Sub-Saharan Africa: a technological desert

Africa seems to be the "lost continent" of the information technologies (IT). The second largest continent is the least computerized, l and its more than twoscore countries have an average telephone density that is an order of magnitude smaller than that of the European Community. A recent graphic on world computer densities used the map of Africa simply as a place to display the overflow data for Europe [7]. It may be argued that deficiencies in the use of IT are the least of the problems of a continent plagued by a history of exploitation, postcolonial political difficulties, bloody civil conflicts, and extensive health, educational, demographic and economic problems. Nevertheless, attention should be given to the fact that more than 500 million people have largely been left out of the "global information society." "International Perspectives" brings