By: Nana
Appiah Acquaye
Smart Africa CEO and
Secretary of the AI Council for Africa Lacina Koné has advocated for
affordability to be treated as an economic and fiscal policy priority as Africa
works towards connecting one billion people to meaningful digital participation
by 2030.
Koné made the call during
the Partnership for Digital Access in Africa (PDAA) and GSMA Digital Africa
Summit in New York, held on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General
Assembly (UNGA81).
He participated in a
high-level roundtable focused on Africa’s path towards connecting one billion
people by 2030, with discussions centred on the barriers limiting digital
access and participation across the continent.
According to Koné, achieving
the ambition of bringing one billion Africans into meaningful digital
participation by 2030 will require affordability to be addressed beyond the
telecommunications sector.
“Affordability must be
treated not simply as a telecom issue, but as an economic and fiscal policy
priority,” he said.
He noted that closing
Africa’s digital usage gap requires addressing the barriers that continue to
keep millions of people offline.
Koné also stressed the need
to ensure that increased connectivity translates into meaningful digital
participation, rather than simply expanding network access.
The discussions at the PDAA
and GSMA Digital Africa Summit form part of broader efforts to advance digital
inclusion across Africa and ensure that the continent’s digital transformation
reaches more people and communities.
For Africa to achieve its
2030 connectivity ambition, Koné said, affordability and the broader economic
and fiscal conditions affecting digital access must remain central to the
conversation.
