By Kwame Yankson, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone’s Minister of Information and Communications, Hon. Alhaji Alpha B.S Kanu on Wednesday 27th February, 2013 informed mobile industry professionals, operators and regulators from across the globe that the electromagnetic spectrum being a scarce natural resource has the potential to increase a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in much the same way as other mineral resources such as diamond, gold, bauxite etc.
Contributing to the debate on “How to address the challenges of developing transparent policy frameworks to encourage growth in Sub-Saharan Africa through mobile” at the GSMA Mobile World Congress held at the Fira Gran Via in Barcelona, Honourable Kanu (seen on the right in photo with Mr. Siray Timbo, chairman of Sierra Leone’s National Telecommunications Commission, NATCOM) presented a comparative analysis of how a review of the Mines and Mineral policy in Sierra Leone transformed the West African nation with a population of 6 million people to the fastest growing economy with an increased GDP of 35 percent in 2011 and 19 percent in 2012 second only to China as the hottest economies.
The GSMA mobile World Congress is of the belief that the economies of Sub-Saharan Africa have benefitted considerably from the growth of the mobile sector. In 2011, it is estimated that mobile operators and their associated ecosystems had a direct economic impact of USD32 billion, including paying USD 12 billion in taxes.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, the mobile sector is also credited for increasing the region’s GDP by 4.4 percent and it has also created 3.5 million full time equivalent (FTE) jobs across the formal and informal sectors.
Gabrielle Gauthey, Executive Vice President, Global Government and Public Affairs, Alcatel Lucent says, “the Africa mobile community is the second largest behind Asia, therefore the spectrum, which is the ‘new oil’ for Africa, must be seen as a short term asset to the treasury with long term revenue potential. Therefore regulators must look at the National Allocation Plan or Broadband Plan which guides the availability of the spectrum before allocation to operators.
If Governments, she continued, are to address the challenges of limited spectrum and sector-specific taxation, operators must bear in mind that the spectrum is not given to or owned by operators, rather it is a concession leased for a period of time and that it is a national asset”.
H.E Ms. Suivi Linden, former Minister of the Government of Finland and Special Envoy to the Broadband Commission for Digital Dividend, in her keynote address, said, “if we are to accelerate the socio-economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, leadership is very critical to our success”.
According to Ms. Linden, Ministers, Regulators, Members of Parliament etc. need broadband for education, social services, health etc, therefore, there must be a roadmap to a sustainable digital development. A broadband implementation strategy must be developed as it is a vital tool for the goals we have set be it Millennium Development goals etc.
Hon. Kanu in support of H.E Linden’s call for a strong leadership in the drive to accelerate socio-economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa told the Congress that Sierra Leone’s President, H.E Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma has set out clearly defined goals for his second and final term in office which he has named the “Agenda for Prosperity”. In this agenda, ICT and broadband infrastructure development is paramount. He said the landing of the ACE sub-marine cable and Government’s collaboration with the private sector in rolling out this new technology to underserved communities for an efficient and affordable service is a priority of the Government.
The GSMA Ministerial Programme which commenced on 25th February, 2013 is a three day meeting that brings together Government and Telecoms Industry leaders from across the globe to discuss industry priorities with their peers. In 2012, the programme attracted 130 Governments and 67,000 telecoms executives. This year’s attendance increased by 5% with more than 72,000 visitors from over 200 countries around the world converging on the Spanish city of Barcelona.
Sierra Leone was adequately represented by the Minister of Information and Communications from the policy perspective and Architect Siray A. Timbo, Chairman, National Telecommunications Commission as the Regulator.
After a very successful outing at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona,Hon. Alhaji Alpha Kanu continued his re-branding sojourn in Europe by paying a one -day working visit to the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France.
At the UNESCO Headquarters, Hon. Kanu conveyed to Madame Irina Bukhova, Director-General, UNESCO fraternal greetings from H.E President Ernest Bai Koroma. He catalogued the major transformational programs of the Government which was accompanied by a verbal invitation to the Director- General to visit Sierra Leone and witness first hand the development strides the country has made since the end of the civil war.
Addressing the Director-General, at a meeting attended by her senior staff, Mr. Janis Karklins ,Assistant Director-General Communications and Information Sector, Mme. Lalla Ben Barka, Assistant Director-General for Africa among others, the Minister catalogued a battery of planned projects under the Ministry of Information and Communications for which he requires technical and financial support from UNESCO. The projects ranged from training for Journalists at the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation, building the capacity of community radio stations, providing scholarship for training in the telecommunications sector, establishment of resource centers to enhance access to information and rehabilitation of the Post offices in the district headquarter towns for training of rural youths in ICT.
In response to the demands of the Minister of Information and Communications, Madame Bukhova described Hon. Kanu’s visit as very important as UNESCO has a project on media sustainability. “We have been working with the Archivists in Sierra Leone, but capacity building is the key word. We accompany countries to fulfill their agenda that is why we will support projects that coincide with Sierra Leone’s ambition. The organization is particularly interested in projects related to vocational training for youths, women, teacher training, e-learning for rural teachers, Access to Information etc” she explained.
The Director-General as a follow up to the general meeting requested the Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, Mr. Janis Karklins to meet with the Minister and his team to address the specific needs of the Ministry of Information and Communications of Sierra Leone in line with UNESCO’s mandate and interventions.
Mr. Karklins at the bilateral meeting informed Sierra Leone’s delegation about his organization’s support to 80 to 100 programmes world wide with specific focus on Africa annually. He said support to grassroots community media centers, schools of information, training of trainers in an already existing school are areas of interest to UNESCO. He threw light on a program called International Computer Driving License (ICDL) where you train people without a teacher using specific software for the students.
In the area of universal access, the Assistant Director-General for Communications and Information advised that investment in information infrastructure should be harmonious. Services he said must go with infrastructure. Economics is important in internet infrastructure hence the need for local content. African Governments as a matter of policy should invest in local content and internet exchange points which is cost effective and with a very fast speed.
Sierra Leone is a touristic destination center; therefore all those who download information about Sierra Leone put money in the pockets of outsiders as the servers are hosted outside of the country. If servers are hosted locally it reduces cost and the citizens benefit, Mr. Karklin said.
Although Sierra Leone’s Internet Society has been battling to establish an Internet Exchange Point (SLIX), Hon. Alpha Kanu assured UNESCO of his support to help Sierra Leone develop a local content policy in ICT and the establishment of Internet Exchange Point.
At the end of the meeting, the Minister was requested to nominate an officer in his Ministry who will work with Mr. Ronald Kayanja, the ICI Advisor based in Ghana to develop projects in the Information and Communications sector as well as a Paris Liaison Officer based at UNESCO who will follow up with the sector and work directly with the Paris office.
Madam Bukhova and Honourable Alpha Kanu.
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