This page features selected news articles and media mentions of GICT and its work. While we hope this is a useful reference for you, the World Bank Group is not responsible for the views expressed in non-World Bank publications/articles. Nor is the World Bank Group specifically endorsing one publication over another. Furthermore, not all of the articles below are available for download due to copyright restrictions. If you would like a full copy of articles that are not available for download on our website, please contact the respective news sources.
 Rwanda aims to become Africa's high-tech hub: The African country aims to turn itself into the 'Singapore of Africa.'
By Scott Baldauf / The Christian Science Monitor (October 17, 2007)
"This isn't a question of choosing between water and sanitation [on one hand], and providing high-speed broad-band [on the other]," says Laurent Besançon, a senior regulatory specialist and telecom expert at the World Bank office in Johannesburg. "But if you look at the medium or long term," he says, "public investment in information and communication technology (ICT), combined with sound regulation, can help you go beyond the basics and be a major catalyst of additional private sector investment. In Rwanda, I believe that using ICT will enable not just the half of the population who can read and write to get ahead, but it will also help elevate the other half as well."
Africa telecoms summit to promote Internet access
By Patrick Worsnip / Reuters (September 19, 2007) A U.N.-backed Africa communications summit in Rwanda next month will seek to boost high-speed Internet access to match the continent's explosive growth in mobile phones, officials said Wednesday. The Oct. 29-30 "Connect Africa" gathering of African political leaders and international investors in the Rwandan capital Kigali will be a networking opportunity, not a forum for negotiating new regulations, they said... Mohsen Khalil, a director of the World Bank private sector arm International Finance Corp, said boosting Internet access should promote economic growth as a whole and help meet U.N. "Millennium Development Goals" of halving poverty by 2015. "The success of the telecom industry has created an enormous demonstration effect for other private investors to say Africa is a region where, despite the perceived high risk ... we can contribute to development and still make money." But he too warned that long-distance and international communications were still dominated by state monopolies. "We need to deepen further reforms," Khalil said.
UN Alliance Works to Bring Internet Access to All Africans
By Margaret Besheer / Voice of America (September 19, 2007) A new U.N.-sponsored initiative is being launched to bridge the "digital divide" and connect African countries with each other and the rest of the world. VOA's Margaret Besheer reports from U.N. headquarters in New York, where the world body, governments and the private sector are working to bring Africa's 900 million inhabitants online. The African continent is the fastest-growing cellular phone market of any region over the last five years, but has not been able to replicate that success with the Internet. Fewer than four out of every 100 Africans have access to the worldwide web. Experts say upgrading Internet access, or what they call ICT for Information & Communication Technology, will enhance development and enable Africans to compete more effectively in the global marketplace. Mohsen Khalil of the World Bank says the "Connect Africa" initiative, which aims to make Internet connectivity widely and cheaply accessible, will create an information revolution in Africa. "When you give access to a human being you unleash the power of human innovation and entrepreneurship. It is really so powerful all they need is access," he said.
Better IT connectivity can unleash Africa’s economic potential, UN officials say
UN News Service (September 19, 2007) Better information technology links can help Africa to unleash its economic potential, United Nations and business leaders said today in New York... The cost of Internet connectivity in Africa, says the World Bank, is the highest in the world – some $250-300 per month... The success of Africa’s telecom industry, said Mohsen Khalil, Director of Global ICT at the World Bank Group, had shown investors that in Africa they could “contribute to development and still make money.” About $25 billion in foreign direct investment had been invested in African telecoms in the last 10 years, he said. Two factors, he said, have contributed to the success of the telecom industry: technological innovation in the mobile area and the adoption of liberal policies. What was now needed for broadband expansion were regulations ensuring an even playing field, and public-private partnerships. “When you give access to a human being, you unleash the power of human innovation and entrepreneurship,” he said. “It is really so powerful – all they need is access.”
