, colleges and universities and large research institutionsimplementing their own organizational or campus-based Internet systems are forced to rely on ahandful of local technical experts that are difficult to recruit and retain.

Lack of awareness: Although the Internet is now a household word in most parts of the world,there is still a large proportion of the Ghanaian population who are not aware of what it is allabout. This lack of awareness, especially in relation to the value of access to the Internet tosupport the operations and activities of organizations and institutions in the private and the publicsetup, is one of the reasons for the slow take off and growth of the Internet in the country.

References

1. The CTO and Gamos Ltd Study: E-mail and Internet; Fixed, Mobile and Public Phones;Telephone Shops: Current and Prospective Use, Ghana, The CommonwealthTelecommunication Organization (CTO) and Gamos 2003

2. Dzidonu C.K (2003) An Analysis of the Policy Development and Business Strategy Implicationsof the Findings of the Study on the Use of Communication Services in Rural and Low-IncomeCommunities in Africa: The Case of Ghana, Commonwealth Telecommunication Organization(CTO), 2003

3. Dzidonu C.K and Adeya C.N, (2000); The ICT Policy Environment and the Impact of theEmerging Educational Technologies on the Education and Training Delivery System in

Ghana, International Labour Organization (ILO), Geneva, August, 2000

4. Tevie W., Quaynor N. and Bulley A. [1995), Development of the Internet in Ghana,Proceeding of INET 95

5. Dzidonu C.K (2002) An Empirical Study of the Development, Deployment and theExploitation of ICTs in Ghana: The Ghana Scan-ICT Report, IDRC/ECA, 2002


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Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET):ICTs as tools for information access among women in Uganda

By Dorothy Okello, Coordinator, WOUGNETE-mail: [email protected]

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction

2.0 Situational overview of communications in Uganda2.1 Communication policies in Uganda2.2 Pricing for telecommunication services

3.0 ICTs as tools for information access among women in Uganda3.1 Overview of WOUGNET activities

4.0 Challenges in using ICTs for communication among women in Uganda4.1 Information access for rural women

5.0 ALFA Rural Information and Communication Centre (ALFA-RICC)5.1 Information needs served by the ALFA-RICC5.2 ALFA-RICC: The technology5.2.1 Management of the ICT infrastructure5.3 Planning for information demand within the community

6.0 Concluding remarks

List of AcronymsANNEX I: WOUGNET Organization Members (July 2003)


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Table 1: Communications Sector Comparative Figures for 1996 - 2002Service Dec 1996 Oct 1998 Dec 1999 Jul 2001 Dec 2002

Fixed Telephone Lines 45,145 56,196 58,261 56,149 59,472Mobile Cellular Subscribers 3,000 12,000 72,602 276,034 505,627Internet/Email Subscribers 504 1,308 4,248 5,999 6,500National Telecom. Operators 1 2 2 2 2

Mobile Cellular Operators 1 2 2 3 3VSAT International Data Gateways 2 3 7 8 8Internet Service Providers 2 7 9 11 17Private FM Radio Stations 14 28 37 112 117Private Television Stations 4 8 11 20 22Private Radio Comm. Licenses 453 530 688 800 1,225National Postal Operator 1 1 1 1 1Courier Service Providers 2 7 11 10 11

The following subsections highlight key communication policies in Uganda and present the tariffsfor a variety of communication services.

2.1 Communication policies in Uganda

Ugandas vision for ICT development is a Uganda where national development, especiallyhuman development and good governance, are sustainably enhanced, promoted and acceleratedby efficient application and use of ICT, including timely access to information.3 The current statusof ICTs in Uganda is influenced by various policies and regulations, including, the Press andJournalist Statute 1995, the Electronic Media Statute 1996, the Uganda Communications Act1997, the Rural Communications Development Policy 2001, and the Draft National ICT Policy2002.

