Keywords: information and communication technologies, mobile telephony, Internet, broadband, mobile Internet, "digital divide", "digital natives"

Information and communication technology (ICT) is a very young sector of the African economy. Its formation began at the turn of the 80s-90s of the last century. The past decades have shown a gradual but rather active integration of Africa into the global information space.

The use of electronic technologies covers various industries, including commercial activities, banking, healthcare, education, science, culture, and tourism. Opportunities for using ICTs in public administration and providing public services to citizens are being expanded.

Introduction of information and communication technologies, which form a modern information society on a global scale, is an important system-forming factor of the post-industrial model of economic development. Although the material and resource base is still the basis of the economy, it is impossible not to recognize the increasing importance of intellectual and technological resources. Therefore, the new model can be called the knowledge and information economy without exaggeration. The most important factors of economic growth are new computer technologies, mobile communications, expansion of the business space, and e-commerce. How is this happening in Africa?

AFRICA AT THE DAWN OF INFORMATIZATION

Back in the early 1990s, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan emphasized the importance of new technologies that offer additional unique opportunities for addressing the challenges of socio-economic development and poverty reduction in African countries. A few years later, South African President Nelson Mandela said that eliminating the distinction between information-poor and information-rich countries will be a critical factor in eliminating economic and other types of inequality between the North and South. Without bridging the information gap, developing countries will not become full members of the modern world. Nelson Mandela foresaw that communication would inevitably become a fundamental human right in the twenty-first century, and that information and communication technologies would be the most powerful tool available for human development.¹

According to a number of Russian and Western scientists, the widespread use of ICTs in various areas of socio-economic life will contribute to the introduction of elements of the post-industrial economic system in Africa, bypassing the industrial stage of technological evolution and, thus, accelerating and reducing the cost of technological progress.

The 1990s marked a turning point in Africa's technological history. In a short period of time, the continent has undergone tremendous changes, a kind of" revolution " in the field of communications and mass media. This sector of the African economy has experienced the greatest degree of modernization. Progress was largely made possible due to the awareness of the leaders of states of the prospects for increasing prosperity, developing education, improving health and improving the culture of the population. African leaders recognize that the development of ICTs is a path to equitable integration into the global economic system.

The priority of such development is emphasized, for example, in the program "Vision of Nigeria 2020" (Nigeria Vision 2020)², which defined the development strategy of Nigeria for the period 2007-2020 and set the country the task of entering the top twenty leading economies in the world. The basis for modernizing the economy and increasing its efficiency is the widespread introduction of modern technologies. The document says: "Aggressively promote information and communication technologies as a tool for mass education, socio-economic growth and development."

The program document "Kenya Vision 2030" also states that the creation of a competitive state with a stable, prosperous economy capable of ensuring a high standard of living for the population is impossible without the use of high technologies. Therefore, close attention is paid to computerization of the country, improving computer literacy, introducing ICT in the economic sphere, and creating research centers. One of the initiatives under this program is a grandiose project of a modern high-tech technical center.-

nopark, by analogy with the American "Silicon Valley" called "African Silicon Savanna". Noting the obvious overambitiousness of the tasks set, it is impossible not to recognize the correct course adopted on the priority of building a modern knowledge-based economy.

In October 2012, Rwanda hosted a summit entitled "Transform Africa", which adopted the"Smart Africa" manifesto. African leaders reaffirmed their strong commitment to integrate information technology into development programmes in order to reduce poverty, achieve prosperity and grow the continent's economy.

Much attention is paid to ICT in the "Millennium Development Goals"program³. Under this program, a project is being implemented with the participation of UN agencies, local authorities, the scientific community and private telecommunications companies "Ericsson", "BhartiAirTet"," Orange " and others. The project is aimed at implementing the program's health, education, energy and entrepreneurship development goals in remote, poor rural areas, using ICTs, including broadband Internet. ⁴

The project covers 500,000 residents in 10 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. All localities where the project is being implemented are connected to wireless networks. ICT technologies open up wide opportunities for the rural population - access to loans and benefits, information about emerging companies, and provide a convenient way to pay for water, energy, and other services using mobile phones. For health workers, they can facilitate the collection of health information at the household level and ensure the rapid transmission of information about the health status of children and newborns.

New technologies could contribute to the development of universal education and the provision of quality education. They can be used for mass training of rural teachers, modernization of their curricula, and formation of practical skills necessary for the labor market. ICTs will help expand the horizons of rural residents and their children, make it possible to communicate with residents of other villages and cities, forming mutual understanding between people.

