At the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum Africa 2006, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and former US President Bill Clinton highlighted the critical role information and communication technology (ICT) and public-private partnerships play to create change and a strong, vibrant future across Africa and developing countries. During his keynote, Gates highlighted Microsoft's long-term approach to investment in Africa, including collaborations between Microsoft and local and global organisations su ...

In Africa, the channels of communication are underdeveloped or inappropriate due to numerous factors. This paper outlines the prospects for fiber optic technology in Africa and looks at some fiber optic networks in Africa, examining how fiber optics applications are being used to enhance technological and economic development.

Scientists from 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have come up with a plan of action for applying satellite technology to a wide range of development issues.

Among the applications is telemedicine, in which large hospitals are connected via satellite to remote clinics where terrestrial communication systems are non-existent or damaged.

Reporters Without Borders has condemned a ruling by an administrative court attached to Egypt's council of state upholding an information and communication ministry decision in mid June 2006 that the authorities can block, suspend or shut down any website liable to pose a threat to national security.

The Federal Government has set up a company to integrate its existing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into a national backbone. Called Galaxy Backbone PLC, the integration is expected to further generate reliable data, voice and video transmission.

The government has announced that it will soon roll out Sh2.16 billion (US$30 million) Information Technology (IT) programme to spur rural connectivity to national information highways.

This will be part of the ongoing fibre optics link project which targets to connect the country’s major towns.

Information minister Mutahi Kagwe said through such initiatives, the government hopes to maximize equal access to information by every Kenyan. He said the government will equally address the co ...

The Malaysian government has pledged to help the Mozambican authorities develop a "Smart Card", which will allow Mozambican citizens to have all their key documentation on the same electronic card.

Grameen Foundation, a global non-profit organisation that combines microfinance with new technologies and local GSM network operator, MTN RwandaCell, launched Village Phone Rwanda. Through its signature product, Tel'imbere ('telephone to go forward'), Village Phone Rwanda is bringing affordable telephone access to rural communities where there is no access to communication and where power supplies are unreliable or non-existent.

In its fourth year, the Information and Communication Technologies Task Force, through its core activities, working groups and regional nodes, made a substantive contribution to the preparations for the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society by sponsoring several regional meetings, organizing a series of global forums, producing several publications and participating actively in events organized by other stakeholders; organized three high-level round tables linking inform ...

On the eve of the World Economic Forum meeting being held in Cape Town, Intel has committed to deliver 8000 PCs to South Africa and Nigeria. The PCs will be distributed through the education departments of the two countries.

"There is no such thing as the digital divide in Africa," Bushnet technical director Malcolm Brew told delegates at the African WiMax/CDMA Forum yesterday. "All the technology, like GPRS, is already here. Where there is a divide is in the content that is available to users."

The central aim of this paper is to problematise the notion of partnership in development practice, with particular emphasis on partnerships in the field of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D). It seeks to challenge taken for granted ideas concerning such partnerships, and it argues that those involved in such initiatives need to have in place formal concepts about their structure, organisation and intention.