As an introduction the famous book „At the crossroads: ICT policy making in East Africa” by Florence E. Etta/Laurent Elder (2005) should be quoted:
“It is quite remarkable how quickly the new ICTs have spread across Africa and have come to be seen as essential to the continent’s economic development, political democratization, social advancement, cultural progress, as well as for its global presence and competitiveness.”

The planned submarine cable links to the SAFE cable along the Eastern coast of Africa to Djibouti, with planned landing points in Tanzania and Kenya (Mombasa), will radically improve the infrastructure conditions in East Africa. For more information about the cable please see the "Kenya" category.

Across the internet you can find some case studies you can read there. Also detailed figures will not be pointed out here because they are changing continuously and mostly included also in the former. For East Africa (apart from Kenya which has its own category here) for the following states summaries are interesting to publish:

1.      Uganda,
2.      Ethiopia,
3.      Tanzania,
4.      Rwanda.

Uganda

ICT investment alone from 1998 to 2001 has increased by more than 250 % becoming an important part of the economy, after 2001 Uganda’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector is dynamic and vibrant. The sector has registered double digit growth since 2000 and grew by 33% in 2006/2007. Investment inflows have been very strong additionally from private sources. Direct employment stands at 6000 while over 350,000 people are indirectly employed. Players in the market are telecommunication operators and companies, Internet service providers, software and hardware vendors, IT services and consultancies.

The increased demand for ICT skills from the 1990s has led to the mushrooming training in the use of computers (from courses and workshops to university diploma and degree courses), since 2002 ICT has become also a (examinable) subject in schools.
In 1999 Draft ICT policy has been endorsed and action plans have been developed.

Further challenges lay ahead in the spread of hardware and the internet.

Ethiopia

According to “The reporter” (Addis Abeba) from 25.0.07 is “Ethiopia’s investment in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) considered to be one of the highest in the world, taking into consideration the level of poverty prevailing in the country.” (Debretsion G. Michael) which is a committed 10% of the country’s GDP. The mobile sector has been growing by 100% or more per annum in recent year.

ICT Africa 2008 conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Feb 13-15

Tanzania

Milestones in the Tanzanian ICT development were the creation of the Tanzanian Communication Commission (the regulatory authority) in 1993, the publishing of the National Telecommunications Policy of 1998 and the recent ICT policy adopted by Cabinet in 2003.
 

Rwanda

Experts of Rwanda (World Bank, UNO, NGOs) see Rwanda as the coming “Silicon Valley of East Africa“. The master plan VISION 2020 should establish the ICT economy systematically.
Terracom installed the wireless broadband internet in Kigali. Microsoft has been building several training centers. Nokia has provided telephone programs to the rural population. The year 2007 started with the OLPC contract (one laptop per child). Terracom laid more than 350 km fiber optic cable in 2007. Thus, Rwanda has become the most densely wired country in Africa. Rwanda has been elected the headquarters of EASSY (East African Submarine Cable Project) administration. Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa und Tanzania are united in this project and Rwanda will take up presidency.
 

On 18th June, 2007 Rwanda and Burundi formally joined the East African Community (EAC) as full members. They signed treaties of accession to the EAC bringing the membership of the regional body to 5 countries with a population of 100 million.

This event is important to all ICT practitioners and investors in Kenya. This is because Rwanda was developing its ICT industry before its regional neighbours had an inkling of the potential and competitive edge ICT gives nations. Rwanda has a knowledge-based economy that is only matched in the region by Mauritius.

The dot-com tuned President of the country - Paul Kagame - initiated the whole process when his ideas were actualised through the Vision 2020 which was launched in 2000. It focused on IT as a crucial cornerstone for future development. This is similar to our Vision 2030 which I believe should have been formulated much earlier. Contrast this with Mauritius whose Ministry of Information and Communication was busy with ICT policy formulation, implementation and physical development in 1997 (you can blame this delay on our asinine politics).

Anyway Kagame’s confidence and steely determination was remarkable when you consider he was pushing this new approach against a backdrop of national recovery from the genocide trauma.

His vision had logic stamped on it. With no port access, expensive airfreight rates and instability around it, Rwanda needed a new kind of economy. It chose the knowledge economy.

Much has been achieved. In January 2007 Kagame informed fellow heads of state, at the 8th African Union summit, that the country had set its science and technology spending at 1.6 percent of GDP. This is comparable to the OECD countries. Other developments include the building of telecentres, computerisation of primary and secondary schools, a $10 million e-Government project and continued investment in the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST).

ICT has transformed Rwanda. The Economist recently reported that Rwanda is well on its way to achieving several of the Millennium Development Goals due to the impact ICT has had on this emerging economy. With substantial business process redesign, government support and focused leadership, Rwanda has demonstrated to East Africa that much can be accomplished when ICT is used as an engine for development. However this feat is not unique to Rwanda. It was achieved earlier by Mauritius where its ability to harness ICT has enabled it achieve one of the highest GDP per capita rates in Africa.