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| Coordinating Minister, Ngozi Okonji-Iweala |
Remmy Nweke/DigitalSENSE Business News:
AN estimated United States $30 billion, about N4.8
trillion has been attracted in support of the information and communication
technology sector reforms globally in investment for mobile network
infrastructure in International Development Association (IDA) member-countries, DigitalSENSE Business News can authoritatively reports.
DigitalSENSE Business News recalls IDA is the part of the
World Bank that helps the world’s poorest countries established in 1960. Also,
IDA aims to reduce poverty by providing loans otherwise known as ‘credits’ and
grants for programmes that boost economic growth, reduce inequalities, and
improve people’s living conditions.
Revealing this latest results profile on ICT, the World
Bank says it’s helping developing countries to use ICT to improve access to
affordable connectivity, including broadband, transform delivery of basic
services, drive innovations and productivity gains, as well as improve
competitiveness.
Since 2007, the World Bank Group said, it has
strengthened its support for public-private ventures for broadband and
high-speed Internet, reducing retail prices and increasing service use, in some
cases by a factor of 10.
“Its support for information and communication technology
sector reforms helped attract an estimated US$30 billion in private investment
for mobile network infrastructure in IDA countries,” part of the report says.
Noteworthy, is that IDA complements the World Bank’s
original lending arm—the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(IBRD). IBRD was established to function as a self-sustaining business and
provides loans and advice to middle-income and credit-worthy poor countries.
IBRD and IDA share the same staff and headquarters and evaluate projects with
the same rigorous standards.
Also, DigitalSENSE Business News gathered that IDA is one
of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 82 poorest countries, 40
of which are in Africa.
“It is the single largest source of donor funds for basic
social services in these countries. IDA-financed operations deliver positive
change for 2.5 billion people, the majority of whom survive on less than $2 a
day,” official says, thus, IDA lends money on concessional terms.
What this means is that IDA charges little or no interest
and repayments are stretched over 25 to 40 years, including a 5- to 10-year
grace period. IDA also provides grants to countries at risk of debt distress.
In addition to concessional loans and grants, IDA
provides significant levels of debt relief through the Heavily Indebted Poor
Countries (HIPC) Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI).
Since its inception, IDA has supported activities in 108
countries. Annual commitments have increased steadily and averaged about $15
billion over the last three years, with about 50 percent of that going to
Africa. For the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2012, IDA commitments reached
$14.8 billion spread over 160 new operations. 15 per cent of the total was
committed on grant terms.
DigitalSENSE Business News further gathered that last
year, 2012, as part of proffering solution, the World Bank released a new ICT
sector strategy comprising three strategic directions: Connect, Innovate and
Transform.
The strategy’s Connect pillar focuses on expanding
connectivity infrastructure and promoting stability and predictability in
regulatory systems.
This , the World Bank says has worked with over 100
countries over the last decade to support privatization and sector
liberalization, as well as capacity building for governments and regulatory
institutions.
Of late, it was gathered that World Bank has stepped up
its financing of innovative public-private partnerships as catalytic vehicles
to attract additional private sector investment in broadband infrastructure.
This includes regional communications infrastructure
programmes to accelerate the rollout of terrestrial backbone networks and submarine
cable systems in Africa, Pacific Islands and the Caribbean.
On the strategy’s Innovate pillar, World Bank says it
develops competitive Information Technology (IT)-based service industries and
fosters ICT innovation across the economy, including at the grassroots
technology entrepreneurship level with a focus on job creation, especially for
women and youth.
In addition, the world body, pointed out that this
support comprises a small but growing portfolio of IT industry development
projects in Ghana, Mexico, Kenya, Armenia, Nigeria, and Bhutan.
And for the Transform pillar of the strategy, officials
say it draws on deep sector expertise and relationships with government
institutions to integrate innovations into service delivery and the
accountability process.
“This makes development more open and accountable, and
improves government services to citizens and businesses in for instance,
education, health, and financial services,” part of the report said, stressing
this support includes a portfolio of eGovernance and eTransformation projects
in Vietnam, Ghana, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Moldova and the Eastern Caribbean.
World Bank emphasized that results have been achieved
with these supports, based on financing from IBRD, IDA or through trust funds
managed by the World Bank, citing Africa for an instance.
As said by World Bank, the IDA-supported Regional
Communications Infrastructure Program (FY07-FY13) and the International Finance
Corporation (IFC) jointly developed the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System
(EASSy), illustrating a joint World Bank Group approach to regional
infrastructure development.
The first project, DigitalSENSE Business News gathered,
is a US$424 million World Bank programme that supports improvements in the
enabling environment and regional integration of telecommunications terrestrial
networks through financing of public-private partnerships and broadband
capacity purchases.
Emphasising that the second project is a US$240 million
investment in the EASSy submarine cable connecting the east coast of Africa:
from South Africa to Sudan down to Asia and Europe.
“These projects have contributed to a 90 percent
reduction in wholesale capacity prices in East Africa, with retail prices
already starting to drop by about one-third in Kenya and Rwanda. In Kenya, this
has helped in increasing the number of Internet users to 14 million in 2012
from 2 million in 2007,” officials stated in the report.
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