TELECOMMUNICATIONS FOR ALL
OR
ALL FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS?


Jules Kouatchou
June 1994


Abstract: By the year 2000, everyone in the world, wherever he lives, will probably have access to basic telecommunication services. Many projects are under way to provide communication technology to everyone. The African continent is totally included in this globalization. Here, villages are the principal target. What are the possible advantages of telecommunications in Africa (rural areas especially)? In a context of instability where living standards are constantly falling, what will be the impact of the technological challenge ``telecommunications for all" on rural populations? Is telecommunication a necessary and sufficient solution for development in Africa? The main goal of this article is to address these issues.


Telecommunications is an engine - probably the engine for economic and social development. Any company (of some size) cannot hope to increase its performance if its corporate strategy does not include telecommunications. It is now generally accepted by most countries around the world that very little economic and social growth can take place without an adequate telecommunication infrastructure [10]. For Dickenson, if trade is the lifeblood of the economy, then telecommunication systems can truly be regarded as the nervous system of both the economy and society [2].

The United Nations, aware of the role telecommunications plays in society, declared 1983 as the World Communications Year with a special focus on Telecommunications. One of the slogans used was: ``A phone in every village by the year 2000". In other words: Telecommunications for all by the year 2000. The basic criterion (to reach this goal) is that no one (wherever they live) should be more than 5 km. or an hour's walk away from a telephone.

Any part of the world is included in this new strategy. Telecommunications is not seen as useful only in developed countries but also in developing countries. Telecommunications should therefore no more be seen as a sort of luxury arising from a certain level of prosperity [1]. Each country was encouraged to take important measures to upgrade and expand its telecommunications infrastructure.

One of the continents where telecommunication systems can have a great impact is Africa, especially in rural areas. The rest of this article will therefore focus on rural areas in Africa. 99% of African localities lack basic telecommunication services. Rural areas were previously almost excluded from any short and long term telecommunication plans. Since most of the equipment is still concentrated in urban areas, African governments with foreign help, are now taking steps to introduce telecommunications in remote areas.
Telecommunication systems can play an important role in rural areas in Africa, beyond any expectation. Telecommunications can be seen as a means of closing the gap between the elite and the common people thereby overcoming the distance barriers that often hamper rural development. Telecommunications can facilitate the delivery of social services, broaden the availability of market information to farmers, and bring educational and training opportunities to remote areas. Villages, regional or central governments can be made more efficient. Warning services can alert populations to potential disasters. Regional transportation planning and coordination can be enhanced by telecommunication services. Access to information is frequently the key to many development activities including agriculture, industry, shipping, education, health and social services [3][4][8].

Telecommunications for all in Africa by the year 2000.

Many studies have been undertaken on this subject. These studies take into account not only economic and social aspects but also technological aspects. What is sure now is that to reach the goal, the problem no longer lies in technology. It has be shown that satellite systems can adequately satisfy the need for total coverage of the earth. They can therefore provide a safe and cost effective service to both large cities and rural areas. We are certain that by the year 2000, advances in communications technology will make it possible to extend reliable communications to every village or camp, whether in the desert, the jungle, or on a remote island [See for instance the Motorola Iridium satellite system (66 low orbit satellites) that will allow a total cover of the earth in 1998. Also BEPTOM (a French Public Agency) plans to provide 300,000 to 400,000 cellular radio public phones in remote areas in Africa by 2005].

But our main concern is the present (and the future) situation in Africa. Since 1983, the main indicators of economic performance, living standards have fallen dramatically. The rural population (almost 75% of the total population) has been the most affected. Governments have tried to pick winners. Boring old farming, Africa's staple industry, will never be one of them. Farmers are more heavily taxed in Africa than anywhere else in the world, and they grow less food. It is thanks to their work, their sacrifices that many countries do not fall apart. But they are the first to suffer in this unsteady environment. They are generally the ones who are least likely to be taken into consideration, their voices are not heard by governments. The social, institutional, political, and economic contexts do not give them any favors.

If this situation continues, will telecommunication systems (whose many advantages have already been presented) change living conditions in rural areas? Does the slogan ``Telecommunications for all by the year 2000" still retain its attractiveness? Does the success of this great challenge lie only in technology? Could we consider telecommunications in isolation to change living standards in rural areas?

Some researchers postulate that rural telecommunications have a greater impact at certain stages of economic development. They suggest that telecommunications become important when rural ``modernization" begins. For Kaul, developmental benefits from rural telecommunications are likely to result once a certain take-off point of economic growth has been achieved. He finds that demand for rural telecommunications increases substantially once the process of rural modernization has begun [5].