The primary objective of the Uganda Communications Act is to increase the penetration and levelof telecommunication services in Uganda through private sector investment rather than throughgovernment intervention. The Communications Act provided for two national telephone operatorsfor a period of five years effective from July 2000. The two national operators are UgandaTelecom Limited (UTL) and MTN Uganda. UTL was formed in 1995 from the national telecomprovider, Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (UP&TC). In 1996, UTL wasprivatized with the government of Uganda retaining 49% shares and 51% shares being held by aconsortium comprising Telecel (Switzerland), Detecon (Germany) and Orascom (Egypt).

The two national operators are licensed to provide a whole range of communications servicesincluding landline, mobile, data and internet services. For example, as a result of theCommunications Act, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) stopped issuing newInternational Data Gateway licenses in July 2000. However, there are minor licenses that can beprovided to other operators for services such as paging, store and forward messaging, andprivate telecommunications services.

Taking into account both mobile and fixed services lines, Ugandas teledensity has grown toabout 1 line per 100 people from 0.21 per hundred people at the end of 1996.4 On average,

3 Ugandas Working Document for the Second Preparatory Meeting for the World Summit on the

Information Society (WSIS), Geneva, Switzerland, February 2003. Accessed July 21, 2003, from

http://www.ucc.co.ug/papers/consultative.html

4 Rural Communications Development Policy for Uganda. Uganda Communications Commission. July

2001.


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however, communication services are limited to within a 10 km radius from district headquartersor major towns. In 2001, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) developed the RuralCommunications Development Policy with three general objectives:(a) to provide access to basic communication services within a reasonable distance to all people

in Uganda,(b) to ensure effective utilization of the Rural Communications Development Fund (RCDF) to

leverage investment in rural communication development, and(c) to promote ICT usage in Uganda.

The RCD policy defines basic services as a package of essential, supported services. Thepackage shall be defined to initially include voice grade access to public telephony networks andpublic access to where stamps can be bought, and where letters can be posted and collected.The RCDF is managed and administered by the UCC, and its major sources of funding are UCCbudgetary allocations, donations and grants from development partners, specifically targeteddonations, government inputs and contributions from all service providers.

2.2 Pricing for telecommunication services

As noted earlier, UTL and MTN Uganda have licenses to provide landline, mobile, data and

internet services. A sample of the tariffs for a variety of services is provided in the following tablesbased on UTLs pricing structure.

a) Basic landline service

UTL has two basic landline services - Classic (post-paid) and Telesaver (pre-paid). Table 2presents UTL landline tariffs for the classic landline.5 An exchange rate of 1 US$ = 2,000 UgandaShillings is used in the table.

Table 2: Tariffs in US$ for telephone calls from UTL landlineClassic Landline installation (VAT exclusive)

Connection fee 60

ISDN monthly rental 10 (per channel)Optional telephone set 32.50 (and above)

Telephone charges per minute (VAT exclusive)

Standard rate Relax (night) rate Family Sunday rate

Local calls 0.06 0.04 0.03Internet countrywide 0.05 0.04 0.03National calls 0.09 0.06 0.05Mango (UTL mobile service) 0.09 0.06 0.05MTN (Second national operator) 0.14 0.11 0.11Celtel (Mobile service provider) 0.16 0.14 0.14East Africa, Burundi, Rwanda 0.33 0.30 0.30UK, South Africa, North America 0.65 0.45

India, United Arab Emirates 0.80 0.70Europe 0.73 0.50Middle East, South/CentralAmerica, Asia, Australia, NewZealand, Africa

0.90 0.70

Special countries (27 countries) 1.50 1.50

5 UTL Classic Landline Tariffs (VAT exclusive). Accessed July 7, 2003, from

http://www.utl.co.ug/landline/tariffs.htm


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b) Dial-up internet service

Table 3 presents the tariffs for UTLs dial-up internet service.6

The dial-up connection providesspeeds of at least 14.4 Kbps and all categories include a 10 MB mailbox for each subscriber.

