Victor Zakharchenko. Ghanaian life

Ghanaian life
Victor Zakharchenko

Publication date: December 3, 2001

Ghana was one of the first African countries to gain access to the Internet. And despite today's challenges posed by high costs, a lack of qualified staff and apathetic government attitudes, the potential of the Ghanaian internet (with nearly half a million fans) remains one of the highest in the region.

And it all started in the late eighties. It was then that, at the initiative of the African Center for the Development of Information Systems (PADIS) and the International Development Center (IDRC), a network was formed that connected the Ghana National Science and Technology Network (GHASTINET), the Association of African Universities (AAU) and the Technology Transfer Center (TCC) with GreenNet in London via dial-up connection. Services were then limited to email , which was sent to the “big world” three times a week at a speed of 2400bps. Later, AAU, using UUCP, built a network of medical institutions, HealthNet (typical for African countries), which was based on satellite technology.

Full commercial Internet access was offered to Ghanaians in January 1995 with the launch of the first non-governmental provider, Network Computer Systems . Already in 1996, the number of official subscribers was 323 people, but most organizations (of various forms of ownership) connected to the Internet in 1997, when its use became more widespread and cheaper (by Ghanaian standards). This was a period of real Internet boom, when both individuals and companies (most of which are located in the capital of the state, Accra) simply dreamed of the Internet and did everything to gain the coveted status of an Internet user.

Today, the total number of Internet-connected centers (cafes, offices, post office, communication centers, telecentres) in Accra is 100. Based on this figure, it can be assumed that the density of Internet-connected companies in the capital reaches 90%, and this makes the capital of Ghana one of the most connected cities in West Africa. This dominance of the capital is typical for African states. A consequence of the presence of a strong center is the obvious backwardness of remote regions. Of the other provinces, only Ashanti can boast a relatively large number of subscribers.

The reason for this is largely the concentration of providers in the capital. According to the National Communications Agency NCA, there are currently 39 ISPs licensed in Ghana . Of these, only five are active in the market: Network Computer Systems , Africa Online , Internet Ghana , Africa Express and IDN , which have long been fighting for subscribers. New players appear on the market less often, but not because of licensing difficulties.

Another feature of the Internet in this West African country is that all providers operate in Accra, which leads to difficulties in connecting regions to the Internet (remote users are forced to connect first to the capital’s provider). About 15,000 users have a direct connection to the Internet, while the remaining users (and there are about 500,000 of them in Ghana) have access through collective connections: Internet clubs, offices, friends and cyber cafes.

There is no need to open a service in the capital, and in the regions this will be fraught with telecommunications difficulties. Thus, this year only three providers received a license in the country: WWWPLUS, ESS LTD and Africanus.net, but their participation in dividing the general user market is still invisible.

Unfortunately, collaboration among providers is at a very low level. In Ghana, there is no exchange of local traffic, which forces a user accessing a local resource to access international communications through his provider and from there make his way to the Ghanaian web. To resolve this problem, it is necessary to create an association of Ghana providers, but this idea died in its infancy without receiving proper government support.

The Government of Ghana does not have a specific formulated policy regarding the development of Internet technologies. This is both positive and negative at the same time. However, there was also a case of government influence on the Internet services market in the country, when the NCA disconnected two InterCom Data Network ( IDN ) providers and some operators under the pretext of introducing new technologies. Fortunately, IDN was able to return to the market, regaining 90% of subscribers and the status of the most popular ISP in the country, but the fact of government intervention forced the company to conduct more consistent activities in the Internet services market.

The work of Ghanaian providers , which provide access to most companies in the capital, however, does not provide employees with Internet (although this is already a problem for the companies themselves). Over 53.1% of companies do not provide full access to their employees - the lucky ones are those in management departments, while the rest have to settle for either general access or nothing. In addition, most companies prefer to have only email and network access in which user traffic is carefully controlled by administrators. Fortunately, this trend has been declining recently.

A conversation about the Internet services themselves would be incomplete if we did not mention the quality of access . It is far from the best here - fast and high-quality Internet is the ultimate dream of local citizens. On average, a Ghanaian must repeat his attempt about 40 times to get into the net. But dial-up access (using the services of the national telephone operator Ghana Telecom ) remains the most popular in Ghana.

