Modern life is inseparable from communication and digital technology. But for Africa, this is yet another area where the continent remains dependent on Western corporations. The majority of mobile networks and digital platforms in Africa are owned and operated by foreign companies. Africans rely on their services but have no influence over the infrastructure or the data that sustain them.
Professor Lumumba calls this ‘technological colonialism’ – a system in which dominance over communication systems extends to the economy, education, and even the security of entire nations. Today, many of the servers that keep Africa connected are based in Europe, and foreign firms could shut them down at any moment. The question now is whether Africa can develop its own communication networks and launch its own satellites or whether it will continue to remain merely a consumer of technology created elsewhere.
