ITU Telecom World

Local solutions to local problems means taking agriculture digital in Africa and many parts of the developing world. The variety of innovative digital apps and solutions on display here addressing the needs of smallholders, farmers and the agricultural community is impressive.

Take Farmline, a social enterprise leveraging technology and data to connect farmers to vital information, services and products to increase profits and productivity. The Ghanaian company uses its proprietary Mergdata platform to transform small-scale farmers into successful entrepreneurs, delivering important data such as weather alerts, good agricultural practices and nutrition tips, financial literacy and market prices to farmers using voice and SMS – along with products such as fertilizers and seeds, and financial services. Farmline also aggregates data on farmer profiles, maps and audits, offering a platform for agricultural metrics and best practices.

Or Brastorne Enterprises, focusing on developing ICT solutions relevant to the local environment in Africa, where there is often bandwidth limitation and data is expensive. mAgri is a USSD mobile application allowing farmers to market their products and services across the country, connecting to updates from the Ministry of Agriculture, merchants such as the Botswana Meat Commission, other farmers, buyers and sellers throughout Botswana and beyond. Adding the ability to request short term loans from financial institutions will lead to a comprehensive agro-digital ecosystem.

Also on show is Farmcrowdy,  Nigeria’s first digital agriculture platform connecting small scale farmers across Nigeria with access to finance sourced from individuals and corporates, as well as expertise on sustainable, efficient farming practices.  It allows investors to select the farms they would like to sponsor, providing a safe and convenient platform to engage with the agricultural value chain – and, of course, empowering rural farmers with the necessary resources to utilize untapped farmland, expand farming operations and produce more food to feed the growing population.

Using IoT and the big data it produces in the agricultural context is the basis of the Agricultural Information Management System developed by ezfarm from South Korea; and of WAZIUP, on show at the Smart ABC pavilion and deploying low-cost IoT technologies and open data platforms in rural and remote communications in Africa and beyond.

Taking advantage of the global platform and audience which the event offers, a number of companies took the occasion to conclude MoUs (Memorandum of Understandings). 

An MoU was signed between CSAIA (China Satellite Application Industry Association) and ICDO (International Civil Defence Organization), in the presence of ITU Secretary General Houlin Zhao and Vladimir Kuvshinov ICDO Secretary General, covering satellite application technology for emergency communications. MoUs were also signed between Republic of Korea’s Frontis and South Africa, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Azerbaijan to provide VR/AR content, and Republic of Korea’s Victony with the Burundi Innovation Hub to provide E-education content.

Visitors to the ITU Telecom World 2018 Exhibition were able to discover the types of solutions delivering fintech services that are helping boost digital financial inclusion, and providing local solutions for local challenges.

Rwanda’s Casual Payroll deploys a high-tech facial recognition system enabling casual, cashless payment to be made, facilitating casual workers receiving their salaries on their mobile phones. It also gives access to financial services, such as loans and health insurance.

Mozambican Fintech Paytek offers payment integration services, application interfaces and access channels, allowing its users to tap into a raft of Digital Financial Services. Its services include Paytek e-Wallet, a universal system of digital payment aggregation, running on the basis of the new Paytek Payment Aggregation Platform. This enables end users to use bank accounts and mobile wallets for making payment in an intuitive, comprehensive and conscious way, thus creating a sustained habit of making electronic payments.

Also from Mozambique is M-Xitique, a platform for managing informal business savings, offering groups of informal market sellers, youth and families a fast and convenient way to manage collections and transactions from their savings groups, and learn about financial education. Informal savings groups in Mozambique accumulate 1.8 billion meticais per year. M-Xitique aims to provide a service to facilitate the payment process, making it practical, simple and safe to save and pay xitique instead of using other traditional methods, such as physical money, noting the transactions in the notebooks and use of homemade safes.

Nigeria’s VoguePay is a payment processor and aggregator making multi-channel and cross-currency transactions safer, cheaper and more accessible for businesses and consumers in Africa and internationally. Voguepay digital utilizes blockchain technology to hash users’ biometric data into a token and make it inter-operate within the networks of banks. This means a single user can use a recognized identity to enjoy banking services with multiple partner banks on VoguePay. The service will be deployed in partnership with bank partners with more than 5 million accounts spread across Africa.