The economic situation in African rural areas is in general so bad that we fear that we are ``below'' this take-off point. But the problem is not only in the economy.
Simpson states, "It takes more than technology to make viable telecommunications services available to society. In addition to technology, it takes appropriate economic, institutional, and social arrangements." [9]
Communication technology works best as a complement to a commitment to social change, to changing resources, to good institutional design, to other channels of communication, and to detailed knowledge about users. Also complementary to all the above are other forms of infrastructure (including transportation, electrification, ...), development of social service (education, health, ...), modernization of agriculture and industry, effective organizations, availability of supplies and expertise. It becomes more important when modernization begins; for example when improved farming practices are introduced, when an integrated development plan is implemented [3][4].
Telecommunications should be considered a vital component in the development process, a necessary complement to other engagements that can improve productivity and efficiency of rural agriculture, industry and social services, and can improve the quality of life in developing regions [3][4].

But most of the time, these other investments fail to appear: roads, schools, hospitals are no longer built in remote areas. The pre-existing infrastructure is forsaken without any maintenance. Governments do not facilitate or encourage local initiatives. Political struggles, ethnic tensions and confidence crisis between the governed and their governors maintain an atmosphere of disorder and total uncertainty. This leads to a hampering of the primordial and important character of telecommunications.

In addition, the usefulness of access to information in rural areas must take into consideration the structural constraints on the uses of information which may come through a telecommunication system - access to information provides no assurance that the information can be used because of the existence of power hierarchies and limited social organization. It is probable that many of the problems in rural development are problems of distribution of resources and power. As such, telecommunication development may have little impact on such problems, and indeed, could exacerbate them under certain conditions by increasing the resources available to urban and rural elites to exploit the rural poor [6]. The communication technology of a society determines who can speak to whom, over what distances, with what time delays, and with what possibilities for feedback or return of communication. This is the heart of what is meant by social organization [7].
If the rural population is not listened to (no feedback from their requests, needs) in the absence of a widespread environment of telecommunications, will future communication technology necessarily create a willingness to listen in the political authorities?

To sum up, tomorrow, the promise is given to inhabitants of rural Africa of the availability of a reliable telecommunications infrastructure that will be an ``answer" to their problems. Their main concern is probably whether or not the new system will improve their financial resources (which have dramatically decreased recently), will allow them access (without any constraint) to education and health care, will give them a minimum ``power", and the first place that they deserve in the society. If social, political, and institutional problems encountered in Africa are not addressed rapidly, these populations will be disillusioned. Telecommunications for all by the year 2000 will therefore remain only a technological success. The key issue of this program is not only to provide a technology to everybody but first of all to reach the primordial slogan: all for telecommunications. In other words, everyone wants to use telecommunications because of its usefulness in their everyday life. But how could we have ``all for telecommunications"?

Many may think that the goal of this reflection is to limit the process of investment in the communication technology sector of Africa. Not at all. We believe that Africa needs more than ever, to use today's or tomorrow's high technology to access, share, process information in real time in order to participate as fully as possible, in the global economy. But it is important to realize that the problems that face Africa today can not be solved by the promised communication technology. To get the most out of this technology, the best thing to do is to initiate fundamental changes. That is the responsibility of Africans.


REFERENCES


[1] Berry, J. F. 1981."Comments on the Contribution of Telecommunications to Development with Particular Emphasis on France and Spain." Marnes-la-Coquette, France : Association Francaise des Utilisateurs du Telephone et des Telecommunications.
[2] Dickenson, C. R. 1977. Telecommunications in the Developing Countries: The Relation to the Economy and the Society. In P. Polishuk and M. O'Bryant (Eds), Telecommunications and Economic Development.
[3] Heather E. Huston. 1984. When Telephone Reach the Village. The Role of Telecommunications in Rural Development. Ablex Publishing Corporation.
[4] Heather E. Huston. 1991. Developing Countries' Telecommunications: Overcoming the Barriers of Distance. The Froehlich/Kent Encyclopedia of Telecommunications, Vol. 5.
[5] Kaul, S. N. 1981. "India's Rural Telephone Network." New Delhi: Economics Study Cell, Posts and Telegraphs Board, Ministry of Communications of India.
[6] McAnany, E. G. (Ed.) 1980. Communications in the Rural Third World: The Role of Information in development. New York: Praeger.
[7] Parker, E. B. 1976. "Planning Communication Technologies and Institutions for Development." (Paper for East-West Center Conference on Communication Policy and Planning for Development, April).
[8] Saunders, R., J. Warford, and B. Wellenius 1983. Telecommunications and Economic Development, Baltimore, Maryland, Johns Hopkins University Press.
[9] Simpson, A. A. 1978. "Remote communication in Canada and Social Interaction. A Middle Management Perspective." Ottawa, Ontario, Department of Communications.
[10] Wright, D. 1994. Mobile satellite communication in developing countries: The role of Inmarsat. Telecommunications Policy - January/February.