Staff Reporter
Cape Town, November 14 – Ministers of Communications and Digital Technologies, along with member states of the African Telecommunications Union (ATU), gathered in Cape Town, South Africa for the Ministerial Forum on Building a Future-Oriented, Intelligent Digital Infrastructure for Africa. Co-organized by the ATU and the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) of South Africa, the forum aimed to advance the digital transformation agenda across the continent. The event concluded with the signing of a joint communique, emphasizing the importance of collaboration among stakeholders in constructing a forward-looking digital infrastructure for Africa.
Held alongside AfricaCom, the premier ICT conference and exhibition on the continent, the forum provided a platform for dialogue on the development of a future-oriented intelligent digital infrastructure in Africa. This infrastructure is deemed essential for achieving the socio-economic development goals of the continent.
The timing of the event is significant as the global digital economy’s growth underscores the need for Africa to bolster the construction of high-speed networks (4G, 5G, and fibre) and the implementation of high-performance cloud computing capabilities.
“In the space in which this forum operates, we can create consensus on the direction for building a future-oriented digital infrastructure for Africa,” said African Telecommunications Union (ATU) Secretary General, John Omo. “We know the place of digital infrastructure in the global arithmetic that defines the compass of progress. We also know that to find our bearing on this compass, we must be deliberate about the actions we take to protect the future of Africa.”
Omo emphasized the importance of collaboration among governments, private sector entities, research institutions, and international organizations to realize the full potential of collective efforts, emphasizing inclusivity as a guiding principle.
Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Philly Mapulane, echoed the need for collaboration, emphasizing that the gathering marks a milestone in the collective pursuit of a digitally empowered Africa. He stated, “Today, we are not just building a digital infrastructure; we are laying the foundation for the socio-economic emancipation of our continent.”
Leo Chen, President of Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa, highlighted the progress Africa has made in building necessary digital infrastructure and outlined areas for improvement. Chen advocated for the “One Network, One Cloud” approach, emphasizing the benefits of national broadband backbone networks and extensible cloud infrastructure.
The forum participants discussed the importance of cloud technologies at a nation-state level. Chen underlined the significance of national cloud platforms for technological innovation, improved government and enterprise capabilities, and the unlocking of potential in the ‘e-government’ cloud.
The joint communique issued at the end of the event committed African countries to collaborate and align policies and strategies for digital infrastructure development, in line with the African Union Agenda 2063, the ATU Strategic Plan 2020-2024, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Dignitaries from various African nations emphasized the need for greater collaboration beyond digital infrastructure, extending to skills transfer and policy formulation. The event also showcased the South African Fibre Broadband Development Initiative, presenting a position paper titled “Toward a Gigabit Society in South Africa,” analyzing the impact of increased fixed broadband adoption in the country.
