Text: Information Technology Aids African Development

Africa is on the "wrong side" of the "information technology divide," yet the picture is "hardly one of unredeemed bleakness," Noah A. Samara, chairman and CEO of WorldSpace Corporation, told U.S. lawmakers May 16.

In testimony before the Subcommittee on Africa in the U.S. House of Representatives, Samara said even small infusions of information technology (IT) will enable Africa to blossom.

"Small inputs yield results. With many small inputs, the result is great change," Samara told the lawmakers, who had called him to Capitol Hill to review the state of information technology in Africa.

"Africa is in a race against time," Samara said. "The sooner we infuse Africa with information, the sooner it will develop the means to generate greater income, heal its sick, educate its populace, and govern with fairness and compassion."

Following is the text of Samara's remarks:

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Testimony by Noah A. Samara
Chairman and CEO, WorldSpace Corporation

"Bridging the Information Technology Divide in Africa"

That Africa is on the wrong side of an "information technology divide" should surprise no one. Disparities in income, health, education and governance separate Africa from the rest of the world. The inequality grows every day, a gap that widens to the detriment of all humanity.

It is said, if you listen to Africa, you will hear a continent calling 911. With respect to this hearing's subject, information technology, this call is not getting through.

I am sure the members of this subcommittee have heard the remarkable statistics used to illustrate the information technology divide: that there are more telephone lines in Manhattan than in all of sub-Saharan Africa, that tens of millions of Africans have never made a telephone call, that in OECD countries there is one radio station per 30,000 of population, but in developing regions, like Africa, that ratio is one station for every two million people. As recently as a couple of years ago, it was the case that there were more Internet host computers in the small Baltic state of Estonia than in the entire sub-Saharan region, excluding South Africa.

There are many reasons cited for this deplorable situation: lack of investment capital, shortages of trained technicians and managers, and state monopolies on telecommunications infrastructure. There is latitude for debate over the reasons behind the poor condition of Africa's telecommunications. But as for the consequences of this situation, there is absolutely no doubt. If telecommunications is the central nervous system of modern societies, then Africa clearly lacks the informational wherewithal to provide even basic levels of health, education and stability to its inhabitants. On a profound level, communications facilities are even insufficient to keep many of Africa's most vulnerable inhabitants alive.

Yet, the picture is hardly one of unredeemed bleakness. As droplets of water bring forth desert flowers, even small IT infusions enable Africa to blossom.

Thomas Friedman's column in last week's New York Times tells how a satellite connection to Accra gives Aetna Insurance a way to boost its back office operations, while giving high wage jobs to 400 - soon to be 1000 - Ghanaians.

Small inputs yield results. With many small inputs, the result is great change.

This is the essential concept behind WorldSpace.

As a businessman, I am convinced beyond any doubt that it is possible to build a world-class media company by providing better service to consumers in developing countries. Mr. Chairman, distinguished committee members, I ask you to examine media markets in Africa today. Look closely and you will see an immense opportunity. That is what we did at WorldSpace. Through most of Africa, the residents of most cities have only the most meager choice of news and entertainment via the companionable medium of radio. Our approach is to combine some of the most effective technologies of the information age -- high-powered satellites, silicon chips and advanced digital coding -- to create a uniquely capable system. This infrastructure is able to deliver a multitude of high-quality programs in crystal clear digital sound to vast territories.

WorldSpace will use this system to generate revenues through leasing channel capacity, commercial advertising, and charging subscription fees to individual users for premium services. The buzz about WorldSpace is mounting across Africa. Tens of thousands of Africans have purchased WorldSpace receivers. And a lot of them are telling us via e-mail that they love our service. We clearly are on the path to building a thriving business.

But it was not money that inspired the creation of the WorldSpace system. It was need. The need to communicate efficiently and economically to Africa for the sake of saving lives. We came into existence with a socially responsible vision and created a business to give an economic framework through which we could work to realize our humanitarian aspiration.

There is a synergy between the vision and the business of WorldSpace. Without the muscle of the profit-making business, the vision could never be achieved. But without the compelling motivation of a human-focused vision, we likely would have abandoned this difficult endeavor long ago.

However, there is one commonality the vision and business of WorldSpace share. The more people are touched by the WorldSpace system, the better. Success is measured in numbers. Just as we will earn greater profits by reaching more consumers, so it is that we will make Africa a better place by serving more disadvantaged communities there.

As I said, small inputs yield results. With many small inputs, the result is great change.

Today, the WorldSpace AfriStar satellite delivers information directly to tens of thousands of individuals across Africa. It is only a matter of time before it delivers information to hundreds of thousands, then millions of African men, women and children.

I am here this afternoon to ask that you work with us to accelerate this process. This is urgent. Africa is in a race against time. The sooner we infuse Africa with information, the sooner it will develop the means to generate greater income, heal its sick, educate its populace and govern with fairness and compassion.

Urgency inspired the WorldSpace system, specifically the urgency of the AIDS crisis. The objective was to bring information to all Africans that would empower them to protect their health. In the mid-1980s, we envisioned using a powerful satellite in geostationary orbit to broadcast digital audio programs directly to small, inexpensive receivers.

To abbreviate a saga, we have realized our infrastructure. In 1998, WorldSpace launched AfriStar, the first satellite designed, built and launched expressly to serve Africa. In 1999, Africa became the first place on earth to receive the new medium of satellite direct radio.

This map shows the reach of the AfriStar satellite: Africa and the Middle East, plus spillover coverage of Europe. WorldSpace delivers scores of audio programs directly to the entirety of Africa. But that's not all.

