Providing a basic communications infrastructure is one of the key sector priorities of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), reflected in the phenomenal growth in cellphone networks across the continent.

Yvonne Muthien, group executive: corporate affairs for the MTN group, says countries and regions without access to information and communications technology will be at a considerable disadvantage.

"Bridging the digital divide is imperative to ensure that the marginalised people of the African continent participate in the knowledge-based economy of the future."

She says that wireless networks in Africa are growing 40% annually, compared with 10% for fixed-line networks. There are 35million cellphone subscribers in Africa and it is estimated that by the end of 2020 there will be about 100-million cellphone users on the continent.

By 2020, 83% of subscriber growth will be in emerging markets, says Muthien.

"A telecommunications renaissance is sweeping across the continent, and with it an everincreasing demand for advanced communications services.

"The roll-out of sophisticated new mobile networks means that African countries can leapfrog to first-world communication solutions and technologies."

She says that the private sector has the power to influence the political and socioeconomic development of Africa, as well as being conduits for technical and economic beneficiation.

"There is a pressing expectation for African corporations to play a more significant role in reversing the continent's marginalisation from globalisation."

She says many of MTN's initiatives and projects coincide with Nepad's development priorities. These include promoting accelerated growth and sustainable development; eradicating widespread poverty; and halting the marginalisation of Africa in the globalisation process

She says that since its formation the MTN group has invested more than R12bn in satellite operations in 14 African countries, making mobile communications accessible to communities in Cameroon, Nigeria, Rwanda, SA, Swaziland and Uganda.

As part of its emphasis on sustainable development, Muthien says the group believes in building local partnerships and local empowerment in the form of equity stakes and franchising and distribution networks that favour small businesses, women and rural entrepreneurs.

She says that this week's African Business Leaders Forum is aimed at finding home-grown solutions for African problems and is a platform for private-public sector discourse to realise Nepad's goals. "We believe that if African companies develop appropriate strategies they can ensure financial performance, while simultaneously accelerating growth and development by helping to eradicate the poverty that has stigmatised Africa."

Source: AllAfrica.com