Africa hamstrung by drip-feed funding.

A lack of infrastructure funding is retarding rural telecentre proliferation in African information and communication technology (ICT). Experts told delegates at an ITC conference in Lusaka, Zambia, that private companies and donor institutions drip-feed telecentre development. Oumy Ndiaye, the manager of the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA), said telecentre pilot projects "had been carried out for many years but no effort is being made to scale up telecentres, with real ownership by the community". Telecentres provide access to ICT and supply business and market information to rural populations. The lack of sustainability has been caused by poor access to connectivity infrastructure because internet service providers and mobile communication companies are concentrated in urban areas, says Ndiave.