Uganda: High Tax Regime Hurting Telecoms, Says Survey
By Phillip Nabyama / East African Business Week (August 20, 2007) Uganda's high tax regime on the telecommunication sector does not only continue to stunt penetration levels and affect profits but is also inefficient, a new study reveals. Commissioned by industry regulator, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), the study shows that low-tax regimes boost mobile phones ownership which in turn boosts economic growth. The 2006 study conducted over a three month period from September to December aimed at reviewing Uganda's tax policy with a bias to telecom services. The study assess the impact of tax related price increases on penetration, traffic volume, total turnover and investment. It comes up with some interesting recommendations on how modest changes in tax policy can improve the general levels of the mobile telephony... The World Bank's director of Global Information and Communication Technologies, Mr. Mohsen Khalil believes that any taxation policy should be designed in a way that does not add any further barriers to access and add to the cost of service provision for the poor. "The indirect benefits to the economy of having affordable access to telecommunications services far outweigh any short-term benefit to the budget," Khalil was quoted in the Deloitte study. | Â |  |
From Telex to eGovernment: The Birth of eRwanda
By Arleen Cannata Seed of the World Bank's Information Solutions Group / MIT Information (Technologies and International Development, Volume 3, Number 4, Summer 2007, 9–13) It is hard enough to believe that in fifteen years any country could transform itself from one using telex to one implementing eGovernment, but it is even more outstanding for one that a little over a decade ago emerged from a genocide.
$320m package to fund African mobile networks
By Alec Russell / Financial Times (June 13, 2007) The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank's private-sector arm, will unveil a $320m package today to finance expanded mobile telephone networks in sub-Saharan Africa. The IFC's investment of $160m (£81m) is its largest loan to date in sub-Saharan Africa, where mobile networks have spread faster in the past five years - from a low base - than anywhere else. The rest of the funds are to be provided via syndicated loans from commercial banks and other bilateral financial institutions. The loan will go to five subsidiaries of Celtel, the company originally founded by the Sudanese-born British businessman, Mo Ibrahim. The IFC has worked with the company since 1994. Officials said they were particularly keen on the link because of Celtel's record in taking telephone networks into "frontier" markets. "Since our first cellular investment in the former Zaire in 1989, IFC has continued to invest heavily in the sector in Africa and to strengthen our partnership with companies such as Celtel," said Mohsen Khalil, director of the World Bank Group's global information and communication technologies department. Celtel's subsidiaries are to invest the funds in upgrading mobile telephone networks in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, both recovering from ruinous civil wars, Uganda, Madagascar and Malawi. Today's announcement, to coincide with the opening of the World Economic Forum in Cape Town, takes the IFC's investment in sub-Saharan Africa over the last fiscal year to over $1bn. |  | |
World Bank to fund African phone networks
By Alec Russell / Financial Times (June 13, 2007) The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank's private sector arm, will today unveil a $320m package to finance mobile telephone networks in sub-Sarahan Africa. The IFC's investment of $160m (€120m, £81m) is its largest loan to date in the region and was hailed yesterday as an indication of growing private sector interest in the continent and of a more investor-friendly climate. The rest of the funding is via syndicated loans from commercial banks and from bilateral financial institutions. Celtel's subsidiaries are to invest the funds in expanding and upgrading mobile phone networks in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, both recovering from civil wars, Uganda, Madagascar and Malawi. The announcement is timed to coincide with the opening today of the World Economic Forum in Cape Town. The IFC sees the investment in mobile phones as an ideal way to overcome bottlenecks in African infrastructure, which is suffering from years of neglect and underinvestment. |  | |
IFC helps fund Celtel's $320 mln African expansion
Reuters (Jun 13, 2007) The International Financial Corp (IFC) will contribute half of the $320 million in funding for cell phone operator Celtel to expand and upgrade its network in five African countries, it said on Wednesday. Celtel is the African unit of Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Co., and it will inject the funds in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Madagascar, Malawi and Sierra Leone. The IFC, the World Bank's private sector lender, said in a statement it would contribute $160 million of the loan, while the other half would come from various banks. Celtel would use the funds to modernise its services in countries with obsolete and inadequate fixed-line networks and very low telephone penetration rates, ranging from just over four phones for every 100 people in Malawi and Madagascar to about 10 per 100 in Sierra Leone. Out of the entire loan, the lion's share of the investment, that is $75 million, will go to DRC, the IFC said at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town. The loan will be repayable over seven years. | Â | |
IFC Loan to Expand Reach of Mobile Telephones in Turkey
Cellular News (April 20, 2007) IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has signed a US$420 million loan agreement with Avea, one of Turkey's major mobile phone operators, to help the company refinance and expand its GSM network to reach thousands of additional subscribers throughout Turkey. IFC's Director for Global Information and Communication Technologies, Mohsen Khalil, praised the company for its track record as an innovative operator in the telecommunications and technology sectors. He said, "IFC has a long-standing relationship with Avea and its shareholders, and we have been working with Avea as an advisor and arranger for the past five years. The agreement today demonstrates our continued confidence in the company as well as our overall support of the private sector's role in telecommunications."
