The Sunday Mail
Dennis Magaya
The Internet is one of the most significant drivers of social-economic transformation. There are several measures that link Internet penetration to social-economic development.
The World Bank says a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration results in 1,5 percent economic growth. The associated social impact is even more pronounced. Many can attest to the happiness when the good-old grandmother receives a smartphone and she says “tave kutsvaira” which literally refers to how a finger sweeps a touch screen phone and the general public excitement around “kugoogler”, which means an Internet search.
The Internet design philosophy is freedom of expression and ultimately universal connectivity. Anyone, anywhere able to connect to the Internet freely accesses information, communicate, make money, learn or do what they want. No single person or entity owns the Internet.
On the other hand, telecommunications is designed to provide connectivity for a fee. Mobile networks require spectrum (frequencies) which is a finite resource.
As such, Zimbabwe has three mobile network operators with 15-year licenses each priced at US$137 million. Operators invest in network infrastructure such as 3G, LTE and fibre to enable Internet access but unfortunately their telecoms business model is a bottle-neck to the open and free of charge internet model.
This is why mobile communications in particular determine internet penetration which now stands at 46 percent in Zimbabwe. More than 50 percent of the USc0,045 per MB that mobile subscribers pay on average for data goes towards the mobile network for the access.
The unavailability of Internet access in some sections of the population results in what is generally called the digital divide. It creates two virtual republics in one country. First, a cyber-based virtual republic characterised by hashtag (#), group admin, @, friendship request, www, search, etc.
This is a digitally empowered republic that achieves speed, scalability and pervasiveness in social-economic activities at low costs due to the internet.
Second, there is the offline-republic that sees the world through unidirectional media such as the radio, television and newspapers. This republic can’t talk back, chat back or respond in real time to information received. This offline-republic has its own robust debates at township pubs, gatherings and at home. Most rural villages belong to this republic. The two virtual republics cause a challenge for political leadership who have to manage both. For instance, the government of Uganda and Republic of Congo shutdown social media during the recent elections.
Many company CEOs are still nervous of social media with the majority keeping a safe distance from Twitter and Facebook. Unfortunately, most customers, staff members and stakeholders are on these social media platforms. As a result, this splits the company into two virtual organisations.
First, the classical company managed through sanitised management reports, emails, executive and board meetings and WhatsApp.
The second organisation which unfortunately the CEOs are decoupled from is driven by real-time internet platforms such as social media and big data. If a CEO, shareholder or board member accesses the company Twitter or Facebook account raw data, they will know the true facts about the company they lead.
Company customer touch points include the website, sales and CRM systems, apps and call centre. The majority of websites are public relations or product oriented so they talk to the customers like a TV broadcast without any way for the clients to engage or interact with the business.
In Zimbabwe, very few Government institutions and ministries have websites that allow the citizens to interact. Few have social media accounts. So both Government and the private sector could improve Internet utilisation by increasing engagement touch points.
When mobile phones were introduced, some employees would not put mobile numbers on business cards and even today, some exclude WhatsApp accessibility to maintain a work-life balance. This is a losing battle because the internet has removed the home-work barriers. In fact, some people say the best time to get CEOs to make decisions is on Sunday afternoon when they are more relaxed or send a WhatsApp at 0700hrs to secure a slot on the agenda which bypasses the seemingly redundant personal assistant.
Mobile internet could turn out to be the biggest non-drug addiction in the 21st century. They cause a psychological syndrome of fear of being seriously left if the phone is off. The addiction symptoms are excessive use, personal withdrawal, unprovoked anger, irritation, tension and depression when the internet is inaccessible. The internet is replacing the cigarette in many aspects. Users get anxiety when the phone is on silent, there is no signal, running out of battery or for a prolonged absence of incoming calls and texts.
The youth uses smartphones for voice calls, music, taking pictures, internet browsing and social networking. Adults use them for mobile money transfer, social media, texting and chatting, online shopping and playing games.
Research shows that 33 percent of people miss their phone more than their partners and sadly, 68 percent look at their phones more often than their partners. About 74 percent can’t leave the house without their phones, 77 percent check their phone regularly for no reason.
The first thing checked in the morning by 56 percent of people is the phone. About 54 percent check their phone more than three times an hour while 52 percent spend more than three hours a day on their phone. All these behaviours are because of the Internet.
The Zimbabwean government is working on improving the easy of doing business through initiatives around regulatory and legislation. But a focus on internet technology is also required.
For instance, to operate responsibly, a small business has to register and make several trips and payments to at least seven entities including Registrar of Companies, Zimra, EMA, Zimdef, NSSA, city health department and the licensing municipality.
With Internet technology, all these important processes could be consolidated and several small daily payments enabled for easier of collections and alignment to cash flows.
When small-scale miners require information on geologists, old mine shafts or availability of millers it takes a couple phone calls for at least US$4 and a trip to either the mining commissioner or other partners in the nearest town for US$8 of fuel resulting in US$12 total cost.
If this information was available on an internet-based platform the total broadband cost would not exceed US$3 which would save at least 75 percent of the cost. Zimbabwe has about 200 000 artisanal small-scale miners who deliver at least 30 percent of gold output who could benefit from affordable and quality Internet.
Farmers find it difficult to get near real-time and accurate information for their specific districts on rain predictions and cattle disease for the 5,5 million total national herd.
On average, cattle farmers pay 10,5 percent levies per cattle sale which could be reduced by using internet technology for some administrative activities.
Agriculture contributes 19 percent to GDP and a source of livelihood for 70 percent of the population yet the most we use ICT is when a city-based-cellphone farmer calls the farm supervisor to give instructions.
Zimbabwe has solid agricultural institutes including Chibero, Esigodini, Gwebi, Kushinga-Phikelela and Rio Tinto agricultural colleges, and Mazowe Veterinary College.
Imagine the impact of all the information and knowledge in these institutions being unleashed to farmers through an Internet platform?
Zimbabwe had thousands of agriculture extension officers but the numbers are now much less. The Internet can fill part of this vacuum.
It costs less than US$7 000 to develop a website that allows full engagement and interaction with farmers.
Government service delivery can change radically if ICT is used. Rwanda’s government declared free Internet for all citizens. In South Africa, Ekurhuleni and Cape Town offer free WiFi to all residents.
With Internet adoption, our productivity costs decrease and labour market demands shifts to knowledge-driven economies. In agro and mining economies like Zimbabwe this could mean less jobs available.
The learned skills half-life can be used to assess the impact of Internet technology on skills and jobs. Currently, the half-life for software engineers skills is less than 2,5 years which means much of what you learned five years ago is obsolete and half of what you learned 2,5 years ago is irrelevant.
The Internet drives the emergence of disruptive business models that fundamentally reduces service costs leading to closure of incumbents.
Uber is taking taxis out of business because the service is 50 percent cheaper.
Whatsapp calling is eight times cheaper than mobile voice call which is problematic to telephone operators. If the Bulawayo textile industry or Ziscosteel were revived today, they may struggle to compete in the global market which the internet has brought to the mobile handset.
We might end up putting legislation to protect very expensive services against cheaper ones.
This is like trying to lift yourself in a bucket. The internet has changed the socio-economic landscape in profound ways.
We may perhaps need to identify what we can do better in the global economy leveraging the internet than try hang-on to yesterday.