A distinguished panel comprising H. E. Dr. Siyabonga Cyprian Cwele, Minister of Telecommunications of the Government of South Africa, Houlin Zhao, ITU Secretary-General, H.E Lindiwe Daphney Zulu, Minister of Small Business Development, Brahima Sanou, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), and Tinyiko Ngobeni, Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services described the formation of the African Digital Transformation Centre. The session was ably moderated by Ntsibane Ntlatlapa, Competency Area Manager of the Telecommunication Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, who expressed his enthusiasm for the Centre.

During the session, the host country announced the African Digital Transformation Centre to support entrepreneurs and lead work on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This multi-stakeholder initiative will involve policy makers, entrepreneurs, financiers, academics, startups communities, technology companies, state development agencies and civil society, who will come together to address the challenges and opportunities of the changing environment.

In his opening remarks, Tinyiko Ngobeni observed that, although in South Africa, we a very efficient economy, “we need to grow into an innovation-driven economy or we will be left behind”. He described the economic challenges facing South Africa and the vision for the Centre, and how it will bring together the key ecosystems of technology, hubs and innovation, currently still working separately in silos.

1. E. Dr. Siyabonga Cyprian Cwele, Minister of Telecommunications of South Africa, stated that the Centre rings well with his vision. South Africans have plenty of ideas and usually consult, but we can’t engage in endless consultations – H.E. President Ramaphosa has said he wants action, noted Cwele, and we have to implement our ideas so they have real impact. H.E Lindiwe Daphney Zulu, Minister of Small Business Development of South Africa, described how, in four years, the Ministry of Small Business Development has put SMME issues high on agenda of government. She called for us to talk about technology and update the educational curriculum to reflect recent developments.

Houlin Zhao, ITU Secretary-General, thanked the Ministers for their clear explanation of the Centre. He offered ITU’s expertise and will work with the Centre as partner to help mobilize other partners to join. Mr. Brahima Sanou, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), agreed and expressed his great pleasure and privilege to be associated with the Centre. SMMEs contribute around 35% to GDP and to employment. Centres such as this can help distribute wealth and empower more people, which is for him a contribution towards greater peace in the world.

With the emergence of AI, machine learning and robotics, big data is transforming industries, businesses and the way work. Disruption in the labour market will be on an unprecedented scale as automatization spreads across all sectors – and, like all disruption, its impact may be threatening, hugely positive, or both. The ecosystem of the 4^thindustrial revolution could be game-changing, as moderator Cosmas Zavazava, Chief, Projects and Knowledge Management, ITU, noted, but we must take action now to avoid leaving anyone behind, deepening the digital divide into a data one.

Connectivity is fundamental, of course, but to be meaningful and effective, it must be accompanied by digital literacy, data skills and a new concept of and approach to education for the workplace.

Drawing a distinction between learning and education, Anir Chowdhury, Policy Adviser at a21 in Bangladesh, pointed out that learning has changed irreversibly over the past ten or twenty years, but education has not. Education and learning should converge as the digital classroom – and the  AI/IoT-facilitated virtual world – replace the physical classroom.  We have to move fast to maintain our human advantage over rapidly-developing machines, he said, recommending five key areas of action: taking personal responsibility as a learner; developing a personalised education system; learning how to learn; rapid curriculum change driven by the learner rather than more conservatively-paced experts; and introducing workspace apprenticeships.

For Kirsty Chadwick, Group CEO, The Training Room Online, enabling technology can change the landscape of education and learning. Offline design is key to providing access to learning solutions with digital technology in areas where connectivity is challenging.

There is currently a strong disconnect throughout the different sectors of education from early years to secondary education, universities and then the world of work. “We need to create and use technology to apply to the deep-rooted and systemic challenges that education faces both here and globally,” she said. Strong political leadership and vision is vital to keep up with the rapid pace of adoption of powerful, transformational technology – and adapting or updating the regulatory framework which is holding back change in Africa.

