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Africa: Can Africa Attain Universal Internet Access By 2030?

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4 years ago

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Despite recent growth in internet connectivity, Africa lags behind other regions of the world. The World Bank hopes to enable the continent to achieve universal connectivity by 2030, but huge hurdles stand in the way.

Customers surrounded Samuel Dagblo, a young teacher who doubles as a mobile phone money transfer agent at Northern Ghana’s Yunyoo farming community.

In this rural part of Ghana — which recently gained access to cellular networks — people’s lives are being rapidly transformed by internet connectivity.

Previously, people had to make do with weak network signals and, in some cases, had to walk several kilometers just to make a phone call.

But a few weeks ago, authorities and telecom companies set up infrastructure to connect via a 4G broadband network.

“It’s making things now easy, whoever comes, maximum, one minute, you are done with that person, and the person can go,” Dagblo told DW.

“Unlike those days you can be on one person close to 10 minutes and getting to the end, the network will fail you, and you have to start all over again.”

Nearby, a group of young people sat under a cashew tree using their phones. One of them, Musah Nangode, said he felt very excited about this new connectivity.

“We did not have this privilege others were enjoying in other districts,” Nangode said, adding that they could not make calls, transact mobile money, or use WhatsApp and Twitter.

“We were just left out, which was a hell here,” Nangode told DW in an interview.

Broadening broadband

Ghana was among the first African countries to liberalize the telecommunications market in 1990. Two years later, the internet became accessible.

Today, nearly 70% of Ghana’s 30 million people are mobile subscribers, according to the National Communications Authority (NCA).

In 2004, Ghana enacted an internet accelerating development program, which included laying fiber-optic infrastructure. IT expert Amadu Samed Gaida said that connectivity is crucial for empowering Africa’s youth.

“That is where they will be able to learn beyond imagination,” Gaida said.

“If you deprive them of the internet, you are definitely not empowering them. You can give them money, you can give them water, you can give them anything, but they will still lack the knowledge to make use of whatever you are giving them,” Gaida told DW.

South Sudan’s internet woes

Whereas countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya boast impressive internet penetration, South Sudan has an internet penetration rate of only 8% — one of the lowest in the continent.

Moreover, mobile network coverage is feeble in Africa’s youngest nation.

The number of mobile phone connections in South Sudan was equivalent to 20% of the population, cccording to 2020 figures from datareportal.

“It is very difficult in South Sudan to get in touch with our family members because we have the internet in South Sudan but it is not all that fast,” Dedi Ezbon Samuel, a radio journalist in the capital Juba, told DW. “Even in some parts of the country, we find there is no internet.”

His frustrations are shared by Jimmy Alithum. The 45-year-old hardware businessman complained that the phone companies give way too little time on their data bundles.

“Sometimes when I am at home doing my research using my phone or my laptop, it is a little bit disturbing because you feel like the time given [by phone companies to browse] is not enough and you have spent a lot of money,” he told DW.

“Most people are doing business online and maybe there is a picture of a certain item that is on display, you want to view and so you click on it, It takes so long and if you are in a hurry you can not wait,” Jimmy said, adding that in the process you are losing a lot of bundles.

“The government needs to address the issue of higher taxes,” Robert Gama, an IT consultant based in Juba, told DW.

“Companies tend to incur a lot of money on taxes, they also spend a lot of money on taxes on the importation of equipment and logistics.”

Gama also highlighted the need to improve the country’s infrastructure, such as roads and railway, as a means of accelerating internet penetration.

“Besides that, the issue of insecurity tends to make a lot of losses for internet and telecom companies in this country,” he said.

South Sudan has been ravaged by internal power and ethnic strife since it gained independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011.

Billions needed to connect Africans

Over the past decade, African leaders working with various local and international partners have made great strides in making the internet accessible for 1.4 billion people.

But — with just 22% internet connectivity — the continent remains significantaly behind other world regions.

IT experts have long argued that the cost of data is too high for most people. In addition, lack of digital skills and literacy remains a stumbling block for many, particularly those living in rural areas.