Information and communication technology diffusion issues in Sub-Sahara

As indicated in the 2009 World Economic Forum Report, Sub-Saharan nations seriously lag behind the rest of the world by a significant margin in information and communication technology (ICT) diffusion. In this paper, we present evidences to show that ICT as use in other parts of the world cannot deliver the expected benefits in Sub-Sahara nations simply because the ICT design and usage assumptions do not hold in these African nations. We postulate that creative modifications that take into account the conditions on ground in these nations are the prerequisites for successful adoption of ICT. In order to identify the inhibiting factors from the indigenes´ perspectives, we asked experienced Africans to identify the factors which were later ranked using Delphi method. Forty-eight participants ranked 23 ICT inhibiting factors. The top 12 inhibitors are analyzed in details and are grouped into four categories namely: infrastructure factors (#s 1, 11), economic factors (#2, 3, 7), adaptation factors (#s 4, 5, 6), and environment factors (#s 8, 9, 10, 12).