INTRAREGIONAL DIGITAL DIVIDE

Due to the huge differences in the level of socio-economic development of African countries, the overall assessment of successful ICT promotion fully concerns the most developed economies - North African (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt), South Africa, small island States (Mauritius, Seychelles, Cape Verde), individual countries of Tropical Africa (Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia). Nevertheless, to varying degrees, the process has affected all African countries, although the difference in objective indicators is huge, which indicates a large "digital gap" within Africa and reflects unequal opportunities in access to information, in the use of knowledge and new technologies for development. Information inequality is based on country differences in the level of economic development and investment opportunities, the lack of necessary telecommunications infrastructure,the low educational and cultural level of the population, and the lack of stable incomes. Different African states are in the polar positions in these parameters.

Africa is a region with very low values of the Information and communication Technologies Development Index (IR), calculated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for 166 countries of the world on 11 indicators related to access, use, practical knowledge of these technologies, literacy level, etc.⁵ The average regional level of R & D in Africa is the lowest in the world: it is half the average for Arab countries and more than 3 times the average for Europe. Only 2 countries - Mauritius and Seychelles - are above the global average of 4.77% of GDP in 2013. Three quarters of countries are in the group of least developed countries, characterized by low levels of ICT adoption and use and limited access to advanced services, including broadband Internet. Of these, 11 countries are at the lowest rungs of the 2013 world ranking. The Central African Republic (CAR) closes the list with an IR value below one (0.96).

In contrast to developed countries, there is a tendency in Africa to increase differences in the ICT development of individual countries, i.e. the intraregional "digital divide" is widening. The leading countries in terms of R & D (Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Cape Verde, Botswana) continue to make great progress in terms of ICT development, while the lower-ranked countries (Burkina Faso, DRC, Mozambique, Madagascar, Guinea, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Chad, Niger, CAR), are increasingly lagging behind in the use of modern information technologies. Cape Verde is among the most dynamically developing countries, with a large increase in the rating compared to previous years.

MOBILE TELEPHONY REPLACES FIXED-LINE COMMUNICATION

In the 1990s, the mobile phone market in Africa was particularly dynamic. It grew twice as fast as in all other regions of the world, which, of course, is largely due to the initial zero level. By 2000, the number of mobile subscribers was twice that of fixed-line users. This was facilitated by a gradual reduction in mobile call rates - in some countries they have become lower compared to wired telephone communication. In addition, mobile technologies have provided the possibility of telephone exchanges.-

Table 1

Top ten countries in Africa with the highest number of mobile subscribers per 100 people

Compiled from: World Development Indicators 2014 / Database. The World Bank. P. 324-326.

thieves in areas where wired communication is extremely limited or even impossible due to the lack of appropriate infrastructure - especially in the territories of the Central African Republic, Chad, DRC, Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Mozambique, and Tanzania. A big advantage of mobile telephony is also that it does not depend on the supply of electricity. Outside of cities and in remote agricultural areas, Africa is characterized by an irregular supply, or even a complete lack of electricity; the power supply network is insufficient, and sometimes even completely absent. Shutting down the power supply for several hours is common even in large cities and some capitals.

The "boom" in the development of mobile telephony that occurred during the 2000s has led to the fact that by now it has practically replaced fixed-line telephone communication. The mobile communications market has attracted a large number of private operators who have expanded their commercial subscriber network and created an alternative to public communications. Currently, mobile services are available to at least 80% of the population in most African countries. In Botswana, Benin, Morocco, Libya, Mauritius, Rwanda, Kenya, and Tanzania, the wireless network coverage area covers 80-99% of the population. In Tunisia, Uganda, and Swaziland, the entire population can become mobile subscribers. Residents of Sudan, Central African Republic, DRC, Mozambique (32-55%)are the least covered by mobile telephony services ⁶.

In 1998, there were fewer than 4 million mobile subscribers in Africa. But by 2010, their number exceeded 700 million people - 23% of the number of mobile subscribers in the group of developing countries and about 10% - from the whole world. Africa's place in terms of subscribers per 100 people of the population can be judged from the following data: ⁷ the average for the continent is 63 people, in developing countries-89 people, in developed countries-128 people.

