Tech gathering aims to connect Africa’s next billion

Given the population of Africa standing at 1.4 billion according to Worldometer statistics, as of November 2022, this figure is expected to surpass 2 billion well within the next few years.

Because of this, industry stakeholders recognise the present day as the most significant ever to strategise toward connecting the continent’s next billion inhabitants.

Connecting Africa’s next billion is a topic being addressed as a sideline event to AfricaCom, the continent’s largest gathering of tech industry roleplayers and experts, which is now under way in Cape Town.

Keynote speaker for one of the discussions at the conference around the topic is Phila Dube, the chief commercial officer at Openserve, who told IOL that the majority of the world’s unconnected population is from Africa and Asia-Pacific.

“If we want to bring development into the South African space or even the African continent, we need to make sure that the aspect of connectivity grows within the continent,” Dube said.

He said that the significance behind AfricaCom in connecting the next billion Africans was that the conference saw a gathering of innovators, global tech leaders and new technologies, all of which contributed toward insight into how the object could be achieved.

“The adoption of communication technologies is key to further development in our country, and connectivity is the foundation of all communications and digital services,” Dube told IOL.

Openserve, which was recently lauded as the country’s most preferred fibre network provider in Analytico’s 2022 South African Fibre Network Operator Report, has embarked on a series of projects aimed at connecting SA’s unserviced.

Earlier this year, the company launched Openserve Web Connect for cheaper access to uncapped fibre for local users and Openserve Prepaid Connect, allowing customers to only pay for internet access as and when they needed to connect.

Dube said that offerings such as these, alongside Openserve's outreach programmes to upskill the youth in tech, were paramount to addressing hindrances plaguing the potential to become a fully connected continent.

“There are many hurdles faced to achieving a fully connected South Africa. Some of these lie on the shoulders of network providers, and others have to do with infrastructure costs coupled with the country’s power woes. However, it isn’t a question of access to technology, but rather how to reach the unserviced,” Dube told IOL.

While the internet, at present, is estimated to be worth trillions of US dollars globally, earlier this year, executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Vera Songwe, projected that the internet economy in Africa could be worth US$180 billion (R3 trillion) by 2025.

However, it isn't just networks waking up to the potential the internet could unlock for Africa, but the government as well.

In KwaZulu-Natal, with the province marred by recent civil unrest and the impact felt by April’s flood disaster, the provincial government is pinning hopes of economic recovery on a stronger push toward digitalisation.

KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube announced the Connected Smart Province Project launch. This long-term programme will be rolled out to the rest of KZN to digitise the local economy.

IOL Tech