The difficulty is in balancing the reality of connectivity paucity now with future needs. Gisa Fuatai Purcell, Acting Secretary General of CTO, highlighted the difficulty of brining IoT and AI to Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States and landlocked countries, where cable may have to be brought through several other sovereign territories or undersea, at tremendous expense. Leapfrogging will to more advanced technologies will be challenging, she said, but worth the investment.

Lifelong learning meansnot just getting children into tech and AI, but also bringing on board the older people, too, Sunil Geness,Group Corporate Affairs Manager at SAP, Africa, reminded the panel. For children, the focus should be on learning through play, sparking an interest in, and familiarity with, technology that may translate into the future workplace.

Brian Armstrong, Adjunct Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, concurred. “Digital familiarity and digital literacy can start with games, social media and YouTube to drive access, and then move to transactional use, learning and the higher order usage that we all seek. Start with entertainment as the way into the door.”

“Learning for the future starts with re-equipping educators,” he continued. “The key intervention is with the educational community and educators,” who are often more traditionalist.

For Geness, new modes of teaching should blend technology and human-facilitated learning, encouraging children to become the teachers, and moving towards collaborative and creative thinking.

Chadwick called for a humanistic engagement, where learners are supported by parents, the community, educators and learning and development professionals at all levels, “to deliver learning in a different way, as part of an ecosystem, just putting sticking plasters on the a fundamentally broken system is not the way forward to make children relevant in the world of work.”

The panellists agreed that future-proofing education and preparing for new workforce realities in the age of AI need a tripartite approach bringing together government, labour and employees – as well as the SMEs and entrepreneurs creating jobs in South Africa, the continent and the world.

lnnovative tech solutions with the potential to change lives across the globe were highlighted at the ITU Telecom World Awards 2018 ceremony on the closing day of ITU Telecom World 2018, the global event for governments, corporates and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, held this week in Durban, South Africa.

From digital agriculture, mobile learning, education and healthcare, to virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), satellite, automotive repair and more, the fourth edition of the ITU Telecom World Awards celebrated creativity and innovation in digital solutions meeting real-world social needs.

Winners and finalists in several categories were presented with trophies and certificates by ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao in a high-profile ceremony in the presence of government ministers, industry leaders, representatives of media and other high-level delegates from across the globe.

Participants took part in an adrenaline-filled live pitching session during the award ceremony itself, during which they shared the innovative approach of their entry, and the social impact that it is capable of creating.

“I have been delighted to discover this week at ITU Telecom World 2019 many SMEs and great innovations with genuine potential to improve lives and connect the unconnected,” said ITU Secretary-General, Houlin Zhao. “It is my sincere hope that the global recognition of receiving an ITU Telecom World Award from an international panel of experts, will help these talented enterprise owners to scale-up and take their business onto a global stage.”

The Global SME Awards recognized the best innovative ICT-based solutions with social impact from SMEs present at the event in five classes – Best Business Model, Most Scalable, Most Innovative Use of ICT, Greatest Social Impact and the Global SME Excellence Award for the SME with the highest all-around score.

Corporate Awards were presented for the most promising innovative solutions with social impact in the areas of sustainable development and smart emerging technologies.

In addition, the government with the most innovative SMEs included in their National Pavilion at ITU Telecom World 2018 was recognized with the ITU Telecom World Government Award; and the Host Country Awards recognized the most promising SME solutions at the event from South Africa, the event host.

All SMEs in these categories underwent a rigorous application and selection process, with an external jury of social entrepreneurship and tech experts assessing each entrant on the basis of business model, scalability, innovation and social impact. Those shortlisted for the Global SME Awards were invited to take part in a quick-fire pitching sessions in front of an expert jury, during the event.

