196. The major obstacle to satisfactory lone-run development of telecommunication services in Africa is the lack of skilled man­ power, especially trainee enfineers. Many African countries have less than 20 _rrofessional telecommunication enfineers in their entire national administrations, anc have little or no prospect of increasinr the number by local traininf facilities. Qualified ana experienced technicians are also in very short supply. Finally, the lack of qualifi e c professi anal personnel seriously hampers effective planning, maintenance, accountinf functions and administration of communications services. 197. Despite some progress in developinf rao1o and television facilities, the coverage and auality of broaocastinp services in the region remains very poor by world stancarcs. There are only 88 Table xv.r:.2 Indicators of telecoa.unications develo~nt (Data •• of 31 OeeeMDer lSSl) £lBO Ql, 9/1 -----------·------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~ Direct ellcbange a-Quantitity of telephone apparatueea liWii>er <>f direct ellchange linea per 100 population Nllllt>er of telephone apparatu•e• per 100 population I!IUIIIber of atafl per 10<1 linea ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Algeria 316 000 4St 000 l.U 2.45 J>ngola 46 !lOO 62 600 0.63 0.83 Benin 9 527 18 200 0.26 o.so Botftlana 11 100 1 g 400 1.35 2.37 Burundi 4 500 6490 0.10 0.14 81 C..pe Verde 3 153 3 553 o. 9fi LOB Central .!lfrican Republic 2 sao 5 roo o.u 0.26 763 O.ac! tlB 1 153 o.oz 0.03 216 Como roe 2 300 3 000 0.67 0.09 O;mgo 8 593 16 623 o.ss 1.06 151 Djibouti 24!10 5 884 1.47 2. 90 Egypt 41 r ooo 547 000 1.00 1.30 138 Equatorial Guinea 1 366 1 366 0.37 0.37 I:tbiopia 70 541 ~3 660 0.23 0.30 196 Gabon 11 200 14 '00 2.00 2.66 68 Gambia 1 9!11 3 744 0.32 0.61 Ghana 37 474 70 653 0.32 0.59 Guinea 7·300 10 750 0.14 0.21) 
**Analysis**
The text discusses the challenges and limitations of telecommunications development in Africa, specifically the lack of skilled manpower, qualified technicians, and adequate infrastructure. This suggests that the text is related to the development of a critical sector in a region, which is a common theme in the field of economic development.

**Category**
Transport and communication, Economic development