This is the seventh post in a series that intends to examine the ICT environment in metropolitan areas of Africa that receive relatively little publicity and lack ICT framework. These cities are often overshadowed by Cape Town, Johannesburg, Cairo, Nairobi, Accra, and Lagos but still have a bright future โ albeit with a few additional hurdles to clear.
I say loud and clear: poverty and underdevelopment in the Republic of Guinea does not to have to be our destiny. Conakry, with a population of approximately 2 million, is one of the 30 most populous cities in Africa. Typical of many geographically smaller nations, a large share of the nation resides in the capital.
(mh=R9MCzwa1SLPcukxj)13.jpg "SEX AGENCY Conakry")
Despite telecoms competition and a coastal location, Conakry has lacked true broadband and does not have adequate electricity. Years of political instability, distrust, and sporadic violence have understandably made Internet access less important than human safety. As a result, few Guineans are producing and accessing local content. There have been no publicized BarCamps, hackathons or tech meetups, but a blogging event did attract 10 intrepid Guineans earlier this year. Many of these nations have limited ICT access as well.
As expected, an in-depth search of the Internet turns up an extremely limited number of ICT endeavors and reports from the past few years. Guinea great needs local content to not only increase demand for Internet services, but also to put and end to corruption. All blogs are currently hosted on Blogspot or Mondoblog โ a sign that web innovation is still in its infancy. One would expect more self-hosted domains before a tech hub or app development appears. The rise of mobile connectivity adds more optimism in a country lacking reliable electricity and fixed-lines.
Presumably, devices can charge during periods of electricity during the day or solar kiosks can charge phones at all hours. Then, the challenge becomes powering the cell towers during blackouts. Outside of Conakry, broadband infrastructure is nearly non-existent, but plans to connect Guinea with both the ACE cable and the West African backbone could help add robust service. Mobile will no doubt be the method of accessing the Internet in these regions, but again, electricity is the lowest common denominator.