Table 3: Tariffs in US$ for Internet/email dial-up services from UTLCategory Description of service Installation fee Monthly fee

Diamond E-mail and Internet, unlimited 30 45Platinum E-mail and Internet, up to 30 hours/month 30 30Gold E-mail, up to 20 MB 30 20Silver E-mail, up to 10 MB 30 10Moonlighters E-mail and Internet, 7:00pm + all day weekends 30 35

While most ISPs are based within Kampala, UTL does provide a national number that can beused to make local calls to connect to an ISP from any part of the country (where UTL hasservice). The major ISPs in Uganda include Africa Online (2-3000 subscribers), Infocom (2-4000),UTL (2,500), Spacenet (500) and One2Net (500). 7

In May 2003, the Uganda Internet Exchange Point (UIXP) was setup and five ISPs are currentlylinked to the exchange. It is expected that the UIXP will result in cost savings on internationalbandwidth as local traffic stays local. There are two costs for ISPs involved with the UIXP: acapital cost of US$ 1,500 for a router and an operational monthly cost of US$1,000.The UgandaCommunications Commission (UCC) has been instrumental in the UIXPs development and theUK Department for International Development (DFID) provided the initial start-up capital.

c) High-speed data service

UTL has a high-speed data network that uses xDSL technology over copper wires and that hasdata nodes in Kampala and 18 towns in Uganda. Within the Kampala area, UTL also provides awireless local loop. Table 4 presents the UTL monthly tariffs for leased line (point-to-point)

dedicated bandwidth circuits.8 A one-time installation fee and hardware charges are extra.

Table 4: Monthly tariffs in US$ for dedicated bandwidth circuits (VAT exclusive)Speed(Kbps)

0-50km

51-100km

101-150

151-200

201-250

251-300

301-350

351-400

Over400 km

64 188 343 499 654 809 964 1,120 1,275 1,430128 273 498 723 948 1,173 1,398 1,623 1,849 2,074256 395 721 1,047 1,373 1,699 2,025 2,351 2,677 3,003512 687 1,254 1,820 2,387 2,953 3,520 4,087 4,653 5,220768 847 1,546 2,244 2,943 3,641 4,340 5,038 5,737 6,435

1,024 1,111 2,026 2,942 3,858 4,774 5,690 6,606 7,522 8,4371,536 1,148 2,095 3,042 3,989 4,936 5,883 6,830 7,776 8,723

2,048 1,261 2,301 3,341 4,381 5,421 6,461 7,501 8,501 9,581

6 UTL Internet Services Dial-up Tariffs. Accessed July 7, 2003, from

http://www.utl.co.ug/internet/tariffs.htm7

Ugandas Internet Exchange Point opens after a long gestation, Balancing Act's News Update 162 (22June 2003).8 UTL Data Services Tariffs. Accessed July 7, 2003, from http://www.utl.co.ug/data/tariffs.htm


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3.0 ICTs as Tools for Information Access Among Women in Uganda

Challenges to ICT use and access in Uganda are many and well documented. ICT access is outof reach for many; in terms of availability as well as cost of service. Women in Uganda face majorbarriers to accessing telecommunication services since 80% of them live in rural areas. Further, a1998 UNESCO survey on the available sources of information for development in Uganda

revealed that most of the available sources of information are either out of reach of rural womenor fall short of their information needs.9 This is a finding that still holds true today.

However, obstacles should not be perceived as deterrents, and indeed a number of womenorganizations have had a long interest in the use of the internet to share news andannouncements, as well as tips on computer and Internet usage. Until 2000, there were noorganizations in Uganda facilitating information exchange from within and abroad. Consultationswith several women organizations led to a consensus that a network should be formed and thatWOUGNET, upon formation, should establish a companion website on which to profile the workof women organizations as well as an electronic mailing list to facilitate information sharing anddissemination.

