I’ve only been here a few days, but I’ve been thinking about the leapfrogging technology part of my internship for weeks now. I landed in Monrovia with ideas.
What little information I had on the big idea to support leapfrog technology investments was seemingly arbitrary and nebulous. They wanted to 1) develop a nationwide wireless communication platform 2) implement networking programs in government ministries 3) utilize technology to improve capacity of NGOs, schools, hospitals, and private sector and incredulously 4) build technology enabled industries (outsourcing). So I assumed that they probably weren’t sure what they wanted and that I had a blank slate to think about things.
So I asked myself, if I were to invest in ICT in Liberia, where would I do it?
The mobile infrastructure is actually will built out. There are four players, so there is a lot of competition and prices are on par or even lower than elsewhere in the region. You can even get Internet via EDGE and GPRS. There are about 750,000 mobile subscribers, and many of the phones are shared. This means mobile penetration is probably between 30-50%.
I know everyone always talks about focusing on mobile, but part of the power of mobile is the ability to connect to the Internet, even if it is invisible to the user (i.e. via SMS to a database somewhere). Liberia has next to no Internet infrastructure. So when I’m thinking about where to focus investments, it’s at this core. You can’t build a wireless platform unless you have a backbone to connect to, you can’t implement networking programs, improve capacity, or build a technology industry when the average speed of the Internet is 0.4kbps.
Ny thoughts have gravitated towards building a domestic backbone and getting it connected to submarine cables. Even if demand is years out, especially in rural areas, Liberia is building roads now and could possibly simultaneously lay fiber. This, coupled with training for maintaining infrastructure, scholarships for computer science at Liberian Universities, and grants / loans for tech entrepreneurs could potentially create an enabling environment for myriad applications to spawn.
So that’s where my intuition landed before I landed in Monrovia. And then I met Ben Wolo.
What little information I had on the big idea to support leapfrog technology investments was seemingly arbitrary and nebulous. They wanted to 1) develop a nationwide wireless communication platform 2) implement networking programs in government ministries 3) utilize technology to improve capacity of NGOs, schools, hospitals, and private sector and incredulously 4) build technology enabled industries (outsourcing). So I assumed that they probably weren’t sure what they wanted and that I had a blank slate to think about things.
So I asked myself, if I were to invest in ICT in Liberia, where would I do it?
The mobile infrastructure is actually will built out. There are four players, so there is a lot of competition and prices are on par or even lower than elsewhere in the region. You can even get Internet via EDGE and GPRS. There are about 750,000 mobile subscribers, and many of the phones are shared. This means mobile penetration is probably between 30-50%.
I know everyone always talks about focusing on mobile, but part of the power of mobile is the ability to connect to the Internet, even if it is invisible to the user (i.e. via SMS to a database somewhere). Liberia has next to no Internet infrastructure. So when I’m thinking about where to focus investments, it’s at this core. You can’t build a wireless platform unless you have a backbone to connect to, you can’t implement networking programs, improve capacity, or build a technology industry when the average speed of the Internet is 0.4kbps.
Ny thoughts have gravitated towards building a domestic backbone and getting it connected to submarine cables. Even if demand is years out, especially in rural areas, Liberia is building roads now and could possibly simultaneously lay fiber. This, coupled with training for maintaining infrastructure, scholarships for computer science at Liberian Universities, and grants / loans for tech entrepreneurs could potentially create an enabling environment for myriad applications to spawn.
So that’s where my intuition landed before I landed in Monrovia. And then I met Ben Wolo.
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