WEF NRI: Can mega-cities sustain growth?
Business Standard (March 28, 2007) "In their paper "The Next Frontier of E-Government: Local Governments May Hold the Keys to Global Competition," Bruno Lanvin and Anat Lewin (both at the World Bank) illustrate some of the main challenges brought about by the increasingly important role of cities, as opposed to central governments, all over the world."
Tunisie: Nouvelles technologies de l'information au service des handicapés Investir en Tunisie
(March 23, 2007) D'ici 2008, environ 5.000 handicapés répartis dans les 24 gouvernorats de Tunisie auront accès à des programmes d'enseignement scolaire délivrés sur ordinateur, grâce à un projet du Gouvernement tunisien financé par la Banque mondiale. De plus, toute personne handicapée le souhaitant pourra avoir accès à des postes de travail spécialisés dans douze centres d'accueil pour handicapés, permettant ainsi l'utilisation de logiciels et d'équipements adaptés, de même que l'accès aux services en ligne. Cette initiative d'un budget de USD 1.5 million est pilotée par le Ministère des Affaires Sociales, de la Solidarité et des Tunisiens à l'Etranger. Elle est une composante du Projet de développement du secteur des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication (TIC), qui est sous la responsabilité du Ministère des Technologies de la Communication et, du côté de la Banque mondiale, sous la supervision du département Global des TIC.
Radio interview on the Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (RCIP)
By BBC Radio
Audio (English) / Length (06:04 minutes) Manager of the World Bank's Global ICT Department, Philippe Dongier, speaks to BBC Radio about the expected impact of the US$ 424 million Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Program on East and Southern Africa.
Le project régional d'un câble sous-marin suit son cours normal
By Nestor Ndikumana / Le Renouveau, Burundi (November 28, 2006) "La 2ème vice-présidente de la République, Mme Marina Barampama, a reçu en audience lundi le représentant résidant de la Banque mondiale au Burundi, M. Alassane Sow, accompagné d'une spécialiste à cette institution de la politique globale des technologies de l'information et de la communication, Mme Isabel Neto. Mme Neto a indiqué à la presse que les échanges avec la 2ème vice-présidente ont porté sur un projet d'un câble sous-marin qui se construit dans l'Est de l'Afrique dans l'Océan indien."
India can play leadership role in ICT in the region
By V. Rishi Kumar / The Hindu Business Line (November 21, 2006) "We have been articulating with the Indian policymakers about the need for India to play a larger role in the region. This can also bring about significant development while serving others through public private participatory mode." Dr. Mohsen A. Khalil, Director Global Information and Communication Technologies at World Bank.
Cellphones, an aid tool
By Eric Sylvers / International Herald Tribune (October 30, 2006) "The Internet will have as big an impact in the developing world as mobile phones have had, though it might be over an extended period of time," Moshen Khalil, the director for global information and communications technologies at the World Bank, said in a phone interview. "People need information in any form, whether it be through phones or the Internet. Over time, the Internet is going to make the information available. But we'll have to wait and see if the delivery platform is the mobile phone, television or computers."
World Bank to Invest in Creative Industries
By Sumner Lemon / IDG News Service (October 20, 2006) Similarly found on IT World Canada, Digit, CIO The World Bank has revealed it plans to invest heavily in content-creation and media companies - predicting the creative industries will be the next big boom following the massive growth of technology, according to the organization. Encouraged by the transformative impact that telecommunications, particularly mobile networks, have had on developing countries in Africa and elsewhere, the World Bank's private-sector investment arm plans to expand the scope of its investments to include content providers, according to a senior executive.
Radio Interview on the East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) project
By Radio France International
Audio (French) / Length (01:35 minutes) Philippe Dongier, Manager of the World Bank's Global ICT department gives a background of the EASSy project and explains the difference between the proposed project and the existing SAT3 cable.