Global SME Awards Winners and Finalists

Global SME Excellence Award

• Winner – Pulego Communications, South Africa

Best Business Model

• ​Winner – Tuse Applications, South Africa
• Finalist – Casual Payroll Ltd, Rwanda
• Finalist – Chamasoft Ltd, Kenya

Most Innovative Use of ICTs

• ​Winner – Uthini Tech (Pty) Ltd, South Africa
• Finalist – IQRex, Azerbaijan
• Finalist – Yellow Beast, South Africa

Greatest social impact

• ​Winner – Pulego Communications, South Africa
• Finalist – iMoSyS, Malawi
• Finalist – Zinake Ltd, Kenya

Most scalable

• ​​Winner – Talamus Health, United States
• Finalist – Ologa Sistemas Informaticos Lda, Mozambique
• Finalist – Dropque, Nigeria

ITU Telecom World Corporate Awards 

• ​Smart emerging technologies winner – Nokia
• Sustainable development winner – Huawei

ITU Telecom World Government Award 

• Winner – Kenya

ITU Telecom World Host Country Awards 

• ​Winner – dbTrack, South Africa
• Finalist – Cognitive Systems, South Africa
• Finalist – WatIF Health, South Africa

During a special LeaderSpace Happy Hour, bringing together SMEs and industry, Recognition of Excellence Certificateswere granted to the best and most innovative individual exhibitor within each National Pavilion at ITU Telecom World 2018, as selected by each pavilion organizer. At this happy hour, Certificates of Appreciation were also awarded to ITU Telecom World 2018 National Pavilions and Thematic Pavilions, as well as loyal participants and supporters of the annual event over a number of years.

Opening a positive and affirming session on the empowerment of women in the ICT sector with a very high-level panel and an engaged and enthusiastic audience, keynote speaker H. E. Lindiwe Daphney Zulu, Minister of Small Business Development, urged government to create a conducive environment for women by working together across ministries, entrepreneurs, academia, policy makers, state development agencies and the ICT ecosystem to address the challenges and opportunities of the changing digital environment – starting with connectivity in rural areas: “Women in the villages say we can see digital, but it is not reaching us, and we also want to join.”

As women, we don’t like segregation, she said, we do want the men in the same space in the world we live in as we can pool our resources. “We have a lot to give as people who also want to participate in the broader economies firstly of our own countries but also in the world. “

Gender inclusion is a major objective of ITU, said Malcolm Johnson, Deputy Secretary-General, moderating the session on behalf of ITU. Women are very successful in the ICT field, yet the gap is still growing between women and men, especially in Africa, so we need to do more.

“Everyone has to make sure they have responsibility,” said H. E. Stella Tembisa Ndabeni Abrahams, Vice Minister, Ministry of Telecommunications and Postal Services. “We need to build technological girls’ programmes from primary education right throughout to tertiary courses to make a dent in terms of the gap in women in industry. If we want to make a success of the fourth industrial revolution, we need a capable army, so we need women.” This calls for cross-sectoral, cross-ministerial collaboration.

E. Nomusa Dube Ncube, MEC Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Governmentpointed out the need for basic infrastructure in rural areas for everyone, let alone for the girl child. “When we talk about a gender digital divide we are recognising a fundamental obstacle to development. Women are at risk of permanent economic backwardness” if they not have access to infrastructure and digital skills.

Onica Makwakwa, Head of Africa for A4AI, World Wide Web Foundation urged mainstreaming gender to close the digital divide, addressing the issues that prevent women from thriving in the ICT sector. “What is keeping women back is mainly a lack of policy, and sometimes bad policy, but that can be changed. We decided for affirmative action for disadvantaged populations and we need it for women to advance in this area,” she said, calling for Universal Service Funds lying dormant across the country to be opened up to address gender inequality in ICT, because “it won’t happen naturally or just by investing in infrastructure, we have to decide to address demand side issues like digital skills and access to affordable devices.”

ICT policy making is foundational to whatever else we do, said Elizabeth Migwalla, Senior Director and Head of Government Affairs-Africa, Qualcomm. “Based on my experience, until and unless we have women, their perspective and their intellect involved in creating the environment, we will be missing out on 50% of our potential. It is the one aspect where we can perhaps make an impact as there women in involved in ICT policy practice, there are women in ministries.”

Pinky Kekana, Deputy Minister of Communications, South Africa, focused on the importance of educating girls, looking at the cultural barriers for girls in early socialising and adopting deliberate and sustainable measures in collaboration with the education department. “We have made English a compulsory subject, so why not also make coding compulsory from an early age?”

