ISPs and consumer protection in
West Africa
Archibald Worwui
ISPs are doing very good job in
providing internet access
Don’t be carried away
please!!!!!!!!
Areas of interest








Effect of Internet on socio-economic activities
ISPs (Internet Service Providers)
Arrival of ISPs into the region
Contributions of ISPs
Challenges facing ISPs in west Africa
Consumer Issues with ISPs
Rising to the Issues
Discussion
Arrival of ISPs in the West Africa

1st Stage mid 90s – 2000
–
–

2nd stage 2000 – 2008
–
–

Dial-up
Lease lines
DSL
SHDSL, etc
3rd stage 2008- Till
–
–
–
–
–
Wireless
Broadband
Rapid increase in laying of undersea cable
Forming regional service providers
Telecom deregulation
Effects of internet on socioeconomic activities in West Africa






New economic activities (new industry)
New business model
Lower cost of communication
Increase interactions between social grouping
All aspect of life in West Africa
In short revolution and life changing
ISPs
Connectivity An Overview Culled from wikimedia
Contributions of ISPs

Africa 560 public ISPs covering all major towns
http://www.afrispa.org/dpages/PositionPapers/Content.pdf

ISPs + Technology = Access to Internet

Internet + Education = Great Opportunity
Challenges facing ISPs in west
Africa









High cost of bandwith
Rapid changing of technology and it associate
continuous investment
Competition in the ISP market
Telcom monopoly (backbone provider and ISP)
Delay is supply line of necessary equipment
Lack trust among local ISPs
High cost of imported equipments
Foreign exchange restriction and fluctuations
High taxes
Challenges facing ISPs -2


Lack of local IXPs in the region
Lack of education (high illiteracy rate)
–
–


Low target market
Few highly qualified technical personnel
Limited technical capacity
High level of brain-drain
Looking forward

Number initiative to overcome this challenges
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
AfrISPA (ISPs Association in Africa)
ATU (Africa Telecom Union)
PAVIX
ISPs coming together to provide undersea cables
More linearization of the Telecom industry
Training
Introduction of ICT in to the primary education
system
Characteristics ISPs Industry




Internet access market is primary consumer
market
It is important to have effective consumer
protection
ISPs are mostly self- regulating industry
Consumer do not have much control on
sensitive personal information
Consumer Issues with ISPs








Poor service quality
Billing problems
Poor technical supports
Dodgy adverts with so much technical terms which
consumer do not understand
Pre-dispute mandatory arbitration clauses
Long time to resolve connectivity problems
Inadequate explanation of interruption problem
Weak signal
Consumer Issues with ISPs -2

Poor customer relationship
Control over information provider by the
consumer after it life period
Ethical issues

More……………………………………..


Rising to the Issues

Legislation- government set of the roles of the
game
–
–

Develop user policy
ISPs services policies
Formation of public services regulatory bodies
–
PURA


Consumer parliaments
Formation of consumer association
–
–
CAFON, GNAC, CPAG
Organizing interaction between consumers and ISPs
Discussions



??
???
????
Still Asking?
What is the promise and the
danger of the Internet? –
Hubert Dreyfus, Professor of Philosophy
Thanks