EASSY members agree to hybrid SPV and KDN still going ahead
By Russell Southwood / Balancing Act Africa (July 23, 2006) The trio of parties involved in getting the EASSy project of the ground – African Governments, external funders (DFIs in the jargon) and last but not least the EASSy consortium members have agreed that the project will go forward using a Hybrid Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). The hybrid SPV model is being backed by the DFIs that include the World Bank.
EASSy project enters the final lap with critics on all sides
By Russell Southwood / Balancing Act Africa (May 29, 2006) "The World Bank has indicated its willingness to put up money for a Special Purpose Vehicle in order to ensure that: prices on the fibre are kept as low as possible, access to capacity is as open as possible and governance is both transparent and commercially effective. It is in a position to underwrite its proposals financially with both soft loans and donor contributions. However because of its position it has stated clearly that it can only do this if the parties involved (particularly the Consortium members) want it to happen. The World Bank is one of several development funding institutions that have taken this position."
Coverage of the Launch of the 2006 Information and Communications for Development (IC4D) Report
By Guy Daniels / Telecom TV UK (March 9, 2006)
Video (English) / Length (03:08 minutes) World Bank Senior Economist and Editor of the IC4D report, Christine Zhen Wei Qiang speaks about the findings and recommendations of the newly released publication at the World Telecommunications for Development conference in Doha.
Interview with Mohsen Khalil, Director of the World Bank Group's Global ICT Department
By Guy Daniels / Telecom TV UK (March 8, 2006)
Video (English) / Length (06:13 minutes) Mohsen Khalil explains the role of the World Bank Group, the main challenges to improving ICT in developing countries and the role of public-private partnerships in developing countries.
Connect the World Panel - 2006 World Telecommunications for Development conference in Doha
By Telecom TV UK (March 8, 2006)
Video (English) / Length (06:14 minutes) Policy makers from around the world gathered in Qatar to decide how to progress with the ITU’s recently launched initiative to connect the world. Speakers include Mohsen Khalil, Director of the Global ICT department of the World Bank Group.
Call for lower taxes on mobile phones to ease 'digital divide'
By John Walko / EE Times (September 26, 2005) The GSM Association has called for the high taxes levied on the mobile phone industry in many developing countries to be reviewed as they have made mobile communications unaffordable for hundreds of millions of people, holding back social and economic development. Development experts say such taxes are ill conceived. “Poorly-designed special taxes on the sector will slow rollout and deny access to powerful tools in the fight against poverty to the very people who need those tools the most,” said Mohsen Khalil, director of the Global ICT Department of the World Bank.
Investments in telecom hit $213m
By David Muwanga / The New Vision Uganda (6th April, 2005) “Uganda got $213m from private investments in telecommunications between 1992 and 2002. Kenya got $107m (sh189.3b) and Tanzania $351m (sh621.2b),” Mohsen Khalil, the director of the World Bank’s global information and communication technology department, said in the report. The report said although the private sector in developing countries had invested $210b (sh371.7 trillion) in telecommunications over the last decade, many people especially in Africa, lack access to basic communication tools.
Despite Hurdles, U.S. Jobs Go Abroad
The Moscow Times (May 20, 2004) Technology investors in India, Russia and other emerging markets must be willing to roll up their sleeves when they open their pocketbooks, participants in a World Bank conference in Washington said Tuesday. "What companies need at this stage is more than capital. They need hands-on support and management expertise," said Mohsen Khalil, director of information and communications technologies at the World Bank.
Telecoms surge in third world
By Jennifer L. Schenker / International Herald Tribune (December 13, 2003) "Officials of the World Bank said in interviews here that investments in telecommunications companies in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean were reaping annual rates of return in excess of 25 percent. The returns are even higher — about 40 percent to 50 percent — when license fees, taxes and other charges are excluded, said Mohsen Khalil, the World Bank's director of global information and communication technologies.Such investments have proven to be more stable than those made in phone companies in the developing world, which overextended themselves during the tech bubble, Khalil said..."
G8 endorses plan to bridge 'digital divide'
ComputerWorld (July 23, 2001) Leaders of the world's eight biggest powers endorsed an action plan on the weekend to bridge the "digital divide" between the world's richest and poorest countries. The World Bank's director of investment in digital technology in poor countries, Mohsen Khalil, said the bank invests about $US1.5 billion ($2.93 billion) annually in information infrastructure and in projects using such technology, and the new action plan could leverage more funding.
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