Current statistics from BBC Globescan shows that there are still less internet usage in some countries in Africa and the Middle East, compared to the rest of the world. What do you think are the MAIN reason for this?
- Lack of resources?
- No interest/use/trust in internet? If so, why?
- The governement interfering too much with the content/keeps the advantages of internet for themselves?
I’m writing an assignment about this, and would appreciate if african and/or middle eastern people would share their thoughts with me around this. It would be nice if you also could add your personal meanings around the development of internet and how you think this will develop in your country in the future.
Thanks!
Pick-nic
While, I currently don’t have a cite besides this (PDF), from personal experience of having lived and travelled in the region its down to a couple of different factors.
First at least in Africa, the biggest problem is lack of availability. In Most places in Africa, there are very few landlines which serve as the primary access to the internet. While Mobile internet is slowly starting to come up, its still pretty expensive and also not that fast.
Also even if landlines are available, the cost of internet access is pretty high by local standards as it is usually through a satellite uplink as until recently there were no or limited marine undersea’s cables coming there to provide cheap and fast access. Most companies or institutions still largely depend upon satellite uplinks which require a substantial investment as well as quiet high running costs.
Its improving in East Africa due to the Arrival of EASSy which has finally brought plenty of bandwidth which is fast and also cheaper then the past. Its still early days, and the challenge is going to be to improve the infrastructure so that people outside the coast and major cities can gain access to the benefits of this as well.
In the Middle east, you really have to go country by country as the infrastructure, costs and regulations vary greatly by country.
I can think of some reasons:
What use is bandwidth without a computer?
What use is a computer without the education to use it?
What use would most of these people even have for the internet? Twitter to each other about how hungry and war-torn their village is?
If you live in Nigeria, you use it to try to scam people in the US.
Of course the article opens by saying, even there, internet penetration is less than 7%.
Careful with the stereotypes. Most of Africa is neither hungry nor war-torn.
I was a computer teacher in a large village/small town in Cameroon for two years. The internet was indeed extremely useful. Access to books and news was extremely limited in my area, so the Internet was one of the few ways people could get access to current information. Teachers greatly benefited from using the internet to get lesson plans, accurate information, etc. Community groups used the internet to connect with other people doing the same work and sources of funding for their projects. Traders used the internet to keep current on prices around the country and make sure middle-men were not taking too large of a cut. Individuals used the net to keep in touch with each other and learn new skills.
My town had two internet cafes that worked intermittently. It cost around one dollar an hour- about what a teacher makes in an hour or a laborer makes in a day. Few people could afford it or really understand it, but there was a dedicated group of educated professionals and enthusiastic young people who really did take advantage of it. Private computers and internet access was also on the rise.