‘BADILIKO’ (the Swahili word for change) aims to bring new technology to African schools as part of a boosting of education experiences through Microsoft’s technology.

According to a statement, each company contributed $1-million as well as technical expertise to accelerate the implementation of this innovative project that seeks to embed ICT in learning.

86 Digital Hubs to 100,000 learners

The $2-million seed money from Microsoft and British Council will be spent on the establishment of eighty digital hubs across the six sub-Saharan countries. It is hoped that 100,000 learners will be provided with digital tools which they will utilize to boost academic work and social skills that benefit the wider community.

Mark Matunga, the Microsoft Regional Education Manager, East and Southern Africa, says that greater uptake of ICT in learning dovetails with the software giant’s vision of bridging the digital divide in Africa. “Educators should embrace technology to pass knowledge to students and boost their aptitude in relevant areas of study. We are encouraging more teachers to be trained in ICT skills.”

Figures show that only 12.5% of Kenya has access to the internet, and less than 5% of Kenyans living in rural areas use the internet. This is despite an increase in the number of internet users in Kenya from 1.7m in 2007 to 10m in 2011.

However, the findings also suggest rapid developments in communication in urban areas. Mobile phone usage in areas such as Nairobi stands at 70%, far above the national average of 50%. Comparatively, 15% of Kenya is still without network coverage. Despite this, there is already talk of introducing 4G networks in Kenya and potentially, there is a danger that rural areas could be left behind.

In light of such statistics, several policies are being implemented to correct the imbalance. The Kenya ICT board recently approved 37 applications to set up digital villages in rural Kenya. There is also an anticipation that data providers will expand services in rural areas in the coming years, with some providers already targeting county governments.

He explains that in Niger, to bridge the Digital Divide we must first tackle illiteracy. More than 80% of population cannot read or write to send and SMS and much rather use voice. Until this is tackled The Digital Divide in Niger will only grow and it is a major problem which needs to be addressed.

She explains that price is the single biggest issue causing a Digital Divide for people in Senegal.

The key point is that cost of broadband remains unaffordable and out of reach for most Africans meaning the mass market is not served.

At ForgetMeNot Africa, our Message Optimiser solution helps bridge this digital divide providing internet messaging on ANY phone.

The Royal Geographical Society have assembled an international panel of experts who will answer questions on this very issue at Digital Technology in Africa, which takes place on the 18th of May 2011, at the Royal Geographical Society, London.

Chaired by Sir Bob Geldof
The Discussion will be chaired by Humanitarian and Campaigner, SIR Bob Geldof and also include:

NICHOLAS NEGROPONTE Founder and Chairman, One Laptop Per Child
ERIK HERSMAN Co-Founder, Ushahidi, Afrigadget and iHub
HERMAN CHINERY-HESSE Founder and Chairman, theSOFTtribe, Ghana

Tickets can be booked online or by calling the events team on 0207 591 3100

75% of respondents* surveyed said that the improvement of access to and adoption of telecommunications services in rural areas is “very important” to their business. A further 20% thought it “moderately important”.

SIM penetration still remains under 20%
“SIM penetration still remains under 20% in a few parts of the continent, but even where penetration reaches the 50% mark, in rural areas penetration is in most cases below 10%. This represents a problem when two thirds of the continent’s population resides in rural Africa,” comments Nick Jotischky, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media.

Government and regulators must play their part
“The ICT industry has the capacity to help Africa’s economy boom but government and regulators must play their part. There are several challenges to overcome and there is now a realisation that in order to improve the adoption of telecommunications services to rural areas, the public and private sectors must work together in partnership. Only then will ambitious universal access service targets become reality,” he adds.

Connecting rural and remote areas
As well as providing a platform for new organic growth for operators, connecting rural and remote areas presents opportunities for vendors across the telecommunications ecosystem.Over a quarter of respondents answered that the provision of cheaper devices represented the best opportunity for the vendor community, just ahead of network expansion (21%) and use of alternative energy sources (20%).

obligations on government and telco operators
This is in sharp contrast to the 17% of established SMEs that have no connectivity.According to principal researcher, Arthur Goldstuck, this alarming statistic jumped out at the researchers, due to the significance of its impact on SME growth. He suggests that this only increases the obligations on government and telco operators to explore ways of bringing affordable Internet access to the emerging SME sector.

Telcos need to do more
“The telcos themselves also need to put more effort into rolling out services in these underprivileged areas. Everyone harps on about the fact that the cost of data has come down dramatically, but this is of no use if the infrastructure does not exist. And if anything, infrastructure costs have gone up as operators try to deliver services to a wider geographic area.”

Digital divide exists among small businesses
“By gaining insight into the emerging SME market, we have been able to get a far better sense of the differences between this segment and the more established SMEs. The comparison between these two shows that the digital divide exists among small businesses as much as it exists among the general public,” says Goldstuck

Filmed at West and Central Africa, Dakar, Senegal June 2010.