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Issue 5 2020 Édition 5 2020
Africa Afrique www.communicationsafrica.com
MOBILE DEVICES Kenya gets social with smartphones
Côte d'Ivoire All change for fixed and mobile Data centres Investing in Africa Smart cities Nigeria: Will Lagos welcome its new Wi-Fi network? Could smarter cities save lives?
features: ● New plans for subsea cables ● New ideas for fibre ● New opportunities for banks regular reports: ● Agenda ● Solutions S01 CAF 5 2020 Start_Layout 1 16/10/2020 07:43 Page 2 S01 CAF 5 2020 Start_Layout 1 16/10/2020 07:43 Page 3 CONTENTS Agenda 4 Quotes 6 Events 12 Solutions 32
FEATURES
Cover: A young boy films riders in the Mt. Kenya Epik cycling challenge Mobile financial services 16 race on a smartphone. Credit: MAKE African banks need to compete in the mobile payments space. A new report explains why – and how IT KENYA PHOTO / STUART PRICE. Handheld devices 17 Smartphone use among Kenyans is expanding beyond the country’s urban areas A note from the Editor Country focus 21 When this magazine first appeared – The telecommunications landscape is changing in Côte d’Ivoire – and both fixed and mobile communications will be affected nearly 30 years ago – concepts such as data centres, smartphones, mobile Subsea cables 23 payments and Wi-Fi were unknown. Angola Cables CEO António Nunes on the continuing relevance to Africa of subsea connectivity as data demand rises Once wireless communications and data storage took hold, conventional Data centres 24 wisdom suggested that Africa would The market for third party African data centres is attracting more interest than ever. Here’s why be a very limited market for most, if not all, of these innovations. But a Country focus 26 A new Wi-Fi-based initiative aims to deliver affordable, accessible internet connectivity to the citizens of Lagos quick glance at this issue of Communications Africa proves Satellites 28 otherwise. Smartphone usage is Enabling satellite communications for mining ships in Guinea growing, Wi-Fi is available in many countries (in this issue we report on a Terrestrial fibre 29 Wi-Fi project in Lagos) and data Why is almost one-tenth of the output of fibre not even making it to new networks? centres are appearing not just in South Africa but close to business Smart cities 31 areas in Uganda, Kenya, Senegal and Smart cities help local governments to deliver more efficient services. They could also save lives elsewhere. And as for mobile finance, East Africa has a good claim to having invented it. 24 29
Enabled by the ingenious pricing mechanisms and pent-up demand that have encouraged Africa to embrace these and other telecommunications innovations, who knows what could happen in the next 30 years? Overview of Africa’s data centre industry. Packing scrap and its impact on fibre lengths.
Editor: Vaughan O'Grady - [email protected] Assitant Editor: Abhishek Paul - [email protected] Editorial and Design team: Mariam Ahmad, Prashanth AP, Fyna Ashwath, Miriam Brtkova, Praveen CP, Manojkumar K, Nonalynka Nongrum, Unique Pattnaik, Abhishek Paul, Rahul Puthenveedu, Deblina Roy, Vinita Tiwari and Louise Waters Group Editor: Georgia Lewis Head Office: Middle East Regional Office: Alain Charles Publishing Ltd Alain Charles Middle East FZ-LLC Production: Srinidhi Chikkars, Swati Gupta, Eugenia Nelly Mendes and Arjun S University House Office L2-112, Loft Office 2, Email: [email protected] 11-13 Lower Grosvenor Place Entrance B, PO Box 502207 Publisher: Nick Fordham London SW1W 0EX, United Kingdom Dubai Media City, UAE Telephone: +44 20 7834 7676 Telephone: +971 4 448 9260 Edward Somgal - Tel: +91 88841 93373 Magazine Sales Manager: Fax: +44 20 7973 0076 Fax: +971 4 448 9261 Email: [email protected]
Country Representative Telephone Fax Email Subscriptions: [email protected] India Tanmay Mishra +91 98800 75908 [email protected] Chairman: Derek Fordham Nigeria Bola Olowo +234 8034349299 [email protected] Printed by: Buxton Press Printed in: October 2020 UAE Murshid Mustafa +971 4 448 9260 +971 4 448 9261 [email protected] Communications Africa/Afrique is a bi-monthly magazine USA Michael Tomashefsky +1 203 226 2882 +1 203 226 7447 [email protected] ISSN: 0962 3841
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AGENDA
Airtel selects Ericsson to modernise its 4G network in Kenya SuperSport acquires AIRTEL AFRICA IS expanding its strategic partnership broadcasting rights with Ericsson to enable 4G coverage in Kenya. With Ericsson Ericsson’s Radio Access Network (RAN) and packet MULTICHOICE GROUP (MCG) has
core products for 4G, Airtel subscribers can Photo: announced that its subsidiary experience enhanced quality of voice and data. SuperSport has acquired The network modernisation deal, signed in August exclusive rights to broadcast 2020, is in line with the 'Kenyan Digital Economy Ethiopian Premier League Blueprint Vision 2030’, which aims to provide matches. SuperSport adds connectivity in rural areas and facilitate e-commerce Ethiopia to its portfolio of platforms. The modernisation deal is expected to soccer properties, which simplifiy and upgrade the existing network while Ericsson plans to deploy Kathrein Mobile Communication includes the Zambian Premier future-proofing it for the anticipated and rapid antenna solutions to further strengthen Airtel’s network League and the Premier Soccer performance. expansion of mobile connectivity in the country. League (PSL) in South Africa. With Ericsson radio system and packet core implement this project and establish an advanced The Ethiopian Premier League solutions, Airtel Kenya’s network will have 4G LTE network in Kenya, providing Airtel’s customers is the top association football coverage, while driving enhanced use cases in both with an enriched experience – both in the consumer division in Ethiopia, and the consumer and the enterprise segments. Ericsson and business segments. Through this partnership, we comprises 16 clubs. Broadcasts technology will also get the network in Kenya ready for reaffirm our ambition to set ‘Africa in motion’ by of the Ethiopian Premier League 5G deployment. partnering with Airtel to grow and support an will be carried across sub- Prasanta Das Sarma, CEO at Airtel Kenya, said, increasingly digitalised society in Kenya.” Saharan Africa and the “Robust and secure communications are an essential As part of this project, Ericsson will deploy its adjacent islands. component of a digital society in Kenya. We are firmly Kathrein mobile communication antenna portfolio, This is an opportunity to anchored to the strategy of delivering reliable which will provide additional enhancements to the support Ethiopian football and connections across the country and are looking network. The technologically advanced network its fans, and to affirm MCG’s forward to expanding the high-quality mobile management system, Ericsson Network Manager, will commitment to investing in broadband services to our subscribers.” also be utilised to support Airtel in seamlessly Ethiopia and across the African Fadi Pharaon, president of Ericsson Middle East managing the network by integrating various network continent, the company said. and Africa, said, “Together with Airtel, we will elements into a single platform.
MTN partners with TIP for development Showmax adds five Kenyan channels to of communications transport infrastructure its streaming platform
MTN GROUP AND Telecom Infra Project (TIP) have joined forces to support the SHOWMAX SUBSCRIBERS IN Kenya can evolution of MTN’s communication transport infrastructure, which aims to get even more local and international become a platform for future revenue growth and profitability. content with five popular Kenyan Through the partnership, communication transport capacity will be deployed to entertainment and news channels support traffic growth over the next three years. In addition, it will provide support now available on streaming service Showmax Photo: for new services as part of the evolution of 5G and new enterprise services. It will Showmax, 24 hours a day. also reduce the time to market through more focused agile service provisioning. Showmax already streams some “Through the use of open protocols and interfaces, and the ability to of the most talked-about Kenyan incorporate specific innovations focused on the performance of each network series including Selina, Kina and component, TIP’s open disaggregated, standard-based transport networks can Njoro wa Uba as well as Hollywood The live channels will be available to help MTN move closer to its ideal transport infrastructure,” said David Hutton, movies, series, and kids’ content, not Showmax and Showmax Pro subscribers. TIP’s chief engineer. to mention live sport from SuperSport on Showmax Pro. Now Showmax has The TIP community, which aggregates members across the whole transport added a selection of live channels to its content catalogue. The channels include network value chain, is a vital tool for MTN to build its future transport K24 TV, KBC Channel 1, KTN Home, KTN News and NTV. infrastructure. To achieve the objective of increasing network efficiency, MTN The live channels will be available to Showmax and Showmax Pro subscribers, has identified a set of requirements named CASSI that will support its work by: including the mobile plans, and will be available on web and mobile devices, as Convergent and congestion free: Delivering on the capacity requirements from well as select Samsung and LG Smart TVs. all network access technologies, including the most demanding, like access to “With the addition of these live channels, Showmax offers Kenyans a one-stop fibre, next-generation radio systems, enterprise and consumer requirements. streaming destination featuring the best of international and Kenyan shows, Always on: Implementing a fully automated resilient transport network to movies and kids’ shows, the world’s best sport from SuperSport on our Pro plan support high availability as demanded by advanced digital services. and now, live streams of Kenya’s biggest channels,” said Yolisa Phahle, CEO of Scalable: Allowing for an easy / efficient capacity expansion, able to Connected Video at MultiChoice. accommodate fast-growing traffic demands at a lower cost. “We’re constantly working on new ways to improve the Showmax experience Simplified: Making use of standardised network configurations and open for our subscribers. Whether it’s M-Pesa payments or daily episodes of Maisha protocols to drive lower unit costs and increase capital expenditure efficiencies. Magic favourites like Selina, Kina and Kovu as well as weekly episodes of Sol Intelligent: Automation of the network operations by using software to optimise Family and Hullabaloo Estate, our local-first approach keeps our Kenyan network resource planning and management, achieving higher operational subscribers top of mind,” Yolisa Phahle added. efficiencies by enabling use cases such as smart planning, auto provisioning, Both Showmax and Showmax Pro are available on a mobile plan that is half network visualisation and forecasting and network slicing among others. the price and available to stream on mobile devices.
