ICTworks by Inveneo

Steve Song recently wrote a great post on 3 reasons why M4D may be bad for Development where he says that:

Mobile operators have entrenched themselves with development agencies as the saviours of access and give generously to m4d development programs. Development agencies have rushed to embrace mobile operators.

While the latter is surely true, mobile phones are all the rage at USAID, I do not see the mobile operators "entrenched" with development agencies, nor do I see them giving "generously" to M4D programs. At least I don't see them involved with the implementers of aid agency programs. In fact, with the exception of Nokia and Vodafone, none of the major mobile line operators (MTN, Safaricom, Airtel, Glo, etc) seem to even notice the development sector.

When juxtaposed with the efforts of technology companies like Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco to support the development industry, the disengagement of the mobile operators is even more striking. I propose there are 3 reasons why mobile phone companies are not entrenched and not giving generously to M4D implementers:

1. Mobile technology doesn't need donors
   The startling rise in mobile phone adoption has primarily been consumer driven - built on millions of micro scratch card transactions without many donor dollars amongst them. So mobile phone companies (handset manufactures, network operators, and their respective ecosystems) don't feel the need to adapt to donor business practices, all of which seem very rigid and constraining when compared to the free-wheeling retail marketplace.
2. Donors can't adapt to private industry's speed
   Mobile technology lives by quarterly targets. New models, pricing plans, and consumer services start, blossom (and die) in 3 months or less. Most donors can't even issue an RFP in 3 months, often taking over a year from idea to contract award - an eternity in the mobile space. In addition, donor agencies require specialized business practices and expertise that might as well be a whole other language to private industry. And don't even get started on the contracting constraints imposed by government purchasing departments who are used to domestic acquisitions.
3. Implementers can't afford in-house mobile expertise
   Last but not least, the implementers who do know how to work with donor agencies, and could be a bridge between the development and mobile communities, often can't afford the mobile expertise. Mobile phone application developers, like other hot IT skills, are commanding salaries that are well beyond international development. Remember, the unwritten rule in development is that no one makes more than the contracting officer at the donor in charge of the contract.

These reasons were inspired by Roxanna Samii's post where she says, "enough with pilots, let's get serious about mDevelopment," and concludes with this great summation of the mobile phone in development issue:

So, quite frankly speaking, I see private and public sector as two separate circles, who are continuously struggling to find an intersection point. However, the reality is that public and private sector live in different time zones and do not seem to have found their preferred collaboration tool which allows them to seamlessly work together and indeed create a win-win situation!

This should be a fair warning to those at donor agencies and within implementers who get all giddy about mobile phones and think that mobile line operators will be just as giddy about their M4D idea.

Working with mobile operators is not easy. Mobiles phones are not an all-encompassing panacea. And just maybe, not the right bet to make at all. Remember that according to the World Bank, broadband Internet access beats mobile phones in boosting GDP.

MainOne is driving change in Africa, starting from West Africa

Competition is good. It not only keeps prices down but also keeps innovation up. For close to a decade, SAT3 (a submarine cable system) was the lone player in the fibre internet connectivity marketplace for West Africa. Things have changed in recent times.

The commercial launch of MainOne (another submarine cable system that currently connects Ghana & Nigeria to Europe) is rapidly changing internet connectivity in Ghana and Nigeria. With 10 times more capacity than SAT3, MainOne is poised to shake-up internet connectivity in West Africa. Already, the revolution has began.

The MainOne Cable is owned by MainOne Cable Company Mauritius; a pan-African company that has built a private sector led international telecommunications highway between West Africa and the rest of the world, via Portugal. With fibre optic cable licenses in Nigeria and Ghana, MainOne is aiming to be the preferred wholesale international bandwidth provider in Africa.

Since the commercial launch of MainOne in July 2010, the market especially in Nigeria has been witnessing a drastic improvement. For a start, the following Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Nigeria have connected to the MainOne submarine cable system: ipNX, MTN, Netcom, etisalat, Starcomms, Galaxy Backbone, Vdt Communications and Swift Network. The ISPs are now able to offer improved connectivity to their clients.

Steven Evans, CEO of Etisalat Nigeria, had this to say about Etisalat’s connection to MainOne in July 2010:

“submarine fibre optic cable will enhance Etisalat’s broadband capacity thus leading to improved data services to the benefit of our customers. Our subscription to the new technology is a demonstration of our commitment to delivery of superior service, which we are known for globally. Our customers remain the core of our business hence we are always keen to deploy the best technology available for their advantage.”

