Why companies need to invest in Telecommunications
The telecommunications infrastructure is the backbone for
the application of a wide range of communications and multimedia
services that are used for commerce by various companies.
Communications access, and global connectivity are now the
key for participation in the global information society and
markets and, thus, for development and wealth creation. The
levels of communications directly or indirectly affect the
company’s revenues and the levels of communications are
directly influenced by the company’s willingness to invest
in internal Telecommunications infrastructure.
Indeed, the levels of economic development and telecommunications
development are closely correlated. The quality of telecommunications
infrastructure and connectivity has already become a major
competitive factor for attracting foreign direct investment
in business sectors. It has become a major issue because investors
are now assessing the telecommunications infrastructure and
the willingness that companies are showing in investing in
the infrastructure.
The expansion of business entities is affected by the way
they are linked to the rest of the world through the communications
infrastructures. We have seen big companies making it in the
business world because of the way they are linked to the other
parts of the world.
It has become a norm that companies send their employees
for courses overseas and these courses are offered online.
E-learning is not only being used by educational institutions,
but also by business entities to let their employees have
the opportunity to learn and improve their skills without
taking time out and with no traveling costs.
With globalization being the strategy being adopted by the
conglomerates, communication becomes a vital issue. To interact
with business partners, a lot of traveling costs are involved,
but with much telecomm investments everything is done on line.
Investing in telecommunications infrastructure and the provision
of connectivity to reliable international networks must therefore
become a top priority
Substantial new funds will be required to help developing
countries build and upgrade telecommunications networks and
related communications technologies. These needs are bound
to compete with other enormous global resource requirements
and one may wonder whether a global savings shortage will
occur in the process. To catch up, developing countries will
have to aim at a network growth rate between two and three
times the global average of five per cent per year. To attract
the needed substantial new investment for modernizing existing
telecom infrastructure, most countries must as a first step
implement policy and structural reforms and changes in their
telecommunications sector, which is invariably dominated by
state-owned and - run monopolies. In turn, these monopolies
are often the beneficiary of development assistance, however
inadequate.
Ever-bigger private firms are battling for dominance in thriving
national and international telecommunications markets, replacing
public monopolies. Several African countries have also embarked
on privatization and other measures leading to full competition,
but so far most have sold the state monopoly in basic phone
services to a single private company or consortium.
Africa needs infrastructure. It needs the telecommunications
highways, the wireless towers, and the fiber optic footpaths
that link its villages to its universities, its manufacturers
to the world's markets.
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