By Emeka Aginam
Stakeholders in the Ghanaian ICT industry gathered recently  at the 5th annual Connecting Rural Communities 2010 conference in  Accra, Ghana  discussing among other things how best to  explore potential solutions for bridging the digital divide in Africa.

At the event organized by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) and hosted in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications, Ghana, National Communications Authority and the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), Ghana’s Minister for Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrisu called on African governments to pay attention to ICT infrastructure for economic development.

Earlier in a speech read on his behalf by the Communications Minister, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, President John Evans Atta-Mills  said that “in connecting rural communities, we in Africa should embrace ICT infrastructure deployment as part of a unified and comprehensive economic development strategy that also addresses issues of education, health, governance and commerce.”

He  stressed  the commitment and support of Ghana’s government’s towards developing a broadband infrastructure for e-government services to cater to the needs of the common citizen in under-served regions.

Presided over by Ghana’s Deputy Minister for Communications, Mr Gideon Quarcoo, and led by the CEO of the CTO, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, the three-day conference took off with remarks and presentations from ICT and telecommunications experts that included the Secretary-General of ITU, Dr. Hamadoun Toure, ECOWAS President, Mr. Victor Gbeho, the CEO of MTN Ghana, Mr. Brett Goschen and Intel’s Director of Corporate Affairs Group for Sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Thabani Tonny Khupe, who spoke on the importance of connecting rural African communities into the knowledge economy.

Dr Spio-Garbrah, pointed out that over seventy per cent of the people in Commonwealth countries did not have access to basic communication infrastructure and hence were unconnected despite advancements within the ICT sector.

He added that with African countries now taking a more democratic turn and with an increase in exports, there is a need for these countries to harness the potential for ICT development in its development strategy in order to drive forward the economy.

“The CTO has been at the forefront of forging rural ICT connectivity through various programmes and initiatives. By encouraging private-public-people partnerships, there is benefit for all stakeholders involved, especially rural communities in Africa that are in much need of cost-effective ICT services,” he added.

The conference, with the theme, “Connecting rural Africa on a cost-effective, sustainable and profitable basis through Public Private Peoples Partnerships” is being attended by an impressive audience of ICT stakeholders from over twenty countries, and supported by some of the leading ICT organizations and associations such as Intel, MTN, Intelsat, Ltd., Seamless, Telkom Group, Research In Motion, Ericsson, Flexenclosure, Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., Amara Raja, Coral Telecom, Bharti Airtel Limited, Phase3 Telecom Limited, Grintek Ewation (Pty) Ltd, K-NET, TKM MAESTRO Ltd., MainOne Cable Company and GCNet, indicative of increased interest in the programme.

With a history dating back to 1901, and headquartered in London, the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) is an international development partnership between the Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth governments, businesses and civil society organisations. CTO provides  means to help bridge the digital divide and achieve development by delivering to developing countries knowledge-sharing programmes in the use of ICT.