C. Provide affordable access to compute capacity and Tools for AI
mation, there is a need to increase investments in data centers in the country capable to meet the high computing capacity demands brought by AI.
Computing power is a fundamental element to the research, development and use of AI. It is therefore of paramount importance to study and understand the country’s needs for AI comput- ing capacity needs in order to ensure that accessing computing power is not a barrier to AI research and innovation, commercialization and deployment of AI. Therefore, most of the African Governments have established tailored strategies to curb the needs of computing power capacity while ensuring the available resources are cost-ef- fective and affordable. These initiatives include developing government and private sector part- nerships to develop supercomputing centers to support AI innovation and research as well as pro- vide funding and financial incentives to allow eas- ier access to AI development tools and platforms and hence lower the barrier to entry for AI de- velopers and researchers in Africa. This includes software frameworks, libraries, and development kits for machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, and computer vision.
B. Improving network & connectivity for inclusivity to digital infrastructure for AI African countries have been adapting well to the evolution and adaptation of broadband technolo- gies for provision of high-speed internet services in their countries. Through their Government ini- tiatives towards extending broadband network connectivity to bridge the digital divide and en- hance usage of ICT and AI applications for sus- tainable socio-economic development marked a milestone through its establishment of the Na- tional ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB). For example, in Tanzania since 2009, the country is connected to the NICTBB and the plan is to ex- tend the NICTBB to the district level with a total of 15,000km by 2025. Currently the NICTBB has been extended to all twenty-six (26) regions and forty-three (43) out of one hundred and thirty-nine (139) district headquarters. The Government in- tends to increase connection to 99 districts by June, 2024. Tanzania also has the strategic posi- tion advantage geographically being surrounded by landlocked countries and therefore provided with an opportunity to provide submarine con- nectivity to the neighboring landlocked countries which are Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Malawi and The democratic Republic of Congo which can boost the investments in data centers as well. Through these initiatives the Government man- ages to provide access ICT services through the deployment of Communication infrastructure across the country hence bridging digital divide and eventually support learning AI and use of AI solutions in the country.
C. Promote Green-Energy powered Data Centers
Most of the African countries have unstable na- tional grids and respective environmental con- cerns that hinder substantial investments in the data center industry. To address the power issue, most of the African governments have created a regulatory and legal environment that supports data center providers to partner with Indepen- dent Power Producers (IPPs) and embraced alter- native energy sources to ensure sustainable pow- ered data centers.
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