Connect a WorldSpace satellite receiver to a personal computer and it becomes a wireless modem capable of downloading hundreds of megabytes of text, data, software and images every day.

Mr. Chairman, bending Africa's realities to fit our view of technology is absurd. To put it bluntly, the Internet does not currently serve all of Africa and will not be able to do so for years to come. WorldSpace does.

This is the gateway to abundant information for Africa: the WorldSpace receiver, the least expensive satellite media terminal ever devised.

The only thing that stands between 600 million people becoming a true market for American goods and services is information.

We built the tools, but everyone knows government must provide the environment. In the environment of Africa, many federal agencies have a strategic imperative to communicate to vast areas:

-- The Diplomatic Corps;

-- The U.S. Agency for International Development;

-- The Voice of America;

-- The Office of International Information [Programs] at State;

-- The Commerce Department; and

-- The Department of Defense.

Though the WorldSpace system has only been in operation since 1999, there have already been notable joint efforts between various federal agencies and the WorldSpace Foundation. Founded in 1997, the WorldSpace Foundation (WSF) is a publicly supported 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC, USA. As a founding endowment, WorldSpace Corporation has granted WSF five percent of its total channel capacity on all WorldSpace satellites. The WSF mission is to help improve the lives of disadvantaged persons in developing regions of the world by providing access to education and other information broadcast directly to radios from satellites.

In Africa, WorldSpace Foundation helps bridge the digital divide by partnering with African education and development groups to deliver distance education and social development information via the Africa Learning Channel, a collective effort that brings indigenously produced content on health and education to all of Africa.

The foundation looks to grants, donations, corporate funding, other foundations, and government-sponsored programs as sources of support.

The WorldSpace Foundation and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have maintained an active relationship in pursuit of their joint goal of providing education and social development opportunities in the developing world. As a registered PVO with USAID, WSF is regularly asked to participate and present at applicable USAID conferences and workshops. WSF has been a panelist at two major USAID conferences in the last month alone. However, this relationship is not limited to conferences and meetings. There are two USAID-funded projects that WSF is participating in, with another in the planning stages. These projects are:

Mali Community Radio Project

This project, in conjunction with USAID-Mali, is finally coming to fruition after months of preparation. The goal of the project is to connect a network of 75 community radio stations using WorldSpace receivers and the foundation's audio service. The community stations will produce weekly one-hour audio programs that will focus on social development issues from health to human rights to HIV/AIDS. These programs will then be aired on the foundation's audio service and broadcast to the entire national network. What makes this project so remarkable is not just the amazing number of people that will be connected across the country using this new system, but by using the WorldSpace system, isolated communities for the first time will be able to communicate with one another. This is happening as the result of a direct contract between USAID Mali and WSF.

HIV/AIDS Education Project

WSF has subcontracted with Africare on a major USAID HIV/AIDS education initiative in Zambia and Uganda. This initiative will take advantage of WorldSpace Foundation's channel capacity and production capability by placing HIV/AIDS audio content on the Africa Learning Channel. Not only will WSF be responsible for uplinking the programming to the AfriStar satellite, but it will also post-produce all of the content. In addition to the audio component of this five-year project, Africare will distribute multimedia adapter cards throughout the two countries to community health centers. The adapter cards will give the health centers access to the extensive library of health information available on the foundation's multimedia service. This project results from a subcontract with USAID through Africare.

BESO Project

The Basic Education Systems Overhaul (BESO) Project is a USAID project that is considering incorporating the WorldSpace system into its ongoing work in Ethiopia. This project proposes to use the WorldSpace Foundation's multimedia service to provide teacher training materials to teacher support centers throughout Ethiopia. Because of Ethiopia's rugged terrain, many of these centers are cut off from the rest of the country and cannot access many of the services that the government offers. Using the WorldSpace system, teacher training and support materials will be transmitted directly to these isolated centers. The specifics of this project and the role of WSF are currently being negotiated.

WSF has also built a strong relationship with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric [Administration] (NOAA). NOAA has been a tremendous supporter of WorldSpace Foundation activities and was a major catalyst in pushing WSF to further develop the excellent multimedia service that it offers today. WSF and NOAA are currently working together on two projects. These projects are:

Climate Information Project

In Niger, WSF and NOAA, working together with the African Center for the Applications of Meteorology to Development (ACMAD), have developed a network of community information centers that utilize both the foundation's audio and multimedia service. NOAA has produced state-of-the-art meteorological content, including up-to-the-minute satellite weather pictures and graphs. NOAA's content is then broadcast on the WSF multimedia service and eventually downloaded by agriculture extension workers, national meteorological centers and even local farmers. With this satellite imagery, it is possible to make long-range weather pattern predictions, which are essential for crop selection and maximization.

Climate Early Warning System

NOAA and WSF have also collaborated in producing an early warning system that can help protect African countries from excessive loss of life during severe weather. With target countries like Mozambique, this early warning system gives national meteorological services the ability to track severe weather patterns that may pose a threat to their population and then warn their population accordingly. With this technology, national governments will have a new tool in preventing unnecessary loss of life in natural disasters. This project is a direct contract with NOAA.

These joint efforts of federal agencies and WSF represent an excellent start, certainly one in which the U.S. Government and WorldSpace can both take pride. However, we can do more for Africa, much more. From our standpoint at WorldSpace there is no better partner in this work than the United States Government, unquestionably the greatest force for democracy, justice and development in modern times.

Mr. Chairman, Honorable members of the committee, the best way to answer Africa's 911 call is to empower that continent with abundant information. By doing this, we make Africans capable, serve the strategic interests of the United States and create a more stable and prosperous world.

Thank you.