MTN's data and messaging executive, Brian Seligmann, has lambasted Ugandan ICT minister John Chrysostom Alituma Nsambo for what he calls "irresponsible" statements made at the Telecoms World Africa 2007 conference.
Seligmann yesterday took part in a panel discussion at the fourth annual conference, held in Johannesburg.
Earlier yesterday morning, Nsambo said in his address that telecommunications operators were not investing enough in infrastructure in Africa. He urged conference participants to pray for telecoms operators so they would "stop taking away Africa's resources without putting anything back".
Responding to Global VSAT Forum secretary general and panel chairman David Hartshon's question on the matter, Seligmann said the minister's statements were irresponsible. "That's the type of statement made by a politician who probably doesn't deserve his job," he said.
"The honourable minister must realise the reason this country is in such a strong economic position is because telecoms services are available to people who previously could not gain access."
Seligmann argued that the MTN Group invested heavily in building telecoms infrastructure on the African continent. The infrastructure enabled the economies of many African countries to thrive, he added. "We are responsible for 30% of the gross domestic product of Nigeria."
Seligmann noted that, in SA, mobile operators have invested between R10 billion and R20 billion in telecoms infrastructure. "We also invest R1 billion in the maintenance of this infrastructure every year."
MTN operates in Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville), Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia.
Africa's investment needs
Nsambo argued earlier that, despite the "remarkable changes" in Africa's telecoms market, teledensity remains extremely low. While Africa accounts for 13% of the world's population, it has less than 3% of the world's telephone lines, he said.
He noted that Africa should invest $11 billion per year, over a 10-year period, to reach its target of 10% teledensity by 2010. The private sector is expected to be the key player in the financing of telecoms development in the region, he added.
A BMI-TechKnowledge report, released earlier this year, predicted the cumulative investment in ADSL and wireless broadband infrastructure in Africa would be $1.1 billion in the next five years. This investment excludes customer equipment, the report said.
"These figures exclude investments that GSM and fixed-line operators are expected to make in their core networks for the provision of voice and other data services, which will also be leveraged to provide broadband data services," said Richard Hurst, a BMI-T analyst and co-author of the report.
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