Joseph Coomson
4 February 2005
Although, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has come to stay as one of the newest technology in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) world, African communications authorities have failed to legalise it for the benefit of improved technology and lower prices.
VoIP is a technology where phone calls are routed through the Internet. "If they say it's illegal, then they are killing technology," the Managing Director (MD) of General Data Engineering Services, Mr. Sunday Folayan said.
Mr. Sunday, a participant in the Conference on the World Summit of Information Society (WSIS) who was a speaker at a workshop for ICT journalists in Accra said VoIP has come to be accepted and people are using it but strangely, it is not legalized."Who is stopping GT from providing that service? We shouldn't use our colonial mentality when it comes to ICT, or we would not attain the middle-income status,"he said.
He advised African telecom regulators not to regulate technology but regulate services and the commercial aspect of it.
"Regulators either begin to accommodate it or end up chasing shadows all their lives."
Speaking on some of the problems African countries are facing in Africa, Mr. Folayan said in most African countries, licensing is on cash and carry, which does not auger well for development of ICT in Africa.
He noted also that African countries have very good telecommunication regulations but cannot enforce them. "Regulation without enforcement is anarchy," he reminded. The best form of regulation is operator-self-regulation, facilitated by the regulator.
The MD said access to capital and credit has contributed adversely to the development of ICT in Africa. "Cost of capital is very high in Africa with Nigeria having about 32% interest rate."
He was sad about the non existence of an operational international exchange point of African Internet Service Providers as it had robbed them of the confidence of ISPs. Mr. Folayan stressed that with the African Exchange in place, cost operation would be low, leading to a larger volume of customers, market penetration and enhanced trust of the people. "It would keep local traffic local and reduce latency and network response."
Other problems he talked about were capital flight, poor quality of services, greed and lack of foresight, lack of co-oporation, lack of requisite skills and manpower.
On the way forward, the ICT expert said more telecommunication infrastructure should be built with government playing a critical role, especially internet access.
He called on ISPs to work together to improve ICT in Africa.
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