Thus, WOUGNET emerged to fill the need for information sharing and dissemination bycapitalizing on the opportunities available with email and the Internet. Annex 1 presents a currentlist of women organizations in Uganda that are WOUGNET members. Today, the WOUGNETwebsite and mailing lists remain key sources of information about and for women organizations inUganda, and are a key resource for members and interested partners. The website waslaunched in May 2000 and can be accessed at http://www.wougnet.org.

3.1 Overview of WOUGNET activities

WOUGNET activities can be categorized as email-based, web-based and on-ground. Email-based activities include administration of the WOUGNET general mailing list as a space forwomen and women organizations to exchange and disseminate information. Information postedhas included conferences and workshops being conducted, requests for information (RFIs) oncurrent developments in various fields such as gender, agriculture, technology, health, etc., as

well as postings by potential volunteers for various activities. As of July 2003, there are over 200subscribers on the WOUGNET mailing list, up from 50 subscribers at the end of 2000.

WOUGNET also produces a monthly electronic WOUGNET Update Newsletter that providesdetails on activities of women organizations in Uganda, upcoming conferences, workshops,training programs, funding opportunities and tips on computer/internet usage. The newsletter issent out to the WOUGNET mailing list, an additional 300 newsletter subscribers, and mailing listswith an ICT and/or gender focus.

Furthermore, WOUGNET has hosted the following online discussions: In June 2002, WOUGNET hosted a 3-week email-based conference Information Access for

Rural Women10to facilitate the exchange of ideas and experiences on enhancing access to

information for rural women. A report of the online conference was presented during

deliberations on Rural Women and Telecenters at the July 2002 Kampala Know How

9 R. O. Ochieng.Rural Women and Information in Uganda, Presentation at the FAO High Level

Consultation on Rural Women and Information, Rome, Italy, October 4-6, 1999.10 Information Access for Rural Women. (2002). Accessed July 21, 2003, from

http://www.wougnet.org/Events/iarw.html


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Conference.11 The Know How Conference is an international conference of specialists in thecollection and dissemination of information relevant to women.

In April 2003, WOUGNET hosted an email-based online forum onAn Information Society forUganda to facilitate contributions to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)working documents and Ugandas input.12

The WOUGNET website is the core web-based activity. The website profiles Ugandan womenorganizations and their activities. In addition, the website contains practical information anddocumentation on topics of interest to women organizations and the general public, and links tonational and international projects. In May 2003, the WOUGNET website was selected as winnerof the 2003 African Information Society Initiative (AISI) Media Awards in the International Institutefor Communication and Development (IICD) Local Content Applications category.13 As stated onthe Awards website, The judges selected the website of the Women of Uganda's Network(WOUGNET) as a winner for this year's IICD Award on Local Content Applications. The site is agood source of information, knowledge, best practices and lessons learned on women's issues,and a variety of socio-economic issues. The collection of information and web resources on ICTpolicies, for example, informs the audience of key ICT for development issues, such as opensource and the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Gender Caucus. It also serves asan entry point and hub for their engagements and participation."

Another web-based activity is the WebDesign program, which was started in April 2001 incollaboration with InterConnection.org, to develop websites for WOUGNET members.14 To-date,five members have had websites developed under this program.

WOUGNETs on-ground activities support and strengthen the online activities. On-groundactivities include: sourcing relevant information (from women organizations, newspapers, the Internet, etc.) for

posting on the WOUGNET website and/or mailing list; conducting research (online or otherwise) pertinent to WOUGNET staff, members and

partners; contacting WOUGNET members for news and reports on their projects to be added to their

profiles on the WOUGNET website; and promoting WOUGNET membership to women organizations in Uganda.

While the majority of WOUGNETs current activities make use of the WOUGNET website andmailing lists to support information sharing and dissemination, the WorldSpace Satellite RadioProgram (WSRP15) is an example of an activity that is not Internet-based. The WSRP wasinitiated in August 2002 to make the WorldSpace radio available to members with difficultiesaccessing the Internet. The WorldSpace radios when connected to a computer help users toaccess web based information without having to use the usual method of accessing informationfrom the Internet (e.g., dial-up, wireless or cable connections).

