Can Broadband ‘Save’ Africa?

Ajai Chowdhry is the CEO of Indian IT service provider, HCL Infosystems, and he believes that giving “every village in Africa” broadband, will help eradicate poverty and corruption. Hmm. But, before you scoff and call the gentleman another exploitative, colonizing capitalist, might he have a point? Chowdhry was the co-chair of the World Economic Forum last year, the theme being “Rethinking Africa’s Growth Strategy,” and he’s known as India’s Bill Gates. His global company employs over 65,000 people and he’s keen to tap into the African continent, just as the West is trying to tap into India. And so it goes.

CNN recently ran an interview with Chowdry, which elicited quite a torrent of abuse from readers online. The idea that fifty countries, each with there own governments and economic problems, can somehow establish an equilibrium and “come together” as Chowdhry says, with internet capabilities, may seem a stretch. But, the ability to disseminate information and give it to people who otherwise wouldn’t have it (and many, many don’t) is a powerful tool – perhaps not on par with fresh water supplies, better infrastructure, and less warring factions and corrupt dictators, but powerful nonetheless. It can’t be underestimated how potent and unifying information technology can be if it’s turned to more useful means than sending inane ‘tweets’ to the receptionist at your office, or spending hours, bug-eyed, on your Facebook page. We might forget that sometimes in the privileged West.

“One question I’ve always answered is why are the poor, poor. The reason why is because they don’t have information. If you give people information you can actually transform Africa,” says Chowdhry. Of course, he wants to make the money from the contracts designed to ‘emancipate’ the continent but, is it insane to ask how much further down the tree of needs, is the internet? I have concerns that Chowdhry is quite the philanthropist he’s painting himself, but he’s also not the Robert Mugabe or Idi Amin that some of the article’s readers are suggesting either.