President Paul Kagame has said that deliberate efforts are needed to forge private-public partnerships to bridge internet usage gaps.
He was speaking during the inauguration of the Mobile World Congress 2022 which convened more than 2000 people representing 99 countries, on October 25.
Global mobile operators, device manufacturers, technology providers, vendors, content owners, and policymakers are in Kigali to identify gaps and discuss effective measures needed to drive digital transformation in Africa.
To address the usage gap –the number of people who can’t use mobile internet services while living in an area covered by broadband networks –Kagame said that neither the private nor the public sector has all that is required to cover the gap, hence, the need for partnerships.
However, he added that people need digital literacy skills that attract them into using available technologies.
"Otherwise, if you don’t address it that way, you may make good investments but that will not translate into solutions for the millions and billions of people who have to utilise this to improve and transform their lives,” he noted.
"It really creates the whole ecosystem that is required for the transformation of society and for the people to thrive...once you have touched the different aspects of this problem, then you begin to see people interested, getting to use the digital tools that are there for them.”
According to the Mobile Economy Report, 40 per cent of the adult population in Sub-Saharan Africa is connected to mobile internet services; this is while 44 per cent of people living in areas covered by broadband networks do not use internet services.
In her remarks, Minister of ICT and Innovation, Paula Ingabire, said there are ‘shocking’ statistics that show a large part of Africa is left behind which needs to be channelled into action.
"Imagine an Africa becoming less competitive as we fail to work together to solve the challenges facing us on the path to prosperity in our collective digital future," she said, adding that, "This is an Africa we cannot be in tomorrow.”
"We need to walk together hand in hand within our national boundaries, our regional corporation initiatives and within our global compression from work as well.”
Rwanda is the host of the congress organised by the Global System Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) for three consecutive years.