Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a term used to describe technologies in manipulating and communicating information. As telecommunication systems have evolved, they have increasingly used computing technology in switching nodes and then in non-switching nodes supporting services. With mobile telecommunications, the amount of information processing required to manage mobility and services has increased enormously and this has resulted in a tremendous increase in computer communications within the telecommunications environment.

        The parallel emergence of computer communications in science and business, the enormous increase in the capabilities and numbers of personal computers and the extraordinary changes brought about by the Internet have driven a merging of computing technology and telecommunications as the two areas have moved from analog to digital and then to packet technologies, and as the Internet has emerged to become the dominant data communications system in use today, whether as the “public Internet” or “managed Internet.”

         What started as a circuit-switched voice network has evolved to a packet switched data network. Initially, data was handled by making it look like voice (modems.) Now voice is handled by making it look like data (Voice over IP or VoIP.) While voice remains the dominant revenue generator, the shift to VoIP brings major challenges to telecommunications operators as they manage the enormous shifts taking place in the nature and volume of traffic they carry on their networks.

        ICT capabilities vary widely. In developed countries, they are widespread and sophisticated, while in developing countries, they may be less available and offer less capacity. Developing countries are catching up quickly by leapfrogging older generations of technology as well as creating solutions that suit the needs of their user communities. In some cases, the lack of a legacy infrastructure makes rapid modernization easier.

1.2     Statement of the Problem