Development of telecommunications infrastructure in Africa: network evolution, present status and future development.

Because of limited resources, African telecommunications systems limited to a small percent of the continent's population. Telephone proliferation in Africa is only .4/100 population compared to 4.5 in South America and 5.2 in Asia. In order to combat this deficiency, organizations such as the International Telecommunication Union and the Economic Commission for Africa have joined in an effort to upgrade continental communication. However, communications development has been thwarted by limited resources, inadequate roads, a gap in communication and coordination and the severe economic crises that many African countries are facing. In response to Africa's problematic telecommunications situation, the U.N. in 1978 resolved 1978-1987 to be Communications Decade in Africa. One of the goals of the Communications Decade is to achieve a telephone density average that is comparable to that of other continents. Although progress in meeting decade goals has been slow, new approaches to the problem have been implemented. A study by the Conference of African Ministers of Transport and Communications and Planning is set to determine African telecommunications and its relationship with continental socioeconomic growth. It is hoped that the study will discover and nourish unity among African nations toward the development of a telecommunications network.