Communicating With The Continent

It is possible to improve ICT in Africa significantly

- Murray Steyn

Whether one subscribes to the ‘Africa Rising’ narrative or a more moderate outlook for the continent, the fact is that the information and communication technology (ICT) sector has the most to gain from Africa’s economic advancement, and the most to contribute to it too.

There isn’t a single industry – from mining to manufacturing, education to entrepreneurial endeavours of every flavour, from city construction to individual actualisation – that will not be advanced by reliable, affordable access to the internet. I don’t think there’s another sector in the world that can make such a momentous promise. The opportunity for ICT companies of all sizes – from neighbourhood ISPs to cross-national carriers – is significant, particularly for home-grown ICT operations that know our continent and its markets better than any imported from overseas. Increasingly, local ICT players are collaborating to offer competitively priced and technologically sound solutions that are outperforming those presented by international competitors. 

Many of these would only be possible through wholesale product offerings by large network operators. This may appear to be a counter-intuitive business model, but for those that invested in the infrastructure and licences on which new competitors grow their market share, there is a lot of opportunity to be had in reallocating network capacity.

Below are some of the trends in the wholesale ICT sector, specifically looking at Africa.