The bulk of WOUGNETs services are availed to members free-of-cost. For example, formembers to have their information profiled on the WOUGNET website, they simply need toforward the information to WOUGNET via email or via alternative means such as by post or

11 Kampala Know How Conference 2002: A safari into the cross-cultural world of womens knowledge

exchange. (2002). Accessed July 21, 2003, from http://www.isis.or.ug/knowhow12 An Information Society for Uganda. (2003). Accessed July 21, 2003, from

http://www.wougnet.org/WSIS/ug/isug.html13 2003 AISI Media Awards. Accessed July 21, 2003, from

http://www.uneca.org/aisi/mediaawardWinners.htm14

WebDesign. Accessed April 26, 2003, from http://www.wougnet.org/Support/webdesign.html15 WorldSpace Satellite Radio Program (WSRP). Accessed April 26, 2003, from

http://www.wougnet.org/Support/WSprogram.html


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telephone. The exception to the no-charge policy is with the WorldSpace Satellite Radio Programfor which a nominal charge is levied for equipment maintenance, transport and installation.

WOUGNET relies primarily on volunteer support, resources provided in-kind, and donations frommembers and partners. Donor and in-kind support includes: Low cost web and email hosting provided by Kabissa Space for Change in Africa. Collaboration with InterConnection.org who avail virtual volunteers to develop the websites

under the WebDesign program Virtual volunteers sourced via Netaid.org and Idealist.org who have assisted in organising

WOUGNET online discussions. Support from the APC Womens Networking Support Program (WNSP) to conduct an

evaluation of WOUGNET activities using the Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM) toolkit. A 2003 grant from the Global Fund for Women (GFW) to strengthen and broaden

WOUGNET's capacity to support networking and information sharing among Ugandanwomen and women organizations.

4.0 Challenges in Using ICTs for Communication Among Women in Uganda

Feedback from WOUGNET members reveals that the information shared and exchanged hasbeen beneficial to their projects and/or research programs. For example, Lungujja WomensAssociation (LWA) responded to an email about Keys to Information Technology and Education(KITE), a US-based organization providing computer grants, including one-year internet access toorganizations in developing countries.16 LWA became the first international KITE partnerreceiving its computer grant in March 2002. With this grant, LWA is able to calculate the interestpayments of its micro-credit scheme electronically, research business strategies online andnetwork with other organizations. In August 2002, a WOUGNET member was selected as afinalist for BITSAfrica, a program sponsored by the World Economic Forum Global Leaders forTomorrow and the Africa Technology Forum. The purpose of the BITSAfrica initiative is to assistAfrican technology entrepreneurs in building and growing a sustainable venture that will have animpact on the society around them. The member learnt of this program via the WOUGNETmailing list. And another member had this to say: I thank you for your work. I am beginning tofeel that I have hope after reading your mail showing openings for some of us who would never

know where to source such wealth of information.

In spite of these success stories, WOUGNET continues to experience challenges in the deliveryof services, including: limited outreach due to primarily operating online; availability/access to relevant information for members development needs; creating awareness on the benefits of ICTs as tools for information exchange and

dissemination that produces results; training on the usage and application of ICTs; and increased need for face-to-face collaboration to complement online networking.

In January 2003, participants at a WOUGNET meeting in Kampala identified the followingchallenges in the application of ICTs and in being WOUGNET members17:

i) Language is a constraint to information access. This is due to the fact that all ofWOUGNET information is in English and not available in local languages.

ii) Lack of access to ICT equipment and services. A number of women organizations lackequipment to enable them access information online. Typically, organizations will have a

16 Lungujja Womens Association. Accessed April 26, 2003, from

http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/lungujja.html17 Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) Meeting: Information Sharing on the Application of ICTs.