Africa is characterized by a deep differentiation in the number of subscribers per 100 people, so this indicator varies greatly by country: it exceeds 100 people in Libya, Botswana, South Africa, Tunisia; from 80 to 100 subscribers are registered in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Benin, Congo, Mauritius; the smallest number of mobile phone owners is in Sudan where only 1 resident out of 100 has a telephone, Rwanda - 3, Uganda - 6 and Liberia - 9 residents.

Table 2

Africa's place in the world by number of Internet users

Источник: Internet World Statistics - www.internetworldstats.com/statsl.htm

Table 3

Top ten countries in Africa with the largest number of Internet users

Compiled from: Internet World Statistics. Africa 2014. Population and Internet users Statistics for 2014 www.internetworldstats.com/stats_1.htm

THE INTERNET IS MAKING STEADY INROADS IN AFRICA

Internet penetration in Africa began in the 80s of the last century. But in the next decade, especially in its second half, the Internet is rapidly spreading. Small private companies-operators created by people with university education and involving local entrepreneurs-showed great activity in establishing an Internet service. They competed with state-owned communications companies. Most of the international connections were made via satellites. The exceptions were South Africa and Djibouti, which have access to fiber-optic communication lines.

If at the end of 1996 the Internet was available only in 11 countries of the continent (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique), then just 2 years later they were connected to the World Wide Web and received a full range of Internet services through their providers capitals and individual major cities of all African states ⁸. Undisputed primacy in Internet penetration belonged to South Africa, which in terms of economic development could then be classified as a developed country: out of 870 thousand Internet users in the SSA by the end of the XX century, 800 thousand people were residents of South Africa. Most countries in the region had no more than 1,000 users, and only 7 countries (South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Mozambique, Uganda, Zambia) had more than 3,000. South Africa was among the world's top twenty in terms of the number of Internet sites.

Back in the late 90s of the last century, Africa and the Internet could be described as "two parallel realities" ⁹, and in the first decade of the new century, one could ask the question: "does the Black continent need the Internet?"¹⁰. We can now confidently say that the introduction of modern telecommunications technologies to Africa and its inclusion in the global cyberspace is gradually becoming an objective reality.

In the 2000s, the growth rate of Internet users in Africa exceeded both the global average and individual regions of the world. In 2002, there were an average of 10 users for every 100 people in the world. In 2010, there were more than 26 people (an increase of 2.6 times); in Latin America, the increase was 3.2 times (from 8.6 to 28 people). Over the same period, the number of users per 100 people in Africa increased from 1.2 to 8, i.e. increased 6.5 times ¹¹.

However, in absolute terms, Africa, and especially the SSA region, lags far behind all other regions of the world, ahead of only the least developed countries. As of 2013, the number of Internet users per 100 people is characterized by the following data: European Union-75.5, Latin America and the Caribbean - 45.8, East Asia and the Pacific - 39.5, Middle East and North Africa-34.1, Sub-Saharan Africa-16.9, least developed countries (according to the UN classification) - 7.0 and the world average-38.1 ¹².

The leader in the distribution of the Internet by the number of users belongs to Nigeria. The country's nearly 180 million population provides a great potential for further expansion of the World Wide Web's inhabitants, as another 60% of the population is not covered. In the UNESCO Report on Communication and Information in Africa 1999-2000. Nigeria has been named as one of the sleeping giants of the ICT market in Africa. Thanks to the Government's understanding of the importance of implementing information and communication technologies.-

Nigeria has become the fastest growing ICT market on the continent. The top ten countries with the least Internet coverage (with a penetration rate of 3.9% -1.6%) are Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, DRC, Ethiopia, Guinea, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Somalia.

More and more Africans are using the global social network Facebook. As part of a global project Internet.org Facebook, which aims to connect remote corners of the Earth to the Internet, is considering a project to further internetize Africa. Its implementation will be especially important for actively developing tourism: due to the insufficiently developed infrastructure and the vast expanses of the continent, Internet coverage is not yet possible everywhere. The project cost is estimated at $60 million. It is planned to use about 11 thousand economical and eco-friendly Solar 60 drones powered by solar energy, capable of flying without landing for about 5 years ¹³.

Africa is of particular interest to the corporation: according to its data, more than 80% of Africans who visit the social network log in to Facebook from mobile devices ¹⁴. The growth rate is very high. The most active residents of Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.

