While it has a long way to go, Africa made big progress in connectivity last year. Spectrum was auctioned to carriers for 5G in South Africa, LEO satellite service agreements were signed, and underwater cables began to snake their way to the continent. In the coming year and thereafter, the continent will continue to become a more connected place to live.
One of the first highlights came in March when South Africa executed a successful 5G spectrum auction, selling 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz frequencies for nearly $980 million. Auction rules allowed second tier operators Rain, Telkom, Cell-C and Liquid Telecom to get low and mid-band spectrum, alongside their nationwide competitors MTN and Vodacom.
South African carrier Telkom launched 5G late in October, joining Vodacom, MTN and Rain with next gen networks. Before that, in May, Ethio Telecom launched 5G wireless service in Ethiopia. At the beginning of the year, Mascom Botswana launched its first 5G services in the capital, Gaborone. Other countries testing or deploying 5G, include Egypt, Gabon, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, according to Quartz. Cote d’Ivoire is expected to make the 5G spectrum available in 2023. But many countries face delays.
By sea, 2Africa announced that it will build a “transformative” subsea cable that will connect 23 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, partnering with China Mobile International, Facebook, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, stc, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC. Alcatel Submarine Networks will build the cable, which, at almost 23,000 miles long, will be one of the world’s largest subsea cable projects. Expected to go live late in 2023 or early 2024, the subsea cable will have a design capacity of up to 180 terabits per second on parts of the system.
By air, OneWeb’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet service will be provided by Q-KON Africa in countries across Africa to serve civilians and government agencies when it becomes available in 2023. Q-KON Africa is a specialist technology company that supplies broadband solutions based on satellite, wireless and VoIP technologies. It connects “off-grid” locations in South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland (eSwatini), Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique.
Internet of Things connectivity from space is coming to South Africa. Sateliot, a microsatellite operator, will offer 5G NB-IoT connectivity via satellite to 400,000 5G devices to be deployed by Streamline at the end of 2023, improving livestock management in out-of-coverage areas. Cellular IoT ear tag devices benefit traditional livestock management by allowing farmers to control the spread of contagious diseases and to track animals’ locations, preventing cattle theft.
Approximately 1.3 billion people live in the 54 countries on the continent of Africa, yet it has much less communications capability than the rest of the world. Progress is accomplished by fits and starts. But a study by Nokia predicts 5G will command 250 million subs by 2026 in the Middle East and Africa. That leads to opportunities for growth for foreign companies willing to take a local approach to wireless infrastructure growth. Currently five major tower companies operate 80,000 towers in Africa, with room to grow.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Tower Technology Editor
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