(2003). Accessed April 26, 2003, from http://www.wougnet.org/Events/wougnetmeeting1.html


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single computer that is stationed on the Secretarys desk, who is responsible fordownloading information. This affects timely response to issues and ends up leaving anumber of women missing out on opportunities.

iii) Lack of ICT skills. WOUGNET information is available through new ICTs like the Internetas opposed to traditional ICTs such as radio. This tends to marginalize those that lack theaccess and skills to use computers.

iv) Technophobia especially among women and girls.v) Gender roles also impact effective participation. In some communities, men do not give

women a chance to visit telecenters because they think that womens roles are only inthe homes.

vi) Information overload and inadequate content. For example, apart from the website,WOUGNET runs various mailing lists hence leading to large amounts of information. Attimes the information given may not be relevant to the needs of a particular group ofwomen.

A key issue highlighted by the WOUGNET online conference: Information Access for RuralWomen was as one participant put it: There is an important aspect in terms of access toinformation at the rural level: WHICH information For WHICH purpose To serve WHICHneeds? At the urban level these components do not need the same type of control, the space islarger, the media are broader but at the rural level there is a need to tailor the medium AND the

message with more details. For rural communities to be active participants in the informationsociety there needs to be a concerted, multi-sectoral approach to information technology with afocus on rural populations as communicators and contributors to information and knowledge,rather than as passive consumers.18 Rather than look at technology and ask What can we dowith this? we need to ask the question, Which technology might help here? in response topeoples information needs.

4.1 Information access for rural women

Information and communication are as critical for rural living as they are for urban living, andindeed there is increasing demand for information and communication equipment and services inrural areas. It is widely recognized that ICTs offer potential in rural development by opening up

communication channels for the exchange of new and indigenous knowledge and informationwith and among rural communities. However, major challenges exist in terms of available meansof information access and dissemination in addition to operating the ICT equipment.

The realization is that the major inequities of access that exist for the disadvantagedpopulationsthe poor, rural, female and agedare not all due to high costs alone, but a result ofother well-documented problems. These include: limited resources resulting in poor infrastructure,lack of basic facilities, poverty, low levels of literacy particularly among women, culturalperceptions of womens roles, little or no government support, the urban bias in developmentwhich marginalizes rural communities, lack of ICT skills, lack of electricity in most rural areas, andwar, instability and conflict.

At the national level, Uganda's Telecommunications Policy seeks to increase the penetration and

level of telecommunication services in the country.

19

This is to be achieved primarily throughprivate sector investment rather than government intervention. Also in place is a policy to ensurethat basic communication services of acceptable quality are accessible, at affordable prices, andat reasonable distances, by all people in Uganda.20

18 SD Dimensions. Special: The first mile of connectivity Advancing telecommunications for rural

development through participatory communication. Accessed April 3, 2003, from

http://www.fao.org/sd/cddirect/cdre0025.htm19 The Uganda Communications Act. 1997.20 The Rural Communications Development Policy. 2001.


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At the organizational level, while information access by rural women remains a great challengefor WOUGNET, we believe that it is important that their information needs and access areaddressed either directly or via intermediaries. A number of WOUGNET members already haveprograms addressing information access for rural women. WOUGNETs services enable thesemembers to disseminate and exchange information about their programs locally and abroad.

For organizations based in rural areas, radio remains an essential tool for information sharing anddissemination. Even then, there is still need to pay attention to the role gender plays in the accessand utilization of this medium. For example, in an August 2002 meeting between the RegionalWomen Program Officer for AMARC-Africa21, the WOUGNET Coordinator, and women in thecommunity served by Radio Apac22, the following issues were identified: Women need to have their own radios since the men travel with theirs whenever they leave

the house. Women lack transport to travel to the station and participate in radio programs. There is need for peace and conflict radio programs, given the threat of rebels who abduct

women and children. There is need for additional women programming addressing topics such as good farming

practices and HIV-AIDS. There is need for tape recorders so that the women can prepare their own programs to be

aired by the community station. There is need to address low literacy levels among women in the community by providing

basic reading and writing skills.

