'Digital divide' to lessen in Kenya
The "digital divide" between rich and poor countries could be measured not long ago by the amount of time it took for an e-mail to be sent from one neighbour to another--via Europe.
Kenya has lacked a fiber-optic backbone, local exchanges and other infrastructure components that internet surfers in the developed nations take for granted. Thanks to a regulatory overhaul that has been encouraging competition and infrastructure growth, things look good for Kenya now.
Diplomats and technology providers from around the world have pledged to reduce this technology gap between rich and poor countries during the ongoing World Summit on the Information Society.
Africans account for 3 percent of the world's Internet users, which has come up from 1 percent in 2001, according to U.N. figures.
Moreover, Kenyan businesses also host their websites abroad because of the exorbitant rates the service providers charge in Kenya. The future looks bright for the internet users in Kenya as the access costs are destined to decrease drastically when the undersea fiber cable linking Kenya with the rest of the world completes in 2007.
