6 | CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This paper describes a longitudinal study, starting in 2009, studying the role of rural Internet access points within the e‐government context in developing countries, with the focus on Tanzania in East Africa. While Internet cafés have been gradually decreasing drastically in number, or have changed into game centres, telecentres have become more important as information providers in poor and rural areas. As it appears from the cases described above, the supply and use of e‐government services from these PIAPs has, however, remained almost unchanged over the last 5 to 10 years and is still highly limited, if at all. The reason for this has several explanations, from both the supply side and the demand side, based on a number of factors.
From the supply side, we note that radio, an old and widespread technology, still is the most important information disseminator in rural Africa and that integrated solutions, based on the interaction between Internet and ICT, mobile phones, and radio are becoming increasingly important for bridging the digital divide. Simple systems based on robust technology that work in harsh conditions succeed. In our eagerness to promote new technology, the ICT community has had a tendency to forget or disregard the radio as a major information disseminator. Mr Ncheye, the manager of STC, reminded us of this, and he claimed that the radio addresses one of the biggest hindrances to information delivery to most of the rural areas in developing countries. InTanzania, radio is the most available technology in rural areas, where more than 90% of families have at least one radio at home. For STC, Radio Sengerema has been vital for information dissemination, as well as in creating awareness of the availability of the Sengerema Telecentre in the district.