“If we are not equipped to join the train, we will leave half the world behind,” said Letty Chiwara, Representative to Ethiopia, Africa Union and UN Economic Commission for Africa, UN Women. Education is the key to releasing the untapped potential of our girls across the continent. “Let’s use Universal Service Funds, policy and private sector spaces to support young girls.”

Summing up, Johnson called for measures including cross-sector collaboration, more coding, reaching rural and remote areas with connectivity and relevant content – and making sure that content is relvant to women. It is important to consult women to help develop policies, make sure we have and implement these policies, and provide protection for women online to give them confidence and security in using the technology.

A consensus-driven process with a history of more than 110 years, the World Radiocommunication Conference convenes every four years to update the international regulations governing the use of spectrum. Preparations for WRC-19 next year are not only underway – they have been ongoing since the morning after the final day of the last conference in 2015.

“It is important to note that this is not only a conference, but a process,” explained session moderator François Rancy, Director of ITU’s Radiocommunication Bureau. Central to that ongoing process are the studies conducted in how the changes made to the radio regulations can actually be implemented whilst continuing to protect the investments made in past – and those that will be made in future, based on previous regulations.

It is about “building a sustainable ecosystem of radio communications,” said Rancy, where multiple stakeholders all use – and often share -the same radio frequency spectrum. The process works, he said, because the people who take the decisions have the legitimacy as the representatives of government and regulators of all member states and are “at national level in charge of not just defining spectrum regulations, but applying them and enforcing them.” Decisions are made by consensus only, ensuring a clear path ahead.

One of the main issues on the agenda at WRC-19 is the allocation of additional spectrum for non geo stationary satellite constellations, able to provide connectivity to areas where fibre optic and other traditional infrastructure are unavailable or limited. The mobile industry is also looking for further spectrum to bring mobile broadband connectivity to the unconnected – and to meet the growing demands of consumers and end-users for ever-more data hungry services and experiences.

It’s important to bear in mind, Rancy reminded the audience, that the discussions at WRC 19 will be looking at allocating spectrum for future technologies and technological developments that are not yet operable: you allocate spectrum in the expectation that something will happen within a few years, always some time ahead of real deployment, because “WRC is about what will happen in the future.”

Representatives of all major stakeholders in the spectrum allocation process were on the panel, including Donna Bethea Murphy, SVP, Global Regulatory Policy, Inmarsat, speaking on behalf of EMEA Satellite Operators Association (ESOA). She made the case for the satellite industry in an age where the falling prices of technology and increasing capacity enable satellites to provide affordable accessibility to new users and smaller operators, pushing applications out to SMEs and end-users. The industry is also working with many smart cities across Africa, as backhaul for wifi hotspots, in emergency relief and for a growing range of applications in sectors such as farming, health and education. “It is an exciting time for us,” she said, “but it is also challenging, as the use of satellites is not always visible to regulators and end-users.”

From the mobile industry supplier point of view, Elizabeth Migwalla, Senior Director and Head of Government Affairs-Africa, Qualcomm, underlined the need to remain relevant and fulfil consumer expectations of “next generation mobile experiences, fibre like quality and low latency and speed”, in addition to expanding into new sectors such as manufacturing, safety, agriculture and access. This expansion will require new spectrum in higher bands, where the technical viability has already been proved and now has to be converted into operational viability. “The crux of the matter is creating the environment to enable mobile to operate in these frequencies as there is clearly no spectrum unused”, she said. Is there a way in which mobile can work with other neighbours in a manner which is not detrimental to them?

3G and 4G took ten years from the WRC process to commercial deployment – and the timeline for 5G will be similar in terms of widespread consumer use, commented Peng Zhao, Spectrum Policy Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs, GSMA. Which means we need to do the work in the WRC now, follow the process and find the spectrum needed for 5G. He stressed that the mobile industry itself is not necessarily behind the drive for more spectrum – it is the customer and consumer pushing for more and more data. “This is the pressure on the network to absorb this and future migration, so we need to sustain that demand – and so we need spectrum,” he said.

