Teledensity Growth Constraints and Strategies for Africa's LDCs: "Viagra" Prescriptions or Sustainable Development Strategy?

Abstract

Africa's Least Developed Countries (LDCs) lag other regions of the world in utilizing telecommunications technologies. The resulting digital divide has hitherto left these countries far behind other regions of the world in various aspects of economic development. Many technology-oriented constraints account for the low levels of teledensity in Africa. Teledensity refers to the number of main telephone lines per one hundred inhabitants. The over-dependence of Africa's LDCs on the West has been reflected in various socio-economic dimensions, including the telecommunications industry.A general desire by the LDCs to break the cycle of perpetual dependence has led to calls for a debate on what strategies can be adopted to turn things around. Possible options include the following: (a) self-sufficiency approach by each country, (b) African Regional/Foreign Alliance approach to solve the regional technology- oriented constraints to teledensity, and (c) the 'viagra' approach of total and perpetual dependence on the West to come in and apply a "band-aid" fix to the problem, and leave behind an infrastructure with little or no local expertise to manage it. In this paper, the term 'viagra' is used to imply a quick or "band-aid" prescription in the guise of a "solution ".This study examines the perspectives or beliefs of telecommunications stakeholders of Africa's LDCs on strategies for solving the technology-oriented constraints that have been documented in the literature. The findings suggest that Africa's LDCs should adopt a self-sufficiency approach and also create regional alliances for sustainable development of telecommunications infrastructure to spur the much needed teledensity growth in the region