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STARZPLAY now Kenya Bankers Association, Huawei sign deal to promote financial inclusion and available across MENA Fintech ICT capacity THE KENYA BANKERS Association (KBA) has signed a STARZPLAY, THE SVOD service in the collaboration agreement with tech firm Huawei- MENA region, is now available Kenya that seeks to deepen financial inclusion in the across the region on the iPhone, banking sector through further deployment of iPad, Apple TV, iPod touch, Mac and technology and building fintech capacity. select Samsung and LG smart TVs In the partnership, KBA will work closely with through Apple TV channels on the Huawei-Kenya to spearhead industry-wide capacity- Apple TV app. building initiatives aimed at promoting knowledge The service offers on financial technology innovation, digital entertainment, including Hollywood transformation, and other ICT-related programmes
and Arabic movies, TV shows, Huawei Photo: in the banking industry. documentaries, kids’ entertainment Under the partnership, KBA and Huawei will also Under the agreement, the two organisations will and original content. organise financial ICT-related activities. aim to promote financial inclusion activities in line By signing up, users can enjoy a with the KBA Strategic Plan for the period 2020 to Research on Financial Markets and Policy. In this seven-day free trial in the UAE, 2023. Launched last year, the Plan seeks to promote regard, the collaboration will certainly augment Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, access to affordable financial services through tech- KBA’s and member banks’ knowledge base in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt and aided operational efficiency. engagements with diverse stakeholders from a fact- subscribe directly to STARZPLAY for Dr. Habil Olaka, CEO of KBA, said the cooperation based perspective,” Dr. Olaka added. US$11 per month on the Apple would go a long way in promoting the delivery of The partnership comes on the heels of the 2020 TV app. efficient banking services in Kenya through edition of the Huawei-KBA Online FSI Summit slated Subscribers can watch online knowledge-sharing programmes that will be for 30 September this year. on-demand or enjoy offline organised by the two institutions. Will Meng, CEO of Huawei-Kenya, said technology downloads. With family sharing, up “This partnership will further focus on research will remain a core driver towards enhancing to six friends or family members and knowledge-sharing activities, which will convenient access to financial services in light of can use their Apple ID and password supplement the research initiatives that continue to disruptive occurrences such as the ongoing to share Apple TV be spearheaded by the Association’s Centre for coronavirus pandemic. channel subscriptions.
The Africa Channel moves operations to Frost & Sullivan recognises Master Power for its cloud with Amagi data centre power solutions THE AFRICA CHANNEL has partnered FROST & SULLIVAN HAS recognised Master Power Technologies with with Amagi, a cloud-based TV the 2019 African Customer Value Leadership Award for its modular broadcasting and streaming data centre solutions that have the Universal Controller (UC), a technology provider, to streamline remote monitoring and management system, at their core, based on its entire broadcast workflow across its recent analysis of the African modular data centre market. cable, satellite and digital Jan Alexander/Pixabay In terms of power availability and quality, the UC is specifically
OTT services. Photo: designed to meet the needs of the local African market. This system “As we cater to both cable and The Africa Channel’s Amagi provides critical information on specific components and equipment streaming TV audiences, having two technology stack consists of that are affected by the power available in Africa. CLOUDPORT and THUNDERSTORM. different broadcast operations It aims to enable complete equipment integration on a single impacted our ability to scale and swiftly respond to rapidly changing platform and greater operational reliability, while reducing site viewer and platform preferences,” said Narendra Reddy, vice-president downtime through predictive failure monitoring. It also monitors and general manager, The Africa Channel. “Partnering with Amagi allows mechanical and electrical efficiencies and issues a warning if it us to leverage their deep technical integration with leading video service detects a decline in efficiency levels. platforms, enabling The Africa Channel to reach the underserved African “The UC will be pivotal in helping data centre operators improve diaspora audience worldwide.” reliability and efficiency, reduce energy costs, and achieve their The Africa Channel’s Amagi technology stack consists of CLOUDPORT, sustainability goals. It helps data centre operators swiftly detect the a cloud-based channel playout platform, and THUNDERSTORM, a Server- problem before it occurs, and identify the necessary skill set required Side Ad Insertion (SSAI) platform. Using a simple web UI, The Africa to rectify it,” said Gautham Gnanajothi, global research director. Channel moved all its content to Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud, “Master Power offers a strong pedigree of data centre expertise, generated playlists, schedules, added dynamic graphics and created equipping leading African organisations across multiple end-user broadcast-grade linear channels to be distributed to cable and verticals with best modular data centre products.” streaming TV platforms. The entire workflow can be managed from any The first one is called ‘BattSure’, which is a battery monitoring remote location, including 24x7 monitoring of broadcast operations. application designed to eliminate fire risks, downtime costs, and “As traditional broadcast TV networks expand to OTT and on-demand premature battery replacement. The other is the Triple Changeover formats, the ability to seamlessly unify both offerings is an important Management (TCO), which monitors utility power supply and controls success factor. By leveraging the right cloud and automation tools, TV the switching of the supply from utility to generator when it detects a networks can accrue the benefits of integration such as a streamlined break in utility supply. Furthermore, it monitors the status of the standby approach and lower costs,” said Srinivasan KA, co-founder, Amagi. generator and the number of restarts and time between the restarts.
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QUOTES
The partnership with MNOs need to secure new I have no doubt that Google to offer the sources of income to the KBA-Huawei “Sanza Touch safeguard their future.” “collaboration will play smartphone for sale will - Kostas Kastanis a significant role in our enable us to solve this collective efforts to Deputy CEO problem [of limited internet Upstream entrench technology in our use in Africa] thanks to its operations and sustain our affordable price and contribution to the national advanced functionalities.” Partnering with one of development agenda.’’ the world’s major “mobile groups such as Telenor helps us to scale our retail roaming services and improve operational efficiency, which is very important to cater for our corporate and leisure travellers in South Africa.” - Althon Beukes CEO of Telkom’s wholesale division Openserve (on a new managed roaming agreement) - Alioune Ndiaye - Dr Habil Olaka CEO The authority will CEO Orange Middle East and Africa Kenya Bankers Association make available 406 (on a partnership agreement with Huawei “MHz of spectrum for to promote technology-driven financial the provision of mobile inclusion) The partnership we are broadband services in launching with inwi South Africa.” “money will simplify the We are very excited to lives of this community as have Vodafone as our well as the lives of millions “telecom partner for of Moroccans who wish to OSN streaming in Egypt… receive money transfers We are committed to from Moroccans resident expanding our reach in abroad.” Egypt and our partnership - Dare Okoudjou with Vodafone is a great opportunity to grow our CEO and founder MFS Africa base and target high ARPU customers.” - Keabetswe Modimoeng - Zahra Zayat Mobile advertising is Chairperson Senior vice-president of telco, for the mobile industry ICASA digital and OTT (on confirming plans for South African 4G Entertainment network OSN “the VAS of tomorrow. and 5G spectrum auctions next year)
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QUOTES
This a crucial project purchasing habits of This business for us as it introduces consumers.” restructuring will “LTE in our networks - Cell C “enable Telkom to and allows us to bring new (statement after the South African operator sharpen its efficiencies, and innovative services to announced planned closures of up to 128 with respect to service stores) our subscribers.” provision and overall customer experience. It will We are proud of the also enable us to partner quality and scale bar more strategically with like- “we have set in the minded entities, for region and are scaling to example, in the be the de-facto digital data telecommunications, hub for West Africa.” technology and financial - Dr Ayotunde Coker services sectors.” Managing director Rack Centre (on a $100m expansion to create West Africa’s largest data centre)
- Kendall Ananyi This highly connected CEO location for PAIX Tizeti Nairobi-1 is an ideal (on plans for Nokia to provide the Nigerian “ company with an LTE fixed wireless access entry point into the Kenyan solution) data centre market. This will allow us to serve a diverse customer We set the goal of community, generating new launching an ambitious business opportunities for “technological - Mugo Kibati all connected businesses.” innovation every year… In CEO 2021, we will create our Telkom Kenya first Digital Village, a model that aims to reinvent connectivity in the We want to continue Mozambican countryside.” to support and fast- - Nuno Quelhas “track the digital Chairman of the board of economy drive of the directors Federal Government of Vodacom Mozambique Nigeria and this has led to the creation of a Digital Economy Department in the The retail environment Commission.” has changed, and this - Prof Umar Garba Danbatta has been fast-tracked - Wouter van Hulten “ Executive vice chairman by the impact of Covid-19 CEO PAIX Data Centres Nigerian Communications and the evolving Commission, NCC
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Trace, Molotov partner to develop OTT platform worldwide Facebook to open new TRACE (TRACE.TV), AN office in Lagos, Nigeria international media group dedicated to empowering and FACEBOOK HAS ANNOUNCED
entertaining African-urban people, that it will open its second has entrusted Molotov Solutions office on the African continent, with the development and in Lagos, Nigeria. operation of the new version of its The office, which is expected OTT platform, TracePlay. to become operational in H2 TracePlay will offer more than 2021, will house various teams, 25 live TV channels, 100 radio including sales, partnerships, channels and some 1,000 hours of Stock rolffimages/Adobe Photo: policy, communications and on-demand content using the Molotov’s technology will enable TracePlay to empower its audiences. engineers, serving the Molotov platform. urban culture seamlessly using: a Other features include multi- continent from across the The platform will be distributed video platform in the cloud with language, delinearisation of company. in 180 countries (a first for live, replay and on-demand; and a streaming programs, radio and Ime Archibong, Facebook’s Molotov), notably in Africa, complete back-office suite with podcasts, personality tracking, head of new product Europe, the Caribbean and North interface control, content watch list, in-app purchase and experimentation, said, “All and South America. It will be editorialisation, users and offers parental control. across Africa we see immense available in French, English and management, and data analysis. “The digital and non-linear talent in the tech ecosystem, Portuguese at the beginning of In addition, the solution offers a consumption of TV and radio and I’m proud that with the Q2 2021. flexible and robust API that channels and content continues to upcoming opening of our new TracePlay will benefit from the seamlessly interconnects with grow, especially among young and office, we’ll be building full application suite of Molotov third-party applications (CRM, urban audiences, who particularly products for the future of Africa, Solution, which has already analytics, payments) and telecom enjoy Trace. We chose Molotov and the rest of the world, with attracted some 12 million users in operators to promote Trace’s Solutions for the quality of its Africans at the helm. We look France. Molotov’s technology can content offerings on STBs and to technical platform and the forward to contributing further enable TracePlay to empower its propose an SSO login and carrier expertise of its team,” said Olivier to the African tech ecosystem.” audiences to connect with Afro- billing to users. Laouchez, CEO of Trace.
