Years ago, the propulsion generated by the reverberating music ‘waka waka; this time for Africa’ still gives an enthralling experience! Africa can do it! Waka waka is a slang phrase from Cameroon that means “do it,” and Shakira based elements of the song on the marching chant that sprung from an ’80s song by Cameroon band Golden Sounds. Talking about Digital Africa, the power of Do it depicts the urge of the next generation to embrace the technology and communication revolution which can transform Africa to its new age destiny of progress and prosperity. Digital technologies have a great potential to disrupt this trajectory – unlocking new pathways for rapid economic growth, innovation, job creation and access to services which would have been unimaginable only a decade ago. Yet there is also a growing ‘digital divide’, and increased cyber risks, which need urgent and coordinated action to mitigate. How is Africa doing this path of Digitalisation is an interesting thing to observe!
THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION STRATEGY FOR AFRICA (2020-2030) brought out by African Union presents an ambitious plan towards this. According to the report, the Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa will build on the existing initiatives and frameworks such as the Policy and Regulatory Initiative for Digital Africa (PRIDA), the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the African Union Financial Institutions (AUFIs, the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM); and the Free Movement of Persons (FMP) to support the development of a Digital Single Market (DSM) for Africa, as part of the integration priorities of the African Union. The Smart Africa Initiative has set the creation of a Digital Single Market in Africa as its strategic vision.
The grand objectives of the vision of Africa in its digitalisation efforts are importantly lay down certain key transformation pathways which include; Build a secured Digital Single Market in Africa by 2030 where free movement of persons, services and capital is ensured and individuals and businesses can seamlessly access and engage in online activities in line with Africa’s Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) . By 2030 all the people should be digitally empowered and able to access safely and securely to at least (6 mb/s) all the time where ever they live in the continent at an affordable price of no more than (1cts usd per mb) through a smart device manufactured in the continent at the price of no more than (100 usd) to benefit from all basic e-services and content of which at least 30% is developed and hosted in Africa. Create a harmonized environment necessary to guarantee investment and financing by setting up a digital sovereignty fund to close the digital infrastructure gap and achieve an accessible, affordable, and secure broadband, across demography, gender, and geography. Harmonize policies, legislations and regulations and establish and improve digital networks and services with a view to strengthening intra-Africa trade, intra-investment and capital flows and the socio-economic integration of the continent, while maintaining a relational balance with other continents in the context of networked economies (Digital economy, collaborative economy).
But the challenges are many to achieve this vision. Nearly 300 million Africans live more than 50 km from a fibre or cable broadband connection. Lack of widespread availability of high-speed (broadband) internet remains a significant hurdle for Africa to fully harness the full potential of digital transformation. Mobile devices remain the primary way by which people access internet today, and dedicated internet connections to homes and offices (such as with fibre-to-the-premise) are mostly absent, except in some capital cities.currently, submarine cables bring the necessary international connectivity to coastal areas, and some non-coastal countries are making remarkable efforts to connect their territory through terrestrial network infrastructures, but this is only the first step of the digital infrastructure. Currently, a very large part of the IT content consumed in Africa comes from outside and Data Centres are the digital infrastructure that will allow the development of a local digital industry. Therefore, Africa needs Data Centre Infrastructure designed to host mission critical servers and computer systems, with fully redundant subsystems.
But the commerce and trade especially the proliferation of E commerce would give adequate thrust for countries to adopt technology which are powerful enough to disrupt the old methods and embrace the digital technologies which would be the heart of any economic activities of the future! So Africa is not far behind in this race, time to sing the waka waka for technological revolution of Africa.