Some Western media outlets refer to the coups in Egypt and Tunisia as "Facebook revolutions." The American TV channel CNN acknowledged the role of social resources in coordinating the protests, noting that the revolution in Egypt was organized through social Internet services. Anti-government groups created on Facebook called for the very first protests in Cairo. In the two weeks since the demonstration began on January 25, Egyptian users have created more than 32,000 new Facebook groups and 14,000 public pages.¹⁵

MOBILE INTERNET IS MORE AFFORDABLE IN AFRICA THAN CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION

With the development of Internet technologies, the computer ceases to be the only means of accessing the global network. Mobile phones, electronic notebooks, and other technical devices, which are much cheaper than desktop computers, expand the ability of people with small incomes to connect to a worldwide network. This is extremely important for Africa, as there are additional opportunities to reduce the "digital divide" in countries with poorly developed infrastructure in the form of a network of expensive fiber-optic lines.

Mobile Internet is the most dynamically developing ICT market in the modern world, and the highest growth rates are observed in Africa. Wireless high-speed Internet technologies can make significant progress for Africans by providing access to the global network without huge infrastructure investments. The share of African mobile Internet traffic in total web traffic was 38% in May 2014 , the highest in the world. For comparison, it is 16% in Europe, 17% in South America, 19% in North America, 37% in Asia, and 25% on average in the world. Africa also saw its highest annual growth since May 2013: 20%, while Europe - 8%, South America-11%, North America-8%, Asia-14%¹⁶.

The" boom "of mobile telephony in the 2000s was followed by the" digital revolution " with mobile Internet. Experts predict that in Africa, the use of mobile phones to access the Internet will increase 20-fold by 2019, twice the global average growth rate.¹⁷ The number of mobile users in SSA is projected to increase to 930 million by 2019, with 3 out of 4 subscribers having Internet access. The use of cheap smartphones, which are expected to drop to $40 in the coming years, will allow a huge part of the population - from the middle class in urban areas to small producers and farmers in rural areas - to access broadband Internet. This will provide them with a lot of opportunities to improve their business performance.

The number of users using mobile phones that provide Internet access is growing much faster than the number of users using desktop computers. 6 African countries are among the world's largest in terms of mobile traffic share in total web traffic: Zambia (47.1%, 2nd place in the world), Sudan (45%), Nigeria (40.6%), Zimbabwe (37%), Ethiopia (31.8%), Kenya (29.2%). They significantly outperform the UK with 10.7% and the US with 8.6% of mobile traffic (where fixed broadband is more developed).¹⁸. The majority of mobile phone users in Africa are aged 13-34 years (91%), of which 83% are men.

An important obstacle to access to the Internet in Africa remains its low availability at a price. Income inequality is one of the reasons why broadband, especially fixed broadband (FSH), remains unacceptable for large segments of the population due to the high cost of connectivity. In almost half of the African countries, mobile broadband (MBS) services are more than $10 cheaper per month than basic FBS tariffs. With a low subsistence level of the population, such savings can solve the problem of choice. As the FSH infrastructure is not sufficiently developed in some African countries, the FSH may thus be the only alternative to broadband Internet access.¹⁹

WEAK INFRASTRUCTURE IS A SERIOUS BARRIER TO ICT ADOPTION

Despite Africa's success in implementing mobile telephony and the Internet, there is a large gap with the rest of the world in terms of ICT use opportunities. This happens, in particular, with access to fixed broadband services. A serious barrier

The introduction of modern technologies is hindered by the weak development of information and communication infrastructure, which would provide high - speed information transmission and channel capacity.

Only 7% of households have broadband Internet access. Africa accounts for less than 0.5% of the world's fixed broadband subscribers, and despite double-digit growth over the past few years, penetration remains very low. In most countries, subscribers are provided with a low connection speed (up to 2 Mbit / sec). Internet speeds of more than 10 Mbit / sec are only available in a small number of countries, and only a few of them (Mauritius, Sao Tome and Principe) have access speeds of 100 Mbit / sec (according to SpeedTesf).

Not all existing mobile phone networks have been upgraded to the level of 2G technology, which is necessary for the network to meet broadband requirements and provide high-speed access to the global network. So far, Africa is facing the task of spreading 2G and 2.5 G GSM services across a huge area of the entire continent by 2017, and by 2020, three-quarters of the networks should be brought to the level of the 3rd generation of 3G (and even 4G) mobile service.

African countries are characterized by large differences in the provision of basic telecommunications services in terms of the level of delivery, quality and coverage of the territory. Africa's high-speed connectivity to the rest of the world and its expansion is largely possible thanks to a system of high-broadband fiber-optic cables laid along its eastern and western coasts. Therefore, coastal countries are in the best position.