Crown Agents Bank and Vodacom Congo's Inmarsat joins forces with CPN and MinFarm subsidiary to facilitate mobile payments INMARSAT HAS COLLABORATED with CPN Satellite Services and MinFarm Tech to launch the MF 400 IoT Satellite Bridge incorporating Inmarsat’s CROWN AGENTS BANK Ltd has IsatData Pro (IDP) service. partnered with VodaCash SA, a The solution is expected to enable data from IoT sensors operating on subsidiary of Vodacom Congo, to LoRaWAN networks to be optimised for transmission over Inmarsat’s IDP facilitate international mobile service, which will bring much-needed additional connectivity to IoT payments in the Democratic Republic devices deployed in remote locations across a range of different sectors. of Congo (DRC) through the M-Pesa The success of a remote operation – such as dam monitoring or brand. Stock greenbutterfly/Adobe agricultural resource management – depends on having robust, reliable The partnership is set to allow Photo: Photo: equipment in place to do the job. IoT devices are having a significant VodaCash, through Crown Agents The collaboration allows Crown impact in this area, due to their ability to record and transfer data in a Bank, to assist international Agents Bank to extend its mobile way that reduces the need for expensive on-site visits and lowers overall development organisations (IDOs) to payments reach to 13.4mn of maintenance costs. further the transitioning of their Vodacom Congo’s subscribers. The MF 400 IoT Satellite Bridge offers organisations an off-the-shelf payments to recipients and vendors With 54% market share, M-Pesa is and ready-to-use solution to meet these challenges, simplifying the from cash to digital, enhancing aiming to ensure availability of float connectivity between sensor and application. Powered by a single 80W financial access, while at the same service to payment beneficiaries and solar panel and with battery backup capacity of two to three days, the time reducing costs and delays. a rich product ecosystem to device uses protocol optimisation to forward sensor payload traffic over Crown Agents Bank will integrate encourage customers to do more the high-latency, non-IP packet data satellite services of the its payment gateway with the digital transactions. Inmarsat IDP. VodaCash platform and services to “Being able to provide payments to Tara Maclachlan, vice-president of IoT, enterprise at Inmarsat, provide an easy and secure way for mobile wallets in the DRC is an commented, “IoT is already proving to be hugely influential in enabling IDOs, to pay individuals directly into important step towards financial effective remote operations across many different sectors, and we are their mobile wallets. inclusivity. Along with our well- continually focused on innovation with the objective of making our The relationship with VodaCash will established FX capabilities across the services even better.” give Crown Agents Bank greater continent, we are building out a suite According to Christian Nicolai, M2M and IoT consultant at CPN coverage across the country, drawing of payment services that allow us to Satellite Services, the MF 400 IoT Satellite Bridge will solve some of the on Vodacom Congo’s cellular network reach those who previously were major problems facing organisations operating IoT sensors in remote and VodaCash agent network. The unable to access financial services,” regions. Connecting these devices to Inmarsat satellite networks brings partnership marks the first in a series said Steve Marshall, chief commercial added reliability and resilience, with the guarantee that accurate data of planned integrations across Africa. officer at Crown Agents Bank. can be transmitted and received regardless of location.
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ITU, EIF partner to reduce the digital gender divide in Burundi, Somali remittance Ethiopia and Haiti services THE INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION Union (ITU) MONEY TRANSFER SERVICES has partnered with Enhanced company Juba Express and Integrated Framework (EIF) to payments company WorldRemit launch a cooperative project to have partnered to provide enhance the digital ecosystem and Somalis with the opportunity to build digital skills for women in receive money from family and Least Developed Countries (LDCs). friends in 40+ countries around The project will address the the globe, including the UK, the ongoing digital gender divide Morillo/Pexels Christina USA, Australia, New Zealand,
which has been widening in Photo: Canada and Europe. developing nations and the LDCs This partnership between ITU and EIF will result in vital policy support to The WorldRemit payment since 2013, while narrowing in ensure the sustainable expansion of ICTs. platform enables customers to developed regions. The proportion information and communication sustainable expansion of ICTs digitally send money to of women using the internet technologies (ICTs), and by where it is most needed and will Somalia 24/7 at their across Africa is 12% lower than the expanding the horizons of benefit women as they access and convenience. proportion of men; in African LDCs, thousands of women use ICTs to participate fully in their To benefit from this service, the disparity is widening to a gap entrepreneurs in sectors such as economies.” recipients do not need a of 31%. textiles and apparel, and the This joint project, a contribution smartphone and can collect The ITU and EIF will combine coffee and cocoa value chains. to the EQUALS Global Partnership their money at various Juba their resources to enhance efforts ITU secretary-general Houlin and part of the Power Trade Express cash pick-up locations to benefit women in Burundi, Zhao said, “More than ever before, initiative of the EIF, Empower across Somalia. Ethiopia and Haiti. This will be digital technology is a crucial Women, will help match supply According to the World Bank, achieved by building capacity at driver of women’s economic and demand on the job market around two million Somalis in the policy level, increasing opportunities. This partnership and facilitate women’s the diaspora send an estimated governments’ ability to between ITU and EIF will result in entrepreneurial activities through US$1.4bn in remittances mainstream gender and vital policy support to ensure the the use of ICTs. annually to Somalia.
Nokia to provide Tizeti with LTE FWA solution for African money transfer accelerates as World Bank high-speed internet services in Nigeria aims for full digitisation PAYSEND HAS CONTINUED to when compared with the pre- NOKIA HAS ANNOUNCED that it will wirelessly to the existing network to increase its digital coverage across pandemic norm. The hunger for supply Nigerian mobile operator Tizeti create a fast broadband connection Africa, in the wake of the World more digital coverage in Africa has with its Fastmile and Long Term and enhanced Wi-Fi experience in the Bank's plans to digitise the been recognised by the World Evolution (LTE) technology. home. The Nokia Network Services continent by 2030. Bank, which wants to take digital This partnership will enable Tizeti to Platform will help Tizeti to simplify Paysend will allow its two coverage in Africa from the 27% it provide superior internet services to operations and quickly respond to million users to send money to had in 2019 to 100% by 2030. more than one million subscribers in changing market demands. countries such as Benin, “Paysend has been present in Port Harcourt, Edo and Ogun in Nigeria. “We are confident that Nokia’s Madagascar, Malawi, Africa already some time in several Tizeti will deploy Nokia’s AirScale proven technology and expertise will Mozambique, Niger, Uganda and major countries like Ghana, Kenya, Base Station TDD-LTE and Fastmile help us differentiate our services based Zambia, thus bringing the total South Africa, as well as Nigeria, Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) gateways on quality. This a crucial project for us amount of countries to 18, which is one of the biggest to deliver premium internet and as it introduces LTE in our networks and covering 30% of the total market. receiving countries in the world,” virtual private network (VPN) services allows us to bring new and innovative The African continent has been Ronnie Millar, CEO of Paysend to residences as well as small and services to our subscribers,” said a strong example of nurturing said. “Paysend is focused on medium enterprises (SMEs). The Kendall Ananyi, CEO, Tizeti. strong digital payment building an even stronger solution will also enable Tizeti to “We are thrilled to work with Tizeti infrastructure in recent years – presence in Africa by opening deliver a more robust, high-speed on the initiative to upgrade its particularly in East Africa with the more relevant corridors, allowing internet service to subscribers and the network to bring the latest products growth of digital wallets – and the people to send money to more flexibility to seamlessly evolve to 5G and services to its subscribers. Nokia World Bank aims to go further over countries across the continent.” fixed wireless access when needed. Fastmile will help Tizeti to cost- the next decade with new Paysend will continue to drive Nokia’s FWA solution enables Tizeti effectively enhance the customer solutions, services and start-ups. digitisation in Africa over the to fast-track broadband access and experience. The project will also Despite the Covid-19 impact coming months by opening more provides a best-in-class broadband enable them to delight their across the continent, Africa has African corridors and allowing experience to its subscribers. Nokia’s subscribers by providing more shown a visible resilience as well more African expats to send AirScale Base Stations ensure high- reliable data services. On the other as a boost in digital growth as money home to friends and quality connectivity and coverage and hand, Tizeti will benefit by adding new more people have made the family digitally. enable Tizeti to evolve the network in revenue streams,” said Eniola switch to digital payments. In Paysend is a global Fintech line with customer demand. Campbell, head of customer business Rwanda, April 2020 saw five times company born in 2017, based in Nokia’s Fastmile gateways connect team – Nigeria, Nokia. the amount of digital payments the UK and authorised by the FCA.
