Africa’s investment gap. Presentation by Mawethu Cawe The Chairperson of USAASA Board of Directors

Introduction World Internet Connectivity Map It depicts that Africa is lagging behind other continents in terms of internet connectivity.

Internet Penetration in Africa According to the Internet World Stats, Africa has 31,2% penetration rate of internet whilst the World Average penetration is 51,7% There are 388,376,491 estimated Internet users in Africa whereas the in the World there are 3,885, 567,619 and this comparison shows Africa has less Internet Users.

Internet Users in Africa According to the Internet World Stats, Africa has 388, 376, 491 estimated users with penetration rate of 31,2%, representing 10,0% of the total world Internet users. penetration rate of internet whilst the World Average penetration is 51,7%

Continental Connectivity Over the decade, Africa has experienced exponential growth in deployment of the undersea internet cables that connects Africa to the world : West Coast has 9 undersea cables East Coast has 6 undersea internet cables The rapid deployment of the undersea cables has seen connected Africa to the world and thereby providing competition in international bandwidth.

Continental Connectivity Africa has 91,182 km of Metro/FTTH/FTTB Fibre Network in Africa 52 African countries are now connected to submarine cables, either directly or by terrestrial cross-border fibre optic networks. 44% of Africans live within a 25-km reach of a fibre node. Africa’s inventory of terrestrial transmission networks has more than doubled in the last five years. As Africa’s total inventory of transmission network edges towards 1 million route kilometres, the continent had a total of 586,707-km of operational fibre optic network by December 2014 according to latest research by Africa Bandwidth Maps. This comprises of long-haul, metropolitan and FTTH/B (fibre-to-the-home/building) terrestrial fibre optic networks. Of this inventory of 586,707–km of operational terrestrial fibre, at least 91,182-km was within cities: metropolitan fibre rings and FTTH/B networks. The metro rings distribute bandwidth from fibre optic nodes to districts and suburbs around each city. The FTTH/B networks provide the last mile access, delivering the bandwidth right to the door.

Continental Connectivity Terrestrial Fibre Reaches 44% of Africa’s Population This network expansion has brought dozens of new towns, cities and countries within reach of high capacity national and international fibre backbone networks for the first time. Over the last five years, more than 150 million more Africans live within reach of fibre networks: By June 2014, 44% of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa (410 million) lived within a 25-km range of an operational fibre optic network node. This compared to 41.8% of the population (371 million) in 2013, 40.0% (345 million) in 2012, 36.3% (313 million) in 2011, and 30.8% (259 million) in 2010. The number of people within reach of a broadband service provided by fibre depends on the range of the fixed or wireless broadband access network used from the fibre node. In December 2014, 65.1% of the population (606 million people) lived within a 50-km range of an operational fibre optic network node. This distance of 50-km is the maximum theoretical range of a WiMAX network. 44.0% of the population (410 million) lived within a 25-km range, and 22.3% of the population (207 million) lived within a 10-km range of an operational fibre network node

Harmonization of Technical Standards and Regulatory Frameworks Currently, there are eight RECs recognised by the AU, each established under a separate regional treaty. They are: Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) East African Community (EAC) Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Southern African Development Community (SADC) These Regional bodies need to harmonize their technical standards and regulatory framework in ICT in order to create a bigger market in terms of investments and demand of the end user access devices. This will drive down the high price of access user devices and also the price of broadband services in Africa which are relatively higher than the World’s standards

Reasons to invest in Africa Infrastructure Africa’s infrastructure has improved over the past 10 years with new roads, airports, power plants and communication networks projects being planned and rolled out across the continent. Mobile Global mobile telecommunication companies that have taken the bold step of investing in the African mobile industry are reaping a high return on investment (ROI). Mobile Money Africa’s mobile transactions are spearheading the future of banking on the continent. Safaricom Kenya’s M-Pesa is currently dominating the East African mobile money landscape. Mobile Internet Africa has experienced a massive boom in mobile phone access with more than 500 million active mobile phones across the continent. Africa’s Mobile internet uptake continues to grow at an alarming rate, with Uganda, for example, having grown by about 15% in less than 2 years. The African continent is at the heart of the mobile revolution.

Reasons to invest in Africa E-Government e-Government has arrived in Africa and great progress has been made to fully implement projects such as sms gov services and setting up information kiosks at various community centres. In South Africa, some local municipalities are investing and rolling out their own broadband services in order to build countrywide digital cities. Most information from Africa’s government departments is disseminated to the public by using various e-Government platforms including web, and mobile devices. Broadband There’s been a significant progress in Africa’s broadband investments with high capacity broadband projects being rolled out across the continent. These include the EASSY submarine cable, with a capacity of 3.84 Terabit per second that links South Africa to East African countries, MAINONE cable that links Portugal to South Africa, SAT-3, with a capacity of 120Gbits/s that links Portugal and Spain to West African countries and South Africa, SAFE cable that links South Africa to Asia, and SEACOM, an African cable system that connects South and East Africa. The West Africa Cable System (WACS), a submarine cable with a capacity of 500GB, that links Southern Africa and Europe is set to double South Africa broadband capacity.

Reasons to invest in Africa E-Agriculture The use of mobile technology in African commercial farming is gaining momentum. Mobile phones are currently being used by farmers in various African countries to determine daily farm prices in local markets, , process orders and to issue warnings of an imminent drought or severe rain.. e-Agriculture has fast revolutionised communication between subsistence and commercial farmers. Energy This is not strictly ICT related but energy generation is one area we felt should not be left out of any discussion on investment opportunities in Africa A number of energy projects are currently underway in Africa, for example Eskom, a South African state energy provider is embarking on a R343 billion power generation drive that includes coal fired and nuclear power plants. A major discussion taking place is green technology/solar energy and how Africa can benefit from it. The African continent is endowed with energy resources but most of it remains untapped. Some African countries have invested in cross border power trade and are actively working to reduce carbon emissions.

Reasons to invest in Africa E-Health Care African Scientists and health professionals are using the latest technology to diagnose some of the continent’s most deadly diseases. For example Cellscope (a microscope attachment for cellular phones which is designed to allow field workers to take images of specimens and send them to an expert for diagnosis.)  is being used in Malawi to diagnose malaria, and there’s a demand for collaborative technologies that provide rural doctors with access to internationals experts during medical procedures in real time.