DIGITAL NATIVES OF THE WORLD AND AFRICA'S YOUTH

Today, more than 40% of the world's population uses the Internet. The most active users are young people. There is a separate noticeable group of young people who were born in the digital age and grow up using information and communication technologies in their daily lives. This group was called "digital natives". Studies have shown that digital media has an impact on how young people prepare for life in society, how they participate in civil and economic life. For the first time, the International Telecommunication Union has developed a model for estimating the number of "digital Natives", which defines them as a group of networked youth aged 14-24 with 5 or more years of online experience.

According to ITU-²⁰, this group of young people currently covers 30% of the world's young population. It is most widespread either in countries with a high population (China, India, Brazil) or in countries with relatively small populations but very developed networks (Canada, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea). This indicator is related to the income of the population and the level of Internet penetration.

Africa has the lowest share of "digital natives" in the total population (about 2%), and their share in the number of young people (less than 10%). However, Africa is characterized by the presence of a "youth hump": in other words, young people (aged 15-24 years) They make up a significant part of the population - 20.2%. More than half of them started using the Internet relatively recently, less than 5 years ago, so today they are not included in the category of "digital aborigines". Their number may more than double in the next 5 years. Thus, the" youth hump " of Africa will be the key to increasing the number of "digital aborigines", and this means a good prospect for the promotion of information technology on the continent.

¹ Nelson Mandela and ITU. Humanity and human progress - https://itu.news.itu.int/RU/Note.aspx?-Note=4757

² ALTON Industry Proposal on Vision 2020 - www.altonning. com/docs

³ Millennium Villages and ICTs - doc.1000itstrateg.net/story/derevni-tysycheletiya-i-ikt

⁴ Broadband Internet ( or high-speed Internet access) is access with a data transfer rate exceeding the maximum possible when using dial-up access via a modem or public telephone network (56 Kbit/sec). It is carried out using wired fiber-optic and wireless communication lines of various types.

⁵ Measuring the information society. 2014 report. Резюме - www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/ind/D-IND-ICTO-2014-SUM-PDF-R.pdf

⁶ World Development Indicators 2014. Database. The World Bank. W., 2014. P. 324-326.

⁷ ICT Facts and Figures. The World in 2013 - www.itu.int/en/IPU-D/Statistics/Documents/Facts/ICT-Facts-Figures-2013.pdf

⁸ UNESCO World Report on Communication and Information 1998-2000 - www.africana.in/commumcations/UN1999_black.htrn

^{Abramova I. O.} , Polikarpov D. V. Internet i Afrika: parallelnye realnosti, Moscow, 2001 (Abramova I. O., Polikarpov D. V. Internet i Afrika: parallelnye realnosti) (in Russian)

^{Panzerev K. A.} 10 Does the Black Continent need the Internet? / Asia and Africa Today, Moscow, 2009, No. 7, pp. 26-28. (Pantserev K. A. Nuzhen li internet Chernomu kontinentu? // Aziya i Afrika segodnya. 2009, N 7) (in Russian)

¹¹ UNESCO Science Report 2010 - russcom.ning.com/forum/topics/unesco-science-report-2010

¹² World Development Indicators 2014. Database. The World Bank.

^Facebook 13 wants to create a free Internet in Africa-www. baltpp/a/2014/11/ 16/facebook-hochet-sozdat-v-africe-besplatny-internet

¹⁴ Ibidem.

¹⁵ The most active growth of the Fasebook audience was recorded in Africa and Asia - digit.ru/internet/20110222/381141354.html

¹⁶ Harsh everyday life of the Internet on the African continent - habrabr.ru>company/ua-hosting/blog/242681

¹⁷ www.theguardian.com/world/2014/juin/05/internet-use-mobile-phone-africa-predicted-increase-20-fold

¹⁸ Mobile Internet Penetration in Africa Increases By 159,59 Percent in two Years - www.ventures-africa.com/2012/05/mobile-internet-penetration-in-africa-increase-by-159,59-percentage-in-two-years

¹⁹ Measuring the Information society. 2014 report. Резюме - www.itu.int.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/ind/D-IND-ICTO-2014-SUM-PDF-Rpdf

²⁰ Measuring the Information Society 2013 - www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/pob/ind/D-IND-ictoi-2013-SUM-PDF-R.pdf

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