Ambitious plans to use modern technology to tackle Africa's economic and social problems bear much promise. For the first time in decades, the continent has an invaluable opportunity to bridge the gap between it and the developed world. Shatadru Roy Choudhury reports.

No one can deny the profound impact that information and communication technology (ICT) has had on the world. The enormous costs and effort that were once associated with obtaining information have all but disappeared.

Today, gigabytes of data originating from a laptop in America can be accessed by a computer in Africa within seconds. Information accessibility has done much to reduce the inequality that lies between the developed and developing worlds, providing Africa with a unique opportunity to leapfrog decades of development.

Many analysts are conviced that ICT has the potential to alleviate, if not eradicate, many of the problems that currently plague the continent. Witness the impressive strides that have been made in the health industry. Instead of going to the nearest town to see a doctor, in Kenya many rural patients can access the internet-based 'HealthNet' to communicate directly with specialists in Nairobi and even America. In this way, they can obtain first-class advice without having to set a foot outside their village.

Plans to use ICT in education are no less ambitious. One highly-touted idea is to promote distance learning as a means of supplementing Africa's existing education structure. By using printed materials, internet resources, and radio and television supplements; distance learning is a cheap but effective tool in combating illiteracy and in developing a skilled workforce. Already, the World Bank is working with other agencies to establish a "virtual African university" to promote greater learning throughout the continent.

Yet despite the promising benefits which ICT has to offer Africa, the sector is still in its infancy. Estimates of the total number of internet users on the continent range from 800,000 to one million. Unfortunately, this statistic becomes much bleaker if South Africa is excluded. The country alone contains 700,000 internet users. Moreover, although Africa accounts for 12% of the world's population, it only makes up one per cent of the total number of e-mail users.

National governments have understandably been reluctant to earmark significant sums of money for hi-tech projects due to the need to allocate funds for other areas. The planning and implementation of ICT projects have therefore been primarily led by international organisations, such as the World Bank and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which only have limited budgets.

Moreover, as the sector is in its formative years, there is still much uncertainty over which projects will prove to be successful in the long-run. Thus, many financial backers have preferred to play it safe by requiring pilot projects to be carried out before committing more substantial funds to developing the sector.

One widely talked about application of ICT is to develop multi-purpose telecentres for rural communities so as to keep villagers informed of issues that affect them, and to facilitate communication between villages and urban areas. Each telecentre would be equipped with phones and computers for use by the local community.

The idea resulted in the cooperation of several international organisations who initially set up telecentres in five African villages. Since then, large volumes of data have been collected on these projects, the results of which are broadly positive.

Access to the telephone has been greatly enhanced. Prior to the installation of a telecentre, the nearest telephone to the Ugandan village of Negeske was located 32 kms away, forcing businessmen and hospital administrators to travel for several hours to make a simple call.

Up-to-date information about matters affecting health, agriculture and business can now be received by these communities within minutes. Based on these promising findings, plans have been made to set up new telecentres in other villages across Africa.

The greatest obstacle facing the sector, so far, is a lack of infrastructure. A pre-requisite to a thriving ICT industry is a well-developed telecoms industry, as it is the phone lines which are responsible for transmitting information between computers. In most parts of Africa, this is still underdeveloped.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the problem is particularly acute: on average, the region only has one telephone for every 235 people. Yet despite the pessimistic picture portrayed by these obstacles, many analysts believe that in the long-run the sector has a bright future.

Many nations, including South Africa, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Senegal and Uganda have witnessed a substantial increase in the number of telephone lines after the industry was deregulated. For instance, between March 1996 and September 1997, the total stock of telephone lines in Guinea more than doubled to 21,000.

Moreover, unlike other parts of the world, Africa has the benefit of not being saddled with maintaining outdated infrastructure. In the developed world, the process of making use of the latest technology can be slow and cumbersome, with obsolete infrastructure having to be repaired until it can be replaced.

In contrast, African nations can bypass several stages of ICT development and simply invest in the latest technology.

Steps have already been taken to use modern technology to develop the region's infrastructure. The Abidjan-based Regional Africa Satellite Communications Organisation (Rascom) is currently preparing to launch a continent-wide satellite system with international access. This will bypass the need to lay down kilometres of phone lines across the continent which for many countries would have been prohibitively costly.

On 28 October 1998, history was made when the Afristar radio satellite was launched by WorldSpace to revolutionise communication throughout the continent.

The man behind the project, Noah Samara, chairman of WorldSpace (who is of Sudanese-Ethiopian extraction), wanted the cheapest and most effective way to spread information throughout the continent. "Radio is the answer", he says. "Where you have very high levels of illiteracy and the costs of printing are prohibitive, the only way to reach millions is by radio." Afristar will provide digital broadcasting facilities to national and international networks broadcasting to Africa.

Elsewhere, an increasing number of African governments, NGOs and private businesses are using computer software to modernise their record-keeping and accounting practices. E-mail is being used to speed up communication. Stock markets and banks are turning to technology as a means of increasing their productivity and efficiency.

In Zimbabwe, Barclays Bank is now operating fully automated teller machines (ATMs) in most of its 49 locations, a service which links these branches to the bank's global network via satellite.

Another reason for optimism is that some African countries are already equipped with a fairly developed ICT sector. This may prove advantageous for the continent as a whole as it opens up the possibility of technology transfers taking place from nations which have stronger ICT sectors to those which have weaker ones.

For instance, most southern African nations are able to connect themselves to South Africa's comprehensive phone network, making the cost of international calls and use of the internet cheaper. As South African businesses expand into Botswana, Namibia and Zambia; it may only be a matter of time before they start introducing ICT into their new branches as a way of raising efficiency and cutting costs in the long-run.

Similarly, many analysts believe that in the years to come, Egypt in the north, Uganda in the east and Cote d'Ivoire in the west will bring the same benefits to their respective parts of the continent.

Already, ambitious plans have been drawn up to introduce ICT into other areas. For instance, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) has launched a multi-million dollar initiative known as 'Early Warning System on Conflict Situations' which will use ICT to anticipate and prevent conflict from arising between and within African nations.

Should the momentum behind the industry match the hype that has accompanied it, in 20 years time Africa could play an important role in world politics and in the global economy.