A contrasting use case for spectrum was put by Elias Otieno Odhimabo, WMO Representative for Eastern and Southern Africa, WMO, speaking for the scientific community using spectrum for meteorological predictions or monitoring earth resources through earth exploration satellites. “As a key stakeholder, partner and consumer of spectrum, we need to see that the frequencies we operate are protected effectively,” he said, highlighting the importance of protecting the ability of critical weather and early warning devices using accurate and highly specific equipment to operate within radio spectrum.

The ITU has a major role in ensuring spectrum protection and sustainability, and in allocating spectrum fairly, he said.

Spectrum remains a limited resource, however, and the balancing act between connecting the unconnected, enabling the huge social and economic development potential of mobile broadband and satellite services, and protecting life critical services will remain a delicate one.

Once upon a time, money was moved by hand, then came the possibility to transfer via telegrams. The advent of internet, mobile broadband and mobile devices has now transformed how we move money and pay for items, with technologies such as blockchain and cryptocurrencies set to further disrupt the digital finance sector. A diverse panel, spanning government, the banking sector, tech futurists and the technology industry, ably moderated by David Wen, Chief Scientist and Co-Founder, eCurrency shared perspectives around digital finance now and moving forward.

Key concerns for Azerbaijan are how to expand their digital agenda across borders- as many countries are concentrated within their own borders. Additionally, the government are keen to help their SMEs expand beyond Azerbaijan, according to Kamran Agasi, Director, Innovations Center LLC, Azerbaijan. Government is transforming itself within the public sector to act as a service provider, creating opportunities. Against a backdrop of the fast changing digital economy, regulators face challenges ranging analyzing the long term policy implications to seeking out and maintaining talent.

Fahad Sajid, Senior Solution Consultant, Business Support systems & Digital Financial Services, Huawei explained that the challenges to digital financial inclusion centre around how organizations can best organize and monetize services, developing the right strategies and putting an ecosystem in place which will support digital financial inclusion.

For Louis Blom, CIO, Standard Bank Mobile, Standard Bank, South Africa, it is important to look at the entire ecosystem, from government and regulators regulate digital currencies and pinpoint exactly what role financial institutions should play within this ecosystem. “The trust aspect around currency, government and regulation must be well aligned,” he explained.

Wen, who is also Chairman of the ITU focus group investigating digital fiat currency, explained that digital finance can be arranged like banking itself. “When mobile money is interoperable, and digital cash can go in a wallet, then it becomes viable.” M money should come under the same governance as worked before, ie that of cash transactions.

For Stephen Ibaraki, Social Entrepreneur and Futurist – Chair REDDS Capital, REDDS Venture Capital, there are 2 key issues for digital finance, ai and blockchain. “AI is here today, already everywhere” he told delegates, and can help in a raft of areas from antimony laundering, services, anticipating problems before complaints are even made. For big companies, tapping into these opportunities maybe straightforward, although for SMEs, accessing the tools may not be quite as straightforward, but this will come. Blockchain, however, is “totally disrupting the payment space,” making borrowing much faster and easier, with the potential to enable many transactions a second, scaling across devices. It also, according to Blom, can give crucial details at different stages of financial transactions, such as where people physically reside.

Building confidence in blockchain among users is also key. To do this we should start with something simple, such as contract to transfer for a transaction- as these types of documentation can sometimes take months to transfer. If this were to go into an easily transferable digital format, consumers could directly see the benefit of blockchain solutions, explained Blom.

Various delegates from the audience called for the views of “users on the ground” to be taken into account. According to one delegate, people are not putting money in the banking system. Women in particular may find themselves sold products they don’t understand or don’t want, so they take their money out.

Effective regulation is a key component of digital financial inclusion. It is often the banks who are most highly regulated in the digital finance sector. Wen cited the example of Senegal, where the commercial bank must take care of 6 non-interoperable m-money providers. They must match details and give cash to agents, however the bank does not get anything from the transfer. Banks and m money providers need incentives to work together.

