the i-witnesses

Southern superpowers: challenging our notions of development

Gone are the days when developing countries depended on Western developed societies for skill and technology transfers. The emerging superpowers of India and China are – in my view – already offering tough competition to western markets in the field of information and communication technologies (ICTs).

Here are three examples:

1. India’s Reliance Communications plans to build a submarine cable around the east coast of Africa to rival the continent’s own much-delayed EASSy plan. A subsidiary company will invest USD 1.5 billion in building the world’s largest internet network, covering 60 countries.

2. The Indian government is ‘donating’ USD 1 billion to connect 53 African countries through satellite and fibre-optic technologies to increase exchanges on (tele)medicine.

3. China is reported to be constructing 2000 km of optical-fibre network in Uganda to increase local connectivity.

These are just business plans (even the donation, I suspect) and may well need refining. But such partnerships would mean more economic activity within the South, and represent a massive shift in the traditional North-South paradigm of global economic development.

And, although they rely on existing expertise – for decades India has excelled in medicine, for example – of course, it’s ICTs that are opening up endless opportunities in sharing and learning.

Africa means big business for China

Last Sunday, something happened that could spell a sea change for Africa’s development. But it only just made it into the European and American mainstream media – they were probably too busy with the US mid-term elections.

The Sino-African Summit - dubbed the 'Forum on China-African Cooperation' - gathered high-level representatives from 48 African nations in Beijing, and closed deals worth some USD1.9 billion, including the largest private contract on Nigeria’s railways ever undertaken by a Chinese firm. As the Wall Street Journal put it:

“Plenty of American and European politicians pay lip service to helping Africa. Meanwhile, China is doing much of the legwork.”

But what does this mean for Africa’s information society?

While the East African Submarine cable System (EASSy*) is ambling to reach consensus, China is quietly talking to Uganda, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Ghana to roll out communications networks. It has already struck a deal with Uganda.

China is unapologetic about what they want back from Africa: oil (tops the list) and other minerals, and a friendly vote-bank at crucial times in the United Nations.

There are some dissident voices from Africa. They accuse China of being neocolonialist. I agree the Chinese help is not exactly altruistic – it’s purely down to economics. But I am impressed that a single nation appears to have the economic capacity to cater to the needs of an entire continent!

[*The EASSy cable system is a USD230 million project which plans to wire an area running 9900km from Durban, South Africa to Djibouti. It is supported by the African Development Bank, the World Bank and telecommunications operators, and has been dogged by controversy over issues of access and ownership.]