Capturing ICT4D Upcountry

This article traces trends in access to information and communication technology (ICT) in Ghana. It is written from the perspective of a traveler whose home is in Accra, Ghana but who drives with a colleague through Ghana observing ICT access and use and talking to people along the way. Based on observations in communities ranging from the northernmost Paga south through Navorongo to Tamale, this traveler concludes, "I was convinced that there really was an In-country digital divide in Ghana, in a South to North Progression. However the picture is not as bad as some will wont us to believe."

Excerpts from the article follow:

"...on the Ghana side of the Ghana-Burkina Faso border...I notice, some thing rather interesting a long radio pole sitting on top of a small kiosk, I take a closer look- Kascom Communication Centre looks straight at you, Telephony access right at the top! I walk in with my colleague to make a call. The busy call attendant explains to me that they use a radiophone, my colleague makes the first call to a friend who apparently is on International roaming in London, and after two tries we are communicating from Paga to London via radio and at local rates, interesting!

I receive some reassurance, even at the tip of the Ghana map the right to communicate has not been denied some, but before I raise my hopes too high, I took a long tour at the town...to see if there was any phone booth or other communication center, I find none...

From paga we took the smooth drive to Navorongo...Standing tall and overlooking the whole town is a tall Spacephone Cell sight. As we moved from one part of the town to the other I could observe quite a number of telephone booths, a few people talking on their mobile phones and a wireless phone booth right at the center of the town, next to the central market...

Tamale however is another story altogether. The teledensity ratio was definitely much higher. Many phone booths outline the principal streets and like any city in Ghana, the communication centers abound. Despite the reassuring evidence that Telephony exist in most of the areas I have mention, huge patches exist among them from Bolgatanga to Tamale we come across many communities with no telephone access...

Computers and the Internet form an essential component of ICT4D, so I look to see their prevalence in the communities I visited. At Navorongo, in the heart of the business district is an IT training school KNDA ITT...there are 24 computers providing training in basic computer skills, however they do not have any internet access. At the Navorongo secondary school I meet two young SSS 1 students, they are standing very close to a science resource center in the school, so I ask them, have you entered that building before, they answer in the affirmative, I press on, so I presume you have used the computers there before, there reply in a big No. Why? We are not allowed to use them, they answer, sometimes we see the senior students using them, they added so I ask again, have you used the computer before at all, they answer never! Why? Because we don't have access to one, "will you wont to use it though" off course, they replied.

...it looks like the only place to get internet access in Navorongo is the [Navorongo Health Research Center] NHRC...

The situation in Tamale was quite different...The city is brisk with business and people engaging in all sorts of ICT activities, many more people could be seen talking on their mobile phones. Computer training schools are not so rare in the city either and the numbers of Internet cafes were quite encouraging...

Unlike Navorongo, Tamale has four radio Stations, Savanna, Diamond, Fila and Justice (a new addition). The power of choice is at least here, the stations seem to do quite well, if not for the clear local content that was coming from the radio set you did mistake it for any radio station in Accra. Walking on the main high street you observe that almost every shop has a radio on and the many bicycles which apparently is the most common form of transport also have radio sets attached...

Television transmission in the north is highly intermittent...

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