Re: .africa gTLD

["Tierno S. Bah" <tsbah@afriq.net>]

On Fri, 17 Jan 1997, Michael Dillon wrote:

> 
> However this doesn't mean that people already in Africa should sit and
> wait. Instead they should be buying used 8086 laptops and 2400 bps modems
> from the USA, adding parallel port ZIP drives, used dot matrix printers,
> UUPC software, car batteries and a bicycle generator to set up a village
> post office where people can send and receive email to any part of the
> world with a one day turnaround.
> 
> Or something like that....
> 

For all its good intention, this suggestion points to pitfalls that
African entrepreneurs should carefully avoid or risk paying a higher
price than expected.

"... buying 8086 PCs and 2400 bps modems" is the equivalent of trying to
reinvent the wheel. As a result, the gap between Africa and the
industrial world can only widen. The only potential use of the above
equipment would be for demonstration and basic training. Other than
that, even a text browser requires a higher rate, at least 9.6 kbps.
Even with  ZIP drives attached an 8086 machine cannot run freeware
versions of UNIX (BSDI, Linux, etc.) and their built-in UUCP, link to an
Ethernet LAN, etc. to give African universities campuses, for exemple,
access to the Internet. Worse, where would one find spare parts to
maintain such obsolete equipment?
African countries cannot afford to repeat the history of technological
evolution that has occurred since the end of WWII. They need to leapfrog
the early and subsequent phases of computing and networking
technologies. For instance, they need to build assembly shops which snap
together 486s and Pentiums, multimedia machines and peripherals. Keep in
mind that email has little usefulness in a context of predominant
illiteracy. The QWERTY or European keyboards are unknown tools or
spaces... However, audio-visual media can transmit information and
knowledge (both indigenous and foreign) to users and communities in
their languages. 
Finally, African countries need to leverage short, medium and long-haul
wireless technologies and services. They should not depend entirely on
the analog, copper-wire phone network. Spread Spectrum technology can
offer, for 'reasonable' one-time costs and low recurring charges,
anywhere from 64 kbps to T1 (1,554 kbps) transmission rates.

- Tierno S. Bah
AfriQ*Access, Inc.