The connection speed reaching the end user is less than 1Kbit/s. And for all this pleasure, the Ghanaian user has to pay about $35 per month (unlimited access and one email address), which is not so expensive by world standards, but for poor Ghana it is simply an exorbitant amount.

Due to such unpleasant circumstances (the Internet is indeed expensive for local users), cyber cafes in Ghana are especially popular. Some (supported by the Africaonline provider ) only have the ability to use email. Others offer a full range of services. Moreover, both types of cafes also support other services that are not related to the Internet (printing, scanning documents). There are more than 150 such cafes in Ghana (90% of them in Accra), and the average price of services in them is $0.02 per minute of using an Internet connection.

Given the combination of two negative factors: poor communication and high prices, Ghanaians are very sensitive to their time on the Internet. The study found that 38.4% of users use the Internet primarily as a means of communication . Another 32.9% of respondents noted that Internet access opens up the opportunity for them to use world databases. And for 16.8%, the Internet seems to be an ideal field for conducting all kinds of research. In other words, 85 percent of Internet users in Ghana see it primarily as a work environment rather than an entertainment space. Chat rooms and Internet pagers are generally a curiosity in the country. This attitude towards the Internet (lack of long communication sessions) makes Ghanaians the most “serious” users in the region, which makes them not at all happy.

Another stunning fact of the local network segment is that providers completely lack support services where users could turn for help. This is caused, first of all, by the lack of good personnel. Ghanaian students simply do not return home after studying at American and European technology universities, creating a shortage of qualified IT sector workers in the country.

Moreover, all universities and polytechnics provide Internet access to their students and staff free of charge . Moreover, senior students have the opportunity to surf the Internet for free from special cyber cafes right on campus. At lower levels, only a few high schools have access, and among junior and primary schools there are none (although the introduction of Internet courses in schools is planned by the Ghanaian Ministry of Education in the coming years).

This problem is now very acute in the country, since most Ghanaians working in the Internet industry have only private Internet courses under their belts, so their preparation is not particularly thorough.

The plight of skilled workers is reflected in the resource-poor Ghanaian web . On the local Internet (and especially among non-professional sites, which are the majority here) there are huge problems - primarily with page design

In 1993, NCS registered the GH.COM domain area and transferred it to another provider, Pipex, for administration. After a series of domain changes, NCS took the zone back. But this did not solve the qualitative problems.

Things are especially difficult here with entertainment resources. Among more than one and a half thousand Ghanaian projects (their complete list can be obtained on the largest Ghanaian portal www.webstar.com.gh ), entertainment sites make up only 2%. The most popular portal among them is www.ghanaforum.com . It includes both a fair number of forums (as reflected in the name itself) and a variety of chat rooms. There is nothing else to put next to this project.

The most active pages on the Ghanaian web are those of radio companies (34% of the total number of pages - not to be confused with websites), educational institutions (24%) and television companies (24%).

The only site that seriously represents Ghana in the global ocean of e-commerce is the project www.epesewa.com , which has already collected about 20,000 hits in the first two weeks of its work, which is simply a fantastic indicator for the local web. But again, he is one of a kind.

The general state of the Ghanaian Internet environment is one of the main problems in the development of the local network segment. The Ministry of Communications , in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance , is taking all possible steps to attract capital from foreign investors to the country. But so far this does not in any way affect Ghana’s position in the region , which is already far from the leader (just not in terms of the number of users , with which there is a relative order due to the boom of ’97).

The work of government agencies alone (in the absence of a clear strategy) is clearly not enough here. Therefore, today two non-governmental organizations are also struggling to resolve these issues.

Since 1997, the Community Electronic Project has been committed to connecting the poorest sections of the West African population to the Internet. By 2003, the project plans to bring Ghana to a new level of use of the Internet by non-governmental organizations. The governing structures of the EPP are located in Nigeria and the United States, and its portal is one of the largest Ghanaian resources on the Internet.

Also addressing issues of access (and more specifically, creating a network of support services for users) in Ghana is Kabissa , which also wants to bring Ghana to a prominent place in the Internet space of West Africa.

It is the efforts of these two organizations, with the support of Ghanaians living abroad, that should impact the development of the network in Ghana. The apathy of the authorities has become the main reason why the country, which started so quickly in the Internet space, is in roles far from leading. The high numbers of users have long since stalled, and the Internet needs development...