Cooperation is also key, instead of competition. Currently, according to Blom, telcos and banks are competing “at the wrong level”- data should be shared. If banks all agreed on a common standard, the cost would come down. However costs do need to be recouped, so fees may need to be charged. Governments need to step in and give basic rules for cooperation between stakeholders. The banking and telco sides need to communicate more.

Summing up, Wen outlined key concerns moving forward; technological innovation needs to be matched with regulation. Stakeholder dialogue is crucial, and ITU as a standards organization should promote this dialogue, participation at sessions such as these is great.

 

Speakers

David Wen, Chief Scientist and Co-Founder, eCurrency
Kamran Agasi, Director, Innovations Center LLC
Louis Blom, CIO: Standard Bank Mobile, Standard Bank
Stephen Ibaraki, Social Entrepreneur and Futurist – Chair REDDS Capital, REDDS Venture Capital
Fahad Sajid, Senior Solution Consultant, Business Support systems & Digital Financial Services, Huawei Technologies

Opening the second Ministerial Roundtable at ITU Telecom World 2018 on the topic of cybersecurity, Brahima Sanou, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, urged ministers to address the risks of associated with the digital economy – including cybercrime responsible for an estimated economic loss of more than USD660bn in 2017 –without scaring their citizens, saying, “The security, confidence and perception of end users is very important. It is our responsibility to work on the risk of ICTS so that it is seen as something which can be used with confidence. We must mediate the potential risks of ICT users in order to enable us to tap into its full potential for development.”

H. E. Mr. Moustapha Mamy Diaby, Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and the Digital Economy in Guinea pointed out that whilst cyberspace today is unavoidable, and is critical to the development of the new economy, we should consume it in a different fashion, bearing in might its inherent risks much as we bear in mind the side effects of any medicine we take. We must protect ourselves by developing regulations and legislation, working in cooperation at many levels between the state and private sectors, and between the state, academia and research centres, as “without those levels of cooperation it will be very difficult to succeed in fighting against the various threats.”

He also urged ministers to focus on training, education and awareness-raising so that our children can use ICT tools responsibly and “be the first custodians of their own security.” We must work smarter and educate our children, taking action upstream to mitigate the risk of malware and harmful actions, whilst continuing to focus on developing the digital ecosystem and its meaningful use.

H. E. Ms. Ursula G. Owusu Ekuful, Minister of Communications, Ghana, summarized the dilemma at the heart of this session: “We cannot do without digital communications, but how can we do it in a safer way, protecting our digital ecosystem?”

She urged the adoption of a multi-stakeholder approach such as in Ghana, where an inter-ministry committee has been set up to advise on policy, including finance, defence, interior, justice and foreign affairs portfolios. Beneath this is a technical working group comprising experts from the banking sector, intelligence and security agencies, academia, regulator and all other relevant agencies, as the government “recognises that they are the ones who will have to implement in their workplaces whatever policies we undertake, so they have to be involved in the fashioning of the rules of engagement.”

She acknowledged the difficulties of breaking the habit of working in silos within government, and the need to act as apolitically and cross-sectorally as possible to be part of the solution, especially in creating public awareness and establishing effective child on line protection measures.

Additional measures include a cybersecurity centre and an emergency response team, with a focus on digital financial services as a vulnerable sector at the frontline of potential incidents. But she noted, “It is not enough to put up institutional architecture, we also have to work on attitudinal change and utilizing more hygienic cyber practices as individuals.”

H. E. Mr. Ibrahima Guimba Saidou, Minister Special Advisor of the President of Niger republic & CEO of the National Agency of Information Society (ANSI), stressed the need to protect not just data, but people as well, through initiatives such as training and public awareness programmes targeting young people in particular. He explained that the fact that more than 80% of the country is rural can actually be advantageous when disseminating information and education on cybersecurity: “We can go to a small town with a thousand inhabitants, have their attention and make sure that the first time they are exposed to technology, we can share good practices from the very beginning.”