The following section is an in-depth profile of a WOUGNET member operating in a rural area inUganda.

5.0 ALFA Rural Information and Communication Centre (ALFA-RICC)23

Based in Mpigi District, Abundant Life For All (ALFA) Ministries was established in 2000 as apractical response to the realization that past successive wars, illiteracy, poverty, diseases (suchas HIV/AIDS) and other calamities had left the rural women and children powerless, orphaned,

destitute and displaced. In order to confront the odds of these rural communities, ALFA Ministries(in collaboration with six community-based organizations24) initiated the ALFA Information andCommunication Centre (ALFA-RICC).

Community information and communication is an empowering tool for any rural community that isoften ignored or insufficiently catered for by national and commercial radio and televisionservices. The ALFA-RICC was established in 2000 to facilitate and create awareness on issuessuch as the position of women in society play a role in improving literacy and education, andprovide information on health, the environment, agriculture, democracy as well as on issues suchas land inheritance and HIV/AIDS. The centre has a collection of study materials and serves toimprove the quality and effectiveness of training programs in rural communities. The centre

21 AMARC-Africa, World Association of community radio broadcasters Africa region. Accessed July 21,

2003, from http://africa.amarc.org22 Radio Apac, a community radio station in northern Uganda, was established in 1999 with support from

the Commonwealth of Learning (COL). Accessed July 21, 2003, from

http://www.interconnection.org/radioapac23 Profile of ALFA Rural Information and Communication Centre (ALFA-RICC) compiled in collaboration

with Revd. James Ssemakula, Founder member, ALFA Ministries, [email protected] ALFA Womens Groups. Accessed July 21, 2003, from http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/alfawg.html


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supports and increases the rural inhabitants desire to learn and collectively help each other togain more knowledge.

In order to achieve the objective of achieving social change, the Centre applies Open FlexibleLearning using the Study Circles Methodology as a democratic forum and means of empoweringthe rural communities inhabitants to discuss and influence what happens in their environment.The Study Circles Methodology is used to encourage the rural people to exchange ideas andknowledge in order to help each other. The ALFA-RICC has become an empowering tool forthese rural communities.

The AFLA-RICC is housed in a permanent building that was built by ALFA Ministries. Thebuilding currently includes the computer centre, a store, an office, activities room, and haselectricity.

5.1 Information needs served by the ALFA-RICC

The social and economic objectives of the rural communities in Mpigi District were the drivingforce behind the initiation of the ALFA-RICC. The centers main goal is to enhance communityparticipation in democracy, encourage free speech, promote cultural knowledge and assist

communities to work together for their own social and economic well-being. Issues andinformation addressed by the centre include: How to raise healthy children Basic nutrition facts Creating balanced meals using local food products Basic hygiene practices - water purification, safe food handling and preparation, basic

sanitation, etc. Methods of growing, harvesting and storing food to ensure a sufficient food supply through all

seasons Methods of attaining self-sufficiency in meat and poultry products to meet the protein needs

of the family Ideas for income-generating projects such as handicrafts and animal raising Civic education - active participation in civic/political activity at the village level and beyond;

Women's rights and their role in society How to legally and traditionally deal with abusive husbands Ownership of property and money and power sharing in the home

Prior to the establishment of the ALFA-RICC, the channels used to access and share informationincluded: messenger (word of mouth), letters, music, dance, drama, newspapers, and radio. It isworth noting that newspapers are very expensive to the rural community, in addition to thechallenge of low levels of literacy. The most prevalent ICT in these rural communities is the radio

although not every home owns one.

Presently, there are about 1,500 people from six different rural communities who benefit from thecentre. Future plans for the centre include the set up of a community radio station. Once this isestablished, the centres target group will grow to over

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