[Tribune] Africa can still succeed in its digital transformation – Jeune Afrique

The Covid-19 pandemic confirms it: when it comes to digital transformation, Africa is lagging behind. At the center of a war of influence between China and the West, it must put its interests first.

In 2020, the health crisis linked to Covid-19 exposed the continent’s gaps in digital transformation and the need to address them. Despite progress such as the spatial extension of networks, the continent lags behind in this area and remains at the center of wars of technological and geopolitical influence between Westerners and Asians.

Arm wrestling

Although reliable data is scarce, it is estimated that 70% of Africa’s 4G infrastructure is connected to Huawei technology. It therefore seems more advantageous for African countries to build the 5G infrastructure on that of this already existing 4G – which, in fact, consolidates their links with the Chinese group. But sanctions taken by former US President Donald Trump against Huawei have put the brakes on the plans of several major internet providers across the African continent.

For example, Safaricom, the largest telecommunications company in East Africa, announced in early January that it was suspending the deployment of 5G in Kenya, arguing a change in strategy. Large African telecommunications companies with financial ties to Western countries like the UK have also sought to diversify their partnerships.

If Biden continues Trump’s standoff with China, Africa will continue to suffer

If Huawei remains first on the continent today, the international pressure that the group is under and its effects on the speed of conversion of African countries to 5G have led some leaders to react openly. This is the case of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who clearly expressed concern that his country’s economy is being held back by the struggle between the United States and China. If the Biden administration were to continue Trump’s standoff, African countries would continue to suffer.

In search of alliances

And when it comes to digital transformation, physical infrastructure is only the tip of the iceberg. Equally important are the use of data and standards. The European Union has understood this so well that “digital sovereignty” is a major subject for it, with three questions: who manufactures the equipment and builds the infrastructure? Who controls the data, given the rise of objects and artificial intelligence (AI)? Who sets the standards?

In the words of the European Council for International Relations: “The arbitrators do not win the game”. The EU understood that it had to set the rules.

Africa can make itself heard in the global debate. If its leaders understand the importance of the issue

From this perspective, she sees Joe Biden as a potential ally. In the spring of 2020, referring to 5G technologies and AI, the new tenant of the White House had pleaded for a stronger alliance between the United States and its “democratic allies” to prevent “the rules of the digital age [soient] written by China and Russia ”. Shortly after his election, the EU proposed the creation of an “EU-US Business and Technology Council” to counter China’s rise to digital power.

For some time now, the EU has also been eyeing the South, particularly Africa. Attempts to build a “digital alliance” with the continent are part of its strategy, for “the development of digital standards and their promotion at the international level” within a “new partnership for the Africa-Europe digital economy”.

African voice

China has also joined the race to control the digital economy by announcing a “global data security initiative” in September 2020. Details have not been made public, but this aims to set the rules at the level. multilateral. The choice of these standards will dictate the choice of infrastructure, including telephony infrastructure, and even the offer of mobile phones available in the African market.

Also, the laws governing the use of digital data will have to protect the population, the political processes. They should also be anchored in the economic project into which the continent has embarked: the African Continental Free Trade Area (Zlecaf) and, above all, its protocol relating to electronic commerce.

The articulation of a digital transformation policy that brings together the three pillars (standards, infrastructure and data management) is essential. African countries must make choices that effectively take their interests into account. This presupposes finding the right balance between financial accessibility to technology, quality criteria and internet governance rules. The action and articulation of an African voice in the global debate is still possible. Provided that the leaders understand the importance of the issue.

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