Connected Cities: Are Breeding Grounds For Smart Cities

Free Wi-Fi for all provides Africa with the opportunity to develop ‘smart cities’ and compete on an equal footing.

- Thami Mtshali

As a man hailing from apart-heid-era Soweto where access to technology was the preserve of those from affluent suburbs, I never imagined that there would one day be a force that could be an equalizer for youth, business and city development, not only in South Africa, but for the rest of the continent.

This ingenious force is looming technological accessibility for all and the seeds that it sows for smart cities in our very near future.

By technological accessibility for all I am referring to the rollout of free WiFi, not only in Africa’s plush areas and developed cities, but also in its townships and in far flung rural towns which up until now have not been privy to this phenomenon.

And although the uptake and development of smart cities in Africa is still likely to lag a bit behind the developed world, these connected cities will one day provide breeding grounds for smart cities.

What is compelling is that this unwiring revolution looks set to be a leveller for Africa on the global stage if it is adopted more widely across the continent.

According to Ericsson’s Mobility Report (2015), Africa continues to lag behind the developed world with extremely low internet penetration even though the expectation is that mobile data traffic in the region will grow up to 15 times its current levels between 2015 and 2021.

South Africa’s average gigabytes domestic product (GGDP), which is the amount of information consumed by a nation in gigabytes per capita, sits at around 1 gigabyte per person per month, while the rest of the continent trails behind at roughly 0,1 gigabytes per person per month. This compared to South Korea, the global leader, at 60 gigabytes per person per month and the US, which sits at around 38 gigabytes per person per month. The global average currently sits at 27 gigabytes per person per month.