Oman ranks number one in the Arabic region in terms of cybersecurity, explained. Dr. Saoud Humaid Al Shoaili, Director General, Directorate of Communications & Postal Services, outlining a number of intiatives from intelligence services, to centres of cybersecurity and hotlines for child online protection. But government action alone is not enough. “ As we move towards a more digitized world, we become an easy target for attack, “ he said. “Smartness means we have devices developed, controlled and managed by people unknown to us – so ensuring trust is the responsibility of everyone, not just governments but also individuals.”

“The aspect of cooperation and coordination between countries is key,“ emphasized. Andre Müller Borges, Secretary of Telecommunications, Brazil. “This is really is an international issue. Within each country, governments, people and businesses are connected so society as a whole is vulnerable. This connection is not just in countries but among all countries, and we want to foster the free flow of data between countries.” He echoed the session theme of keeping a balance between welcoming the transformation in society in the digital age and acknowledging the inherent risks involved.

“What we are doing is seeking to manage the risks of a disruptive environment, but not prevent that disruption, as it the source of great benefits,” summarized James Cameron, Authority Member, Australian Communications & Media Authority. Government can take the lead in its own digital services and platforms to send an important signal to industry on cybersecurity, but must also engage effectively with industry to work together, learn from each other and drive solutions so that the young and those vulnerable to content can engage confidently in the digital world.

From Indonesia, Farida Dwi Cahyarini, Secretary General, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, focused on risk mitigation in protecting personal data from attack through legal instruments, on raising awareness of the need for security in the personal digital devices which are such an integral part of daily life, and on dealing with harmful or negative content, announcing that “We have conducted a programme on collaboration in digital literacy and smart digital development.”

Representing the Democratic Republic of Congo, Vincent Ikimba Bongelo, Secretary General, Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and New Information and Communication Technologies reminded those present of hugely positive impact of new technologies: “For health, agriculture, education and other areas of digital transformation or the fourth industrial revolution, this is very important for the development of countries and offers opportunities for wealth and job creation by encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation among young people.” But there is a need for national strategy or road map to create awareness amongst citizens of cybercrime and its dangers, in particular given the dependency of youth on smart phones and smart tools.

In Kenya, a country combining a youthful population of active digital natives and a world-leading digital finance service in M pesa, creating awareness around cybersecurity, online privacy and data protection is particularly important, said Fatuma Hirsi Mohamed, Principal Secretary, State Department for Broadcasting and Telecommunication.. “Protection of critical e infrastructure for all government institutions to avoid downloads of malware that could affect the whole government system is key”, she continued, emphasising the need to train staff, create awareness and work with different stakeholders in other ministries, security agencies and the judicial system.

Speaking from the operator point of view, Jonas Bogoshi, CEO of Business Connexion Group, highlighted that cybercrime is largely due to the fact that protection of the end users was not fundamental to design in internet systems. “Redesigning the systems with design features to protect the end user is possible – but very expensive “ he said. Creating new standards for future designs with end user protection as a priority is therefore very important.
Cybersecurity measures to address the very real risks of the digital era are essential – and are taken seriously by governments around the world. The key is to balance the enormous socio-economic benefits of the digital age against protection of citizens, businesses and critical national infrastructure. It calls for digital training, awareness-raising, and an attitudinal change within the sector, within governments and on the part of end users. And this will can only be made possible by breaking down silos and working closely together: across ministries, countries, regions and the world.

Launch of National Cybersecurity Strategy Guide
ITU launched the revised National Cybersecurity Strategy Guide, produced in collaboration with 11 partners, at the opening of the Ministerial Roundtable on addressing the risks of a smarter world. The guide aims to assist countries in the development and implementation of national cybersecurity strategies including cyber-preparedness and resilience.

”We have worked on cybersecurity issues for many years as a very important development, “ said ITU Secretary General Houlin Zhao at the launch. “If you talk to the founding fathers of the internet, they will tell you that free communication was the first priority, not security, when developing the internet, so today we need to work to strengthen security functions.” ITU is the trusted facilitator for cybersecurity as an international organisation, and this report forms an important part of its efforts in this arena.

See more on the guide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfFG1pOyFjI
Download the guide https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/str/D-STR-CYB_GUIDE.01-2018-PDF-E.pdf