The changes have not been limited to improved connectivity alone. The tariffs are already dropping.
MTN, the biggest telecommunications network in Nigeria that offers internet connectivity nationwide using varying technologies, has recently been announcing reduction in its internet connection tariffs for its mobile users. MTN has not only reduced its pricing, but has also increased the data limits on its data bundles by up to 40% whilst introducing new Weekend and Daytime data plans. MTN’s BlackBerry users have not been left out of the party. MTN recently announced a new “promotional” tariff cut via SMS:

You can now stay connected on your BlackBerry for less. MTN offers you BIS weekly for N1,000 & BIS monthly for N3,000

Things are taking shape albeit slowly, in Ghana as well. Ecoband offers connectivity solutions to ISPs and Data Network Operators in West Africa, from its base in Accra Ghana. The company recently connected to MainOne and announced in late October 2010:

Ecoband activated STM-1 service on the new MainOne submarine fibre optic cable connecting Nigeria and Ghana with the Internet backbone in Europe. This makes Ecoband the first ISP and data network operator in Ghana to benefit from the new state of the art technology deployed by the MainOne Cable Company connecting Ghana with under 100ms RTT delay to Europe.

Some 3 ISPs in Ghana make use of Ecoband’s connectivity solutions: BusyInternet, MTN, and Teledata ICT. Though tariff cuts have not been announced, subscribers of any of the ISPs can already experience the improved connectivity. It is to be noted that BusyInternet has been advertising an “improved capacity” on Facebook.com in recent times, targetted at residents of Ghana, in a bid to earn more of the market pie.

The operators of SAT3 submarine cable in Ghana have already reacted to the threat poised by MainOne, by reducing their pricing by as much as 53%. In a report recently published by Business & Financial Times (B&FT):

The National Communication Backbone Company (NCBC) has reduced the wholesale prices at which it sells international and national bandwidth capacity to Internet Service Providers (ISP) by half as other international bandwidth providers enter the market, B&FT has gathered. NCBC, which manages the SAT3 on behalf of Vodafone and the national broadband fibre-optic cable, has since the beginning of this month dropped the US$4,500 price tag at which it sells el (2megabites) to ISPs to US$2,100.

Additionally, the average national bandwidth price has also dropped by about 53% amidst fears the existing carriers may lose customers ahead of the new cables landing in the country. The reductions follow an announcement by MainOne Cable, a new entrant to the international bandwidth market, that it sells the same capacity of e1 for US$1,050.

As more ISPs join the MainOne submarine cable system, one only can expect market forces to push down the cost of Internet connectivity in West Africa since there is now much more bandwidth to go round.

This was originally published as Internet Connectivity in West Africa: How MainOne is driving competition

The the University at Nsukka, Enugu, Ituku Ozalla, and Aba is partnering with pretty much every major IT company operating in Nigeria to bring Internet connectivity of 1-4mbps per 1000 students and staff, and create 10-400 Terabytes of local data storage for students and faculty.

As reported by Daily Sun:

Other features, according to Dr. Christian Bolu, project coordinator and Director of the Innovation Centre, UNN, include a packet based voice service (VoIP), use of open source software for teaching and learning in several key subjects, provision of laptop charging bays as well as hardware repair centre and use of dedicated power supply.

Google Inc is lead sponsor of the UNN Wireless Network Infrastructure project and has committed to provide a minimum 25megabytes per second (mbps) of international Internet bandwidth to the university over an initial three-year period. Google would also contribute US$40 000 for the last mile/local loop costs, another US$15 000 for consultancy and training to ensure optimal utilisation of the IT services as well as email and collaboration tools and guidance.

MTN Nigeria Communications would lay the fibre optic cables...Other contributors to the UNN Wireless Infrastructure Network project are Hewlett Packard and Cisco Systems. Project contractors are Business Connexion of South Africa, while network infrastructure would be provided by Xirrus Inc of USA and Wavion Technologies of Israel.

Hewlett Packard Inc is providing switches, servers and storage equipment at highly discounted education rates while also providing manpower support for training. Cisco Systems Inc would also assist the University of Nigeria with training in Cisco certification as well as developing the capacity of students and staff for entrepreneurship through the establishment of a model incubator company.

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I wonder if this huge investment will have the $4 million dollar annual impact of ICT at Kenyatta University?