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AGENDA
MTN Zambia signs a partnership with ZTE Datamatics expands to ZTE CORPORATION, AN ZXONE 9700 G2K system based on META region with international provider of mobile its in-house chipsets. Internet telecommunications, In addition, this system can Ingram Micro enterprise and consumer provide over 100 G wide DATAMATICS GLOBAL technology solutions, has signed a bandwidth and Optical Time SERVICES (DGSL), a partnership with the operator MTN Domain Reflectometer features. technology, BPM and Zambia to build a cross-border Bart Hofker, MTN Zambia CEO, intelligent automation and optical transmission network said, “In our pursuit to create a digital solutions company, has backbone in Zambia. digital global hub in Zambia, we announced that it has ZTE will use technology to build are happy to announce the expanded its strategic alliance an optical transmission network to construction of fibre connectivity with Ingram Micro in the connect Lusaka, the capital city of from Lusaka through Sesheke to META region. Zambia and the border of Namibia. Mongu, which will make Zambia a Photo: Chaitawat Pawapoowadon/Pixabay Pawapoowadon/Pixabay Chaitawat Photo: The distribution agreement By providing a large bandwidth to major transit point to international ZTE will provide MTN Zambia with an is for its intelligent automation the backbone network, ZTE aims to destinations.” industry-leading, customised optical products including, Datamatics break the bottleneck of “This partnership will help us transmission network solution. TruBot, TruCap+, TruBI and international egress traffic. provide stability on our network network. In addition, this TruAI. Teaming with Ingram In addition, this backbone and cheaper internet for our backbone network also has high Micro will provide Datamatics network will effectively reduce the customers to connect with family, scalability for future with access to Ingram Micro’s megabyte (MB) cost of accessing friends and colleagues,” he said. developments. vast network of technology internet data, greatly improving ZTE will also offer a full range of Dong Renjie, CEO of ZTE allies across the META region user experience and increasing devices with large bandwidth (up Zambia, said, “We will be and Tier 2 and 3 locations. economic benefits. to 1T/slot), low power committed to working with MTN Ingram Micro delivers a As a reliable partner of MTN consumption and small size to Zambia to promote the upgrade of full spectrum of global Zambia, ZTE will provide MTN fully meet MTN Zambia’s high its networks and build the most technology and supply chain Zambia with an industry-leading, availability, high reliability and advanced and leading digital services to businesses around customised optical transmission high integration requirements for communication network the world. network solution using ZTE’s the next-generation carrier in Zambia.”
South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria saw 28 millions of Epsilon, BCX partner to provide global data centre cyber attacks in 2020: Kaspersky interconnection for African enterprises KASPERSKY SECURITY SOLUTIONS They also eventually reach more users: Epsilon, a provider of connectivity and communications services, has reported that there were 28 million for example, while in South Africa, partnered with Business Connection (BCX), one of South Africa’s leading malware attacks in South Africa, 415,000 users would be attacked by technology companies, to deliver high-performance data centre Kenya and Nigeria in 2020 and 102 malware in the seven-month period of interconnection (DCI) services to African businesses. million detections of potentially 2020, the PUA figure would be 736,000. BCX uses Epsilon’s Network as a Service (NaaS) platform Infiny for unwanted programmes (PUAs). “The reason why ‘grey zone’ seamless global connectivity and managing network services from a These numbers show that it’s not software is growing in popularity is single portal. just the malware that attacks users, that it is harder to notice at first and The partnership will enable BCX’s enterprise customers across South but also the “grey zone” programmes that if the program is detected, its Africa, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Zambia and Tanzania to that grow in popularity and disrupt creators won’t be considered to be connect seamlessly to data centres around the globe. BCX is their experience, while users may not cybercriminals. The problem with headquartered in six African countries. It delivers its managed services even know that they are there. them is that users are not always to customers across the financial, retail, mining, manufacturing, Potentially unwanted applications aware they consented to the healthcare and government sectors. are programmes that are not usually installation of such programs on their “BCX can rapidly spin-up connections to multiple data centres across considered to be malicious on their device and that, in some cases, such continents from a single portal. This also gives its customers the ability own. In general, however, they programmes are exploited or used as a to interconnect cloud services and other networks on our network fabric. influence user experience in a disguise for malware downloads,” said It is an exciting time to be connecting African businesses, and we’re negative way. For example, the report Denis Parinov, a security researcher proud to deliver new global reach on demand,” said Michel Robert, said, adware fills user devices with at Kaspersky. CEO at Epsilon. ads; aggressive monetising software By looking more closely at PUA, it With Epsilon’s DCI solution, BCX can link its presence in spreads unsolicited paid offers; and becomes apparent that they are not Johannesburg with data centres in Europe, a major market outside downloaders can download even more only more widespread but also more Africa. In addition, BCX has access to Epsilon’s extensive network of different apps on the device, powerful than traditional malware. 220+ data centres and an ecosystem of global cloud providers, internet sometimes malicious ones. Evaluating results over the same exchanges and other networks. Using the NaaS model, it is easy for BCX While calculating the interim results seven-month period in Nigeria, there to scale its services up or down to meet customer demand and of threat landscape activity in African were 3.8 million malware attacks and business needs. countries, researchers have noted that 16.8 million PUA detections. Kenyan Epsilon’s DCI solution is offered through Infiny. The platform also PUAs attack users almost four times and South African threat landscapes offers a range of MEF-certified ethernet services, such as cloud connect more often than traditional malware. have become more intense. and remote peering, with flexible terms and scalable bandwidth options.
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AGENDA
Accelerating payment Rack Centre to create West Africa’s largest data centre digitisation in East RACK CENTRE, A leading carrier- brings over 1300MW of build and Africa neutral data centre operator in West operate experience, to assist with Africa, has announced an expansion hyper-scale expansion. UNIONPAY INTERNATIONAL (UPI) programme to increase capacity to a Dr Ayotunde Coker, managing AND Interswitch East Africa (Kenya) total net lettable white space of 6000 director of Rack Centre, said, “Mass Limited have announced their sq m and allow 13 MW of IT capacity on adoption of digital working models partnership, confirming that its Lagos campus. and content distribution is driving Interswitch has become a third Ebu/Pixabay Ugochukwu Photo: This will be in addition to the current The design of Rack Centre’s Phase 2 growing investment in the region and party service provider (TPSP) for expansion already underway in early facility will target regional industry- Rack Centre offers a world-class UnionPay International in East 2021, doubling existing capacity to leading Power Utilisation Efficiency location to house these IT and Africa. The partnership supports a (PUE) benchmarks. 1.5MW and 1,200 sq m of white space. telecoms facilities.” vision and mission that enables The expansion will bring unprecedented ICT infrastructure. With the data demands ever- further payment digitisation across carrier-neutral scale to West Africa and In addition to Rack Centre, the increasing, the design of Rack Centre’s the continent, enabling cardholders is in response to increasing demand for platform is also actively developing Phase 2 facility will target regional and traders across the region to data centre space from cloud uptake, additional buying and building industry-leading Power Utilisation operate seamlessly and investment in telecommunications and opportunities across Africa to establish Efficiency (PUE) benchmarks. It will conveniently across various IT facilities outsourcing by companies a network of carrier-neutral data contribute in particular to achieving platforms across the global UPI in the region. centres aimed at catering to the carrier, Sustainable Development Goals for network. Actis, a private equity firm in cloud and hyper-scale customers. affordable and clean energy, industry The agreement with Interswitch London, announced an investment in Tim Parsonson, the co-founder of innovation and infrastructure and will facilitate UnionPay card Rack Centre, taking a controlling stake Teraco Data Environments, a neutral climate action. Rack Centre is working acceptance across ATMs, points of in the business alongside Jagal, in carrier operator in Africa, joins the on various initiatives by green data sale, QR payments and online March 2020. Funding for this Board as chairperson. The platform centres to set other benchmarks in the payments, thereby consolidating expansion will come from a US$250mn has also engaged Frank Hassett, a landscape of the African data centre. the existing partnership with pan-African data centre platform veteran of the global data centre Supporting this ambition, engineering Interswitch in West Africa, helping created by Actis and Convergence industry and previous vice-president consultancy Arup has been appointed to drive wider acceptance on Partners, a leading investor in Africa’s of infrastructure at Equinix, who for the project. the continent.
Eutelsat, Paratus bring network USTDA expands support for internet connectivity connectivity to South Africa in Nigeria SATELLITE OPERATOR EUTELSAT THE US TRADE and Development Agency (USTDA) has continued its Communications and telecom 20-year support for Nigeria’s telecom sector by funding two projects company Paratus have signed a that will help deliver fast and reliable internet services to thousands multi-year distribution agreement to of Nigerian households using US technology solutions. bring high-quality network Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard, US ambassador to Nigeria, said, connectivity to South Africa. Donald Giannatti/Unsplash “These projects will support the development of Nigeria’s telecoms
Paratus will leverage the Photo: infrastructure and help to achieve the goals of the National operational flexibility and power of Paratus offers packages of 10, 20 Broadband Plan. The US government has committed significant EUTELSAT KONNECT, the new and 30Mbps, with 24/7 technical resources to improve telecoms infrastructure in Nigeria, and this generation high-performance support. support is crucial as we believe that investment in critical ICT projects satellite, to bring connectivity to remote and rural locations across South will strengthen the resiliency outlined in Nigeria’s economic Africa to businesses operating in farming, game farms and small and sustainability plan.” Specifically, USTDA has committed funding for a medium-sized enterprises, and consumers, for homework, feasibility study to help ipNX Nigeria Limited expand its fibre optic homeschooling and general internet use. network to more than 200,000 homes in Lagos and other locations, Launched at the beginning of September 2020, Paratus’ offers are including Abuja and Port Harcourt. The study will be conducted by already experiencing a high level of demand, based on packages of 10, North Carolina-based CCG Consulting. 20 and 30 mbps, with 24/7 technical support, and operating with small, Bimpe Olaleye, ipNX group executive director, commercials, stated, cost-efficient dishes, highlighting the strong need for high-speed “This expansion will see us meet our strategic intent of being the connectivity in remote regions. bedrock of the Nigerian ICT ecosystem by providing solutions that Kallie Carlsen, managing director, Paratus South Africa, said, “Getting help mankind thrive.” connectivity in remote locations is not easy; while the price is crucial to USTDA also committed funding for a study to help Aldreda Fields attracting customers, the quality of network – both connection and Ltd develop aerially installed broadband networks to connect support – quickly proves more important. There is too often a disconnect multiple neighbourhoods across Lagos to broadband infrastructure. between customer expectations and the delivery of service. With the The study will be conducted by S2 Associates International LLC based partnership between Paratus and Eutelsat, we aim to overcome these in New Jersey. boundaries and provide superior services for South Africa.” Adebisi Adebutu, Aldreda managing director, commented, Guido Merien-van Sprundel, sales director, southern Africa, of “Aldreda Fields is delighted to partner with USTDA in the Eutelsat, added, “This agreement reflects the significant demand on the development of a metro broadband and fibre infrastructure-as-a- African continent and the unparalleled assets of the EUTELSAT KONNECT service in Nigeria to deliver available, accessible and affordable high- satellite in enabling it to be efficiently met.” speed connectivity for all.”
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EVENT PREVIEW Submarine Networks World
Submarine schemes take centre stage (virtually) In the year when plans were announced to build the most comprehensive subsea cable ever to serve the African continent and Middle East region, one would expect the world’s leading annual submarine communications gathering to attract even more interest than usual from Africa. In fact, as Vaughan O’Grady points out, there is a lot of African activity to discuss at Submarine Networks World – even if the discussions will mainly be online.
HERE’S BEEN NO shortage of plans to link Africa to other parts of T the world via submarine networks over the past year. In May, of course, we saw the biggest of the lot: China Mobile International, Facebook, MTN Global Connect, Orange, stc, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC announced that they were partnering to build 2Africa, which will be the most comprehensive subsea cable ever to serve the African continent and Middle East region.
The parties have appointed Stock Adobe Alcatel Submarine Networks to build the cable in a fully funded Photo: Praia, Cape Verde: soon to have a high-capacity link with mainland Africa. project which, they said, will greatly enhance connectivity DARE 1 becomes the fifth South Africa, with branches This is the leading global event across Africa and the Middle East. undersea cable broadband planned in Nigeria and – in the industry’s annual calendar, At 37,000km long, 2Africa will infrastructure to link Kenya with potentially – other African one that expects to attract more be one of the world’s largest the rest of the world after the countries. than 75 expert speakers, and over subsea cable projects and will landing of SEACOM, East African Due to be in operation by 2021 1,000 key decision-makers from interconnect Europe (eastward via Marine Cable System, Eastern and laid by Alcatel Submarine across 65 countries. Egypt), the Middle East (via Saudi African Submarine Cable System Networks, this is Google’s third Not surprisingly it describes Arabia), and 21 landings in 16 (EASsy) and the Madagascar- private cable. All told, Google now itself as an event not to be missed countries in Africa. linked Lion2. has 14 investments in if you are in the subsea However, that was not the only In January Nokia announced international cables including communications business – and big news. Last April Huawei that Angola Cables was trialling joint ventures. the statistics back this up. With Marine Networks announced what Nokia’s Photonic Service Engine 3 And of course, some news global submarine cable capacity it called the kick-off of the Senegal (PSE-3) chipset for the first direct headlines reminded us that these forecast to grow by 143% by 2022, Horn of Africa Regional Express optical connection between the things don’t always go smoothly. the role of the undersea network (SHARE) cable. The system, as the USA and Africa. The route provides This year Ethiopia, Sudan and has clearly evolved into first high-capacity direct link from direct, low-latency trans-Atlantic Tanzania were affected by cable mission-critical infrastructure, the African continent to the routing and greatly simplifies the cuts to the FLAG Alcatel-Lucent supporting today’s fast-paced offshore islands of Cape Verde, is turn-up of services to better serve Optical Network (FALCON) global economy. expected to be completed in rapidly growing data consumption undersea cable off Yemen, while However, as the event Q1 2021. markets in Africa. breaks on both the SAT-3/WASC organisers point out, with A little earlier, in March, there That’s far from all. There’s also and WACS cable systems affected connectivity and bandwidth needs was also news of the landing of SACS (South Atlantic Cable connectivity on the African growing exponentially, demand East Africa’s largest submarine System), owned and managed by continent. All of which will no for low latency, greater capacity cable, Djibouti Africa Regional Angola Cables, which operates doubt contribute to at least some and more flexible networks Express (also known as DARE 1). between Fortaleza, Brazil, and of the conversations at the world’s continues to escalate. Meeting The 4,000-kilometre fibre optic Luanda, Angola – and even leading annual submarine this challenge will require agility, cable which has landed in Nyali, internet giant Google is getting in communications gathering. The scalability and innovation. Hence Mombasa City, is further expected on the act. It announced a new 23rd annual Submarine Networks Submarine Networks World’s role to enhance high broadband private submarine cable between World is this year being held not only as the world’s largest connectivity in the region, Africa and Europe. Called Equiano, virtually from 3 - 5 annual gathering of the global delivering 36 terabytes of data. it will initially link Portugal to November 2020. subsea communications
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Submarine Networks World AGENDA
Events/Événements 2020 OCTOBER/OCTOBRE 27-28 Telecoms World Asia Virtual www.terrapinn.com/virtual/telecoms-world-asia/ NOVEMBER/NOVEMBRE 9-10 CABSAT Virtual www.cabsat.com
10-12 AfricaCom Virtual https://tmt.knect365.com/africacom/
22-25 CAIRO ICT Cairo, Egypt www.cairoict.com DECEMBER/DÉCEMBRE 2-3 Wireless China Summit Beijing, China www.wirelesschina-summit.com FEBRUARY/FÉVRIER 2021 3-4 Future Datacentres and Dubai, UAE www.expotradeglobal.com/events/futuredatacentre Cloud Infrastructure Summit
17-18 Smart Data Summit Dubai, UAE www.expotradeglobal.com/events/smartdatasummit MARCH/MARS 2021 9-10 INTERNET WORLD EXPO Munich, Germany www.internetworld-expo.de
18-19 Blockchain Africa Conference Johannesburg, South Africa www.blockchainafrica.co
24-25 CLOUD EXPO EUROPE London, UK www.cloudexpoeurope.com APRIL/AVRIL 2021 5-7 COMEX Muscat, Oman www.comex.om/2020/
12-16 HANNOVER MESSE Hannover, Germany www.hannovermesse.de/en
Mendes, VP sales, Angola Cables, and Mustafa Burai, wholesale and carrier relation senior manager, Sudatel Telecom Group, will be among the other speakers with African links that you can hear from – virtually – this year. They will be joined by many other experts from such well- known names as Bharti Airtel (India), HAWAIKI (New Zealand), Orange France, GlobeNet (United States), Telstra Hong Kong, China Mobile International Ltd, Orient Link (Japan), EllaLink (Ireland), Bulk Infrastructure (Norway) and Photo: Adobe Stock Adobe Photo: Datawave Networks Ltd (United The way forward for Africa’s international communications. Kingdom), to name only a very few community, but as a dedicated Consortium Approach that Works will be among those discussing it. of an exceptionally diverse platform to exchange knowledge, includes Farhan Mohamed Bouh, Among the cable projects being line-up. explore the latest projects and strategic lead of Djibouti Telecom, presented is one from Mohamed You can find out more at the develop strategies and lucrative who will also be discussing O&M El Dahshory, director, global Submarine Networks World 2020 new partnerships to drive the in ‘the hottest country in the world’ projects & submarine cable website or, if you miss the show, industry forward. during an Operations and development, Telecom Egypt. there will no doubt be an So what is being discussed? A Maintenance session on And, inevitably, there will be a opportunity to catch up virtually quick glance at the schedule challenging environments. look at 2Africa Cable, this time too. brings up a panel on Getting O&M Assessing cable upgrades is from Ricardo Orcero of the As for finding your way to the Right, one of whose participants another important topic and it’s submarine cables division of event – for once that’s relatively will be Kebaso George Mokogi, no surprise perhaps that Funke Facebook. easy. As the publicity material managing director, Telkom Kenya Opeke, chief executive officer, Chris Wood, chief executive says, it’s coming to you live – Limited, while a session entitled A Main One Cable Company Nigeria, officer, WIOCC Kenya, Artur wherever you are. ✆
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IATF2021 Trade and technology
Harnessing digital technology to drive African trade Digital technologies will be playing an increasing role in the expansion of trade in the coming years. Ambassador Abdelmoniem Mahmoud, IATF2021 ambassador, explains how this will happen – and how capitalising on an array of digital technologies will benefit African trade in particular.
FRICA MUST CAPITALISE on the array of digital technologies that are Aintegrating all areas of organisations and their business processes, altering payment systems, and optimising storage and the delivery of goods and services. Technologies are transforming value chains, delivering skills development, introducing efficiencies and lowering production costs, assisting diversification into value-added products, changing the dynamics of commodity dependence, expanding trade and increasing export competitiveness. When implemented, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will, in tandem with other favourable economic and demographic factors, turbocharge Digitisation has empowered P2P, B2P and intra-African trade, despite Africa Afreximbank B2B ecommerce transactions globally. facing many demanding challenges. However, significant Photo: investments are needed to close consumer, it is progressively document processing, enable documentation, as well as the physical and digital shifting shopping habits from just-in-time storage, inventory and reducing cross-border payment infrastructure gap. This has been ‘bricks’ to ‘clicks’. This delivery routes, track shipments in costs. The World Trade exacerbated by the Covid-19 behavioural shift has been real time, reduce delivery times Organization has estimated that – pandemic, whose full impact is as accelerated by the Covid-19 and enable electronic systems to if trade costs decline, yet unknown, and dealing with the pandemic and the associated decrease the time taken for complementary policies are put in devastating social and economic preventative requirements for customs compliance. place and technological diffusion scars that it has created. social distancing, which are Some ports have already and regulatory challenges are Digital platforms have become actively encouraging the safety of introduced automated cranes and addressed – developing the marketplace of the 21st remote and contactless digital guided vehicles to load and stack. countries’ share of global trade century and are facilitating trade in transactions. How long will it be until we see could grow from 46% in 2015 to goods and services, whether Blockchain, digital platforms fleets of self-driving delivery trucks 57% by 2030. Africa must position delivered physically or digitally. In and the Internet of Things are from Dakar to Djibouti and from itself to be the major beneficiary. terms of connectivity, they are the continually decreasing trade costs Algiers to Cape Town? Technology is also beneficially springboard for trade connectivity by connecting buyers and sellers The application of blockchain impacting manufacturing and with prospective customers, both directly and lowering the costs of technology is also driving easier productivity. Digital technologies across the African continent and marketing, sales, transportation and faster processing of trade are driving diversification, globally. In addition, companies and storage. They automate finance and insurance integration into production are increasingly refining their networks and movement into sales techniques by harnessing more sophisticated products. They artificial intelligence and big data Digital technologies are driving are also increasing Africa’s market to profile customers and adapt diversification, integration into production access and participation in global their products accordingly. value chains. By way of example, Digitisation has empowered networks and movement into more Megh Industries in Kenya has P2P, B2P and B2B ecommerce sophisticated products. invested heavily in modern transactions globally and, for the technologies and moved from the
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Trade and technology IATF2021
manufacturing of automotive commodity exchange on equipment and parts to full blockchain, while trade in African transport seating, van conversions agricultural products and its other and lightweight modular bullet- commodities could benefit proofing, making it more considerably from the creation of a sophisticated and value-added in pan-African commodity exchange. nature. The use of market-related Digitisation is delivering data for product design and opportunities, but African development is helping firms to countries face challenging enter new sectors. handicaps necessitating catch-up. The extent to which 3D printing Their level of digitisation is lower can eventually replace mass compared to more developed manufacturing and reduce countries and, where it exists, it is production time and cost remains having a lesser impact on GDP per the subject of debate, but it is capita growth. There are also
already making inroads into concerns that it is causing de- Afreximbank Photo: Regional economic organisations also have a big part to play in increasing products such as medical devices, industrialisation in African intra-African trade. shoes and toys. countries, with the share of Parts of Africa’s agricultural manufacturing value-added in GDP repository, which has filled an expands market access and trade sector already embrace digital declining by 4% from 2000 to 2016. information gap by serving as a and investment opportunities. technology (AgTech), but it needs African governments must primary and single source of data Make no mistake, digital significantly wider take-up and encourage foreign and domestic collection for due diligence on technologies will be playing an further advancement. Africa has investors with policies and African corporates, SMEs, increasing role in the expansion of 60% of the world’s uncultivated environments to encourage financial institutions and African trade, so we must ensure that arable land, yet it is still a net investments in sustainable investment information. Africa is at the forefront. To do this importer of food. Also, despite projects and trade-boosting The second biennial Intra- it is vital that Africa prioritises its over 60% of sub-Saharan Africa’s developments that will drive the African Trade Fair (IATF2020) is transition towards a digital population being smallholder economic development and being held in Kigali, Rwanda, from economy, as it is an enabler for the farmers, only 23% of the region’s prosperity of the continent. There 1 to 7 September 2020. Owing to continent to expand intra- and GDP comes from agriculture, is also a responsibility for the Covid-19 pandemic, it will now extra-African trade and take full reflecting the preponderance of governments to ensure that digital be a virtual trade fair: an online advantage of the economies of subsistence-level farming. trade continues to drive inclusive platform to enable buyers and scale proffered by the AfCFTA. ✆ Together, this issue, along with economic development, but they sellers to network, exchange trade challenges such as lack of seeds, are likely to need international and market information, Ambassador Abdelmoniem fertilisers, farming mechanisation, cooperation to do so. In addition, showcase their products and Mahmoud is an IATF2021 irrigation systems and storage multilateral financial institutions services to new markets and ambassador facilities, and the failure to and export credit agencies must conclude contracts – even after effectively aggregate farmers’ play a pivotal role in facilitating IATF2020 has ended. The event is Over 10,000 buyers, sellers and produce through cooperatives for projects and trade development in predicted to result in US$40 conference delegates are marketing and to increase sales Africa. billion of African trade and expected to attend the second prices, all act as major constraints Regional economic investment deals being signed. Intra-African Trade Fair in Kigali to productivity and trade growth. organisations also have a big part Digital transformation is a from 6 to 12 September 2021. These issues need addressing to play in increasing intra-African general-purpose technology that The Fair is designed to drive – but AgTech could also help in trade. For example, ECOWAS’s continually evolves, branches out intra-African trade and to support other areas. Farm Africa in long-envisioned monetary and and increases productivity and the implementation of the Tanzania has farming apps that currency union and adoption of its efficiency, regardless of industry African Continental Free Trade ease access to farm inputs and single currency (ECO) should help or sector. It will increase the Agreement. It will provide a provide best practice advice for harmonise trade regimes and capacity, range and delivery of platform for sharing trade, crop growth. Uganda’s significantly boost trade and trade, lower cost-to-serve and investment and market AgroMarketDay app allows investment flows. hasten speed-to-market, while information and will enable more farmers to upload pictures of their There are other digital digitally connecting customers – than 1,000 exhibitors to produce, which is then auctioned initiatives that are facilitating and wherever they are. It also showcase their goods and to the highest bidder. The African increasing intra-African trade, accelerates diversification, services to buyers, sellers and Open Data Initiative collects big such as Afreximbank’s MANSA revolutionises payments, and investors from over 50 countries, data to optimise decision making allowing them to meet, discuss and create reliable insurance and Blockchain, digital platforms and the and conclude business deals. climate risk management IATF2021 is a joint initiative products. Data-capturing devices, Internet of Things are continually between Afreximbank and the such as sensors and video decreasing trade costs by connecting African Union and is being imaging, can collect geo-spatial hosted by the Government of data to create customised farmer buyers and sellers directly and lowering the Rwanda. For further information details for marketing and sales costs of marketing, sales, transportation about IATF2021 please visit: purposes. Africa also hosts https://www.intrafricantradefair. Binkabi, the world’s first and storage. com/
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MOBILE FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking
Why African banks should be more like African operators Can banks compete in the African mobile payments space? Can they afford not to? Tijsbert Creemers, managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group Johannesburg, tells Ron Murphy why – and how – banks need to provide mobile payment services.
NEW REPORT* by relying less on high fees paid by RELEASED by Boston affluent customers for banking Consulting Group services and transactions and A(BCG), suggests that more on a broader revenue base banks in Africa must provide with a wider range of services, onsulting Group mobile payments and other more customers, and ecosystem digital services to support. The bank may also have Boston C Boston remain competitive. to provide a distinctive customer
As Tijsbert Creemers, managing Photo: experience on mobile devices. director and partner at Boston The third approach for large Consulting Group Johannesburg, banks is the back-office champion points out, so far mobile strategy. Here the bank provides payments have been most the services and support needed successfully operated by on the back-end of other telecommunications companies: companies’ ecosystems. A bank in Safaricom/MPESA, MTN and this category uses other banks’ Orange have led the way in Africa. brands to develop the scale it Banks have followed by creating needs to reach retail customers mobile wallets and mobile and plugs into application payment solutions, but at a much programming interfaces (APIs) to smaller scale. enable different computer But is it worth the while of systems to interrelate. The banks to up their game? Aren’t contributions of the back-office there, for example, tight margins champion enable the front-end involved in serving (often) players to upsell a wider range of unbanked customers? banking services to mobile Creemers isn’t so sure. He says: wallet customers. “When done right, mobile For small banks two strategies payments can solve the paradigm are suggested. The ecosystem of lower cost to serve for contributor approach involves the unbanked customers. Mobile bank providing technically adept, Tijsbert Creemers: “Banks will have to create a way to increase their reach by payments will eliminate the need partnering.” API-ready services, connecting for manual steps and will reduce closely with the offerings of one or the need for cash. For example, more front-end mobile money capabilities, technological a broad base of current and the M-Pesa scheme in Kenya is players. The report points out that experience, and the role that it prospective customers including quite profitable.” small banks tend to play this might play in its local or regional SMEs, and the ability to Of course, the ongoing leading-edge ‘bank of the future’ business ecosystem. coordinate activities on a pandemic has created an role because they do not have the Three strategies tend to be broad scale. environment that is more scale to compete otherwise. suitable for large banks. In the In the customer relationship conducive to electronic payments In the niche market master ecosystem leader strategy the builder strategy, the bank uses its – a move away from cash to cards, strategy, by contrast, the bank bank typically shares an own brand, focusing on customer- electronic transfers and mobile focuses on particular offerings interoperable platform and facing mobile payments solutions banking. For unbanked customers such as wealth management, orchestrates a group of operations with a broad reach. A bank that who do not have access yet, where the bank can take and services. Ecosystem leaders follows this path may have to mobile is the most logical entry advantage of its customer insight should have a strong retail focus, disrupt its existing business model point in the electronic space. and innovate on highly The report argues that there are functional solutions. So what five potential strategies that The ongoing pandemic has created an skills and infrastructure can banks in Africa may adopt to African banks bring to the mobile harness the possibilities that environment that is more conducive to payment market that other players mobile payments present – electronic payments. depending on the bank’s size, Continued on page 18
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Devices KENYA
Where fun and business meet While older Kenyans may look back fondly to the robust 2G and 3G handsets of their youth, things like features, ease of use and affordability are driving an ever-increasing take-up of smartphones – and not just in urban areas, as Mwangi Mumero explains.
CHOOLTEACHER JANE MBUGUA remembers with nostalgia her first WorldRemit transfer to mobile handset, a Siemens C35 that MPESA, Kenya. Sshe purchased almost 20 years ago. Like other Kenyans over 40 years of age, Ms Mbugua has experienced the evolution of handsets in the market in the intervening years. “The handset allowed me to make calls, text, keep time, set an alarm and perhaps little more. I really valued the freedom possession of the handset gave me to make calls at will,” she says. The handsets of that period were using 2G and 3G mobile technologies. Some of the popular brands in Kenya in the 1990-2000 period included the Siemen series C25, C35 and C45, the Nokia series 3310, 130, 3120, the Alcatel OT 301 and a number of Sagem phones. “Even if they look archaic compared to the current smartphones, these older brands were more durable, waterproof and were resilient to conditions found in rural and urban areas.
They opened up interpersonal communication / WorldRemit Fiona Graham and improved business practises,” observes David Sabugo, a fresh vegetables transporter Photo: who ferries food produce from Nyandarua others. As of mid-2020, Tecno, Samsung, brands such as Samsung and LG have been County – over 200 km north of Nairobi – to the Huawei and Infinix are the most dominant struggling to fight off the onslaught of Chinese capital city. mobile phone brands in Kenya. brands. In rural Kenya – sometimes in places where In a survey done in November 2019 by Apple, which is the most popular cellphone roads were impassable especially during the Consumer Insight Kenya, Techno leads at brand in the US, is not even among the top four rainy season – possession of a mobile handset 11.29%, followed by Samsung at 9.41%. Infinix in Kenya because of its high price and has opened up trade and businesses. With the at 4.89% is in third place, while Huawei is unpopular operating system. entry of the M-Pesa money transfer service in Available data indicates that most 2007 in particular, there was a transformation Chinese-made mobile smartphones in Kenya are in the hands of users in the way business was conducted using even aged between 25 and 34 years. The number of simple handsets. phones have seen educated older users is also increasing with “Using a simple Siemens C45 phone with impressive growth due to the introduction of useful applications such as the M-Pesa service, I could receive orders banking apps. through calls, receive a down payment via M- their aggressive marketing At least 9.24% of smartphone users in Pesa and then use the night bus to deliver fish strategies and affordability. Kenya use mobile phones with a screen to Nairobi – quick and fast,” says Ms Imelda resolution of 360×640. Android is the most Akinyi, a fishmonger in Homabay Town on the fourth at 4.88%. popular operating system in Kenya with shores of Lake Victoria, almost 380 km west of Other brands are itel, Spice, Apple, Oppo, 87.42% of users having smartphones that run Nairobi. Nokia, Xiaomi, Wiko, Alcatel, LG, HTC, Vivo, on Android. Even today, having a simple, cheap mobile Sony, Motorola, Gionee, Outikel, Blackberry, According to the Kenyan news site handset has allowed business transactions to Oneplus, Cubot, XTE, X-tigi, Asus, Pixel, Realm, tuko.co.ke, the top 10 smartphones in the grow in rural and inaccessible areas of Omobile, Blu, Azumi, Lava, Tesla, Cherry country in 2020 have been: Tecno Spark four the country. Mobile, Dooge, BQ, Tichips, iNews, Hisense retailing at US$90, Tecno Camon 12 (US$125), With the introduction of 3G and 4G and Karbonn. Samsung Galaxy A20 (US$160), Infinix Hot 8 technologies, mobile handset makers have Chinese-made mobile phones have seen an (US$123), Huawei Y 7 Prime 2019 (US$155), increased the number of applications available impressive growth in Kenya over the last five Nokia 5.2, Huawei P20 Lite (US$220), Oppo to users. Smartphones have replaced the older years due to their aggressive marketing A83 (US$190), Oppo Reno2 (US$370) and models – with Chinese brands outcompeting strategies and affordability. South Korean Infinix S5 (US$150).
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MOBILE FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking
Continued from page 16 may not have – especially in through integrating digital and the back-office champion, human interaction in a seamless ecosystem contributor or niche way for their customers.” market master models? Branding is, of course, another “On back-office champion,” issue, as the image of bank Creemers explains, “the winners brands in the mobile payment will be reliable, trustworthy and market may not be as attractive have scale on payments and dynamic as that of (say) solutions; banks have that, but Vodacom, Orange or Safaricom. other players will have difficulty to Could that be a problem? “Yes,” develop it.” As for the ecosystem said Creemers, “and even more
contributor approach, in this so the limited reach of banks onsulting Group model, the banks have to become compared to telcos is a problem. easy to integrate with. In other Banks will have to create a way to Boston C Boston words, “the ecosystem players increase their reach
that have innovated or those that by partnering.” Photo: orchestrated the ecosystems will On that point, some banks and choose partners for the payment credit card companies have in payment ecosystems that is Whatever else happens, banks services. They will choose banks already formed mobile payment even more important, because will need to accept that mobile that have a rich set of alliances with operators. Is this the number of transaction payment in Africa is pretty much standardised services or APIs.” the way forward for African possibilities goes with the square unstoppable. “The main “Niche market masters,” says banks? For ecosystems he of the number of users.” question,” says Creemers, is to Creemers, “will be driving suggests it is important to quickly The report’s recommendations what extent it will become the ecosystem solutions in smaller, gain scale. “Scale is required to to banks also involves ‘other dominant payment vehicle with focused markets. They need to be bring services at attractive cost digital services’. What does BCG the same viral adoption that we highly skilled at focusing on their and to attract the best partners to mean by this? “We believe it is see in China – with 900 million client segment pockets and very provide additional services on the important to expand beyond plus customers on Alipay and good at customer engagement platform. There is a network effect payments and banking into other WeChat platforms.” ✆ use cases like education, health It is important to expand beyond payments care, holiday services and at the For more information on the BCG and banking into other use cases like same time to provide the report Five Strategies for Mobile- integrated payments underneath,” Payment Banking in Africa go to education, healthcare and holiday services. Creemers explains. www.bcg.com
“Smartphone features, ease of use and a university student, currently undertaking her affordability are what determines demand for course through online studies following the Could rural Kenya embrace smartphones, especially with the under-30 age closure of institutions of learning due to the smartphones? bracket. Some young college students also Covid-19 pandemic. consider some models status symbols among For the young tech-savvy generation of their peers,” observed Nick Mwangi, a software students and newly employed workers, social developer and data analyst based in Nairobi. networks such as Google +, Twitter, Instagram, Smartphones are particularly important to WhatsApp and Facebook have become a focal college students. From writing term papers to point where fun and business meet.
general research on any subject on earth, According to Jumia Mobile Report 2019, Stock Adobe internet-enabled phones have become every Kenya has 91% penetration mobile university student’s best friend. subscriptions compared to 80% in Africa as a Photo: whole. Internet access through mobile phones platforms as well as [using] betting apps. From writing term papers to recently hit 83%, underlining the increased Smartphones have better utility compared to adoption of smartphones in Kenya. older handsets,” observed Mr Kariuki Nguru, a general research, internet- But smartphones are no longer the preserve 26-year-old rider. enabled phones have of urban Kenyans. A recent random survey of 10 Interestingly, data from the Kenya National boda boda (motor cycle taxi) riders by Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that the become every university Communications Africa at Ndunyu Trading importation of smartphones and other related student’s best friend. Centre in Nyeri County – a rural area– found all devices such as laptops and computers has of them with smartphones: four Tecno surged by 56.29% – from US$50mn in the four “With my Huawei smartphone, I can access handsets, two Huawei, two Infinix, one months to July 2019 to US$76mn over the same emails, download music and chat online Samsung Galaxy and one itel. period in 2020. without having to carry my laptop around. It “Most of these riders are high school or As more people work from home and also reduces the risk of theft as a phone can be college graduates. They are keeping up with students have turned to e-learning services, safely tucked in the pocket,” says Jane Rotich, the trends, socialising on social media clearly growth in this sub-sector has surged. ✆
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Es’hailSat SATELLITES
Opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa satellite market Hamad Al Mannai is vice-president commercial of satellite operator Es'hailSat, a company with a growing interest in the Middle East and North Africa region. He spoke to Communications Africa about the satellite market in MENA, advances in satellite technology, and his company’s plans for the future.
S’HAILSAT, THE QATAR transmitters, to set up quickly and Satellite Company, is a to be up and running in a matter of communications minutes. Esatellite operator Es'hailSat Challenges come in various headquartered in Doha, Qatar. Photo: forms for newsgathering. They Es’hailSat was established in include lack of trained staff in the 2010 with the goal of managing field to set up the newsgathering and developing Qatar’s presence equipment, having pointing errors in space. The company provides when transmitting to satellite, independent, high-quality, having inadequate satellite advanced satellite services to bandwidth available when broadcasters, businesses and required, managing multiple governments in the MENA region capacity bookings, etc. Having and beyond. Hamad Al Mannai, trained personnel on field vice-president commercial of addresses some of these satellite operator Es'hailSat, challenges. However, we have recently discussed ongoing trained engineers in our 24x7 opportunities in control centre to guide the field the region with Communications team to get on to the satellite, to Africa. make sure the signal levels sent from remote locations to the Communications Africa: Is satellite are as planned, to satellite broadcasting a growing allocate satellite bandwidth as market in MENA? Why? Hamad Al Mannai: “We believe there is still room for growth for broadcasting booked, and to monitor the signal Hamad Al Mannai: Direct-to- via satellite.” from the satellite. Once the initial home broadcasting in the Middle set-up is done, satellites will for newer Arabic and Turkish Hamad Al Mannai: Having instant East and North Africa has provide reliable connectivity and entertainment channels have access to news is very important predominantly been a free-to-air are the best medium to send been on the rise. for consumers and having live service on satellite. The Middle signals from remote locations. Other than the few countries pictures of the events unfolding in East and North Africa has a huge mentioned above, most other high quality is even more population but has low pay TV Communications Africa: Is countries in the region come important. For newsgathering penetration. Other than a handful satellite capacity ever a problem under the lower income bracket teams, it is vital they have the right of countries in MENA, such as – or has it continued to meet with little disposable income that tools to take with them to any part Qatar, UAE, Bahrain and Turkey, demand? they can use for other forms of of the globe and be able to send all other countries in the region Hamad Al Mannai: Frequency content consumption, be it OTT or signals back to the studios. have lower than 20% pay TV spectrum for satellites is a finite IPTV. Given the demand for sports, Satellites are unquestionably penetration. This will change over commodity. Hence, there is news and entertainment channels advantageous for newsgathering time as more and more premium always a limit to the capacity and the need for the majority of services, due to their ubiquitous content and channels enter the available on a satellite or orbital them to be in free to air, we believe coverage, and the fact that they market – especially location. However, utilising there is still room for growth for can reach any part of the globe – sports content. various frequency bands – such broadcasting via satellite. especially where terrestrial Sports, news and as Ku band, Ka band and C band – infrastructure is limited or non- entertainment channels are the for different applications, we can Communications Africa: How existent. With advancements in most popular genres on satellite meet demand from broadcasters complex are the demands of technology, the newsgathering television in MENA. Demand for and telecommunication satellite newsgathering? How do teams are able travel to remote live sports content is always going companies and enterprises. you meet them? locations with portable to be high from sports fans, and The long-term success of a with rights holders increasing their satellite operator is dependent on portfolio of sports feeds to be Backhauling telecommunications services building scale. Hence, having carried live in this region, satellite multiple satellites in adjacent or distribution will be crucial to via satellite can connect mobile base similar orbital locations is a support this growth. We have also stations quickly and cost effectively. prerequisite for commercial noticed that consumer demands success; it also adds needed
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SATELLITES Es’hailSat Adobe Stock Adobe Photo: Photo:
Corporates use satellites for fast and reliable connection.
capacity to support customer share critical information with regions. It becomes difficult for same throughput and hence needs. remote personnel. telecom operators to justify the provide improved service or Technological improvements to Corporates use satellites for high expenditure of implementing, improved price to their end users. ground equipment with improved fast and reliable connection operating and maintaining Dynamic software-designed efficiency enable customers to through a private network to terrestrial backhaul infrastructure satellites are the next big step to meet the said service remote and offshore facilities to such as fibre or microwave links. providing customers with dynamic requirements with less satellite monitor remote assets and share In addition, backhauling flexible focused beams to suit capacity; this then enables important information. telecommunications services via customer needs. This enables satellite operators to support Satellites keep remote workers satellite can connect mobile base customers to better utilise the other customers with the connected to the enterprise stations quickly and cost- power from the satellite, to focus remaining capacity. network for internet, emails, voice, effectively, bringing bandwidth to the beam on their area of interest In addition, innovations on data and corporate network and remote areas reliably. It can and to switch it or redefine it if the satellite payloads – such as on office applications. The nature of provide flexible and scalable requirements change. high throughput satellites – also the satellite network is such that it solutions and can seamlessly provide customers with improved provides secure connectivity with connect any region within a Communications Africa: Which efficiency to be able to get higher high quality of service and with coverage area. countries do you serve in Africa? throughput of up to 400% from the redundancies within a private Hamad Al Mannai: Our main area same capacity. With all of the network. Communications Africa: What of coverage is the Middle East and above and other innovations, sort of advances in satellite North Africa. In North Africa, we satellites will continue to meet the Communications Africa: Why is technology are on the way that cover from Morocco in the West to capacity demands of the market. satellite backhaul an important could benefit your customers? Somalia in the East and the part of GSM cellular provision in Hamad Al Mannai: Some of the regions in the Sahara belt. At Communications Africa: What your markets? advances that would help satellite present we do not cover the sub- business and corporate services Hamad Al Mannai: operators – and ultimately Saharan region. do you offer that fixed or mobile Communications requirements in customers – are electric cannot? MENA are expanding dramatically, propulsion satellites, high Communications Africa: What is Hamad Al Mannai: The with demands for connectivity throughput satellites and dynamic your coverage area today? Do advantages of satellites are that anytime anywhere being a prime software-defined satellites. you plan to expand it? they offer cost-effective, reliable, driver for telecom operators to Electric propulsion satellites cost Hamad Al Mannai: Although the instantaneous and multi-point expand service beyond urban less to manufacture and launch, coverage with our satellites is connectivity. For businesses and areas. Expanding services beyond due to the reduced mass of the currently limited to the Middle corporates with remote offices, urban areas in MENA is difficult, satellite. This, in turn, can East and North Africa, we do cover they provide the best way for the given the vastness of land and potentially reduce the cost per other regions by extending our HQ to connect, collaborate and harsh conditions in the desert MHz for the customer. footprint working with our partners High throughput satellites, as – mainly in the Indian Ocean explained earlier, provide region, and Southern and Satellites keep remote workers connected customers with improved Eastern Europe. to the enterprise network for internet, efficiency to be able to get higher We are also actively working to throughput of up to 400% from the extend our coverage with new emails, voice, data and corporate network same capacity. Customers are satellite programmes and and office applications. able to use less capacity for the partnerships. ✆
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Côte d'Ivoire COUNTRY FOCUS
Can Ivorian operators meet growing data demand? It’s no surprise that mobile is the dominant form of telecommunications in Côte d'Ivoire – but better coverage – especially for data – would certainly be welcome in some parts of the country. However, things are changing – for both fixed and mobile communications – as Henry Lancaster, lead analyst on a recent report tells Vaughan O'Grady.
RECENT REPORT* FROM research and consultancy company Mobile penetration tends to benefit BuddeComm on telecommunications in areas of high population like Abidjan. Côte d‘Ivoire notes that the country’s fixed internet and A broadband sectors have remained underdeveloped. This may not be a major surprise in a continent where mobile dominates, of course. Henry Lancaster senior analyst for Africa with BuddeComm and also lead analyst on the report, explains that, in this case, it is largely the legacy of underinvestment in fixed-line infrastructure. “In addition,” he says, “the incumbent telco Orange CI had a monopoly on access to cables serving the country, and so the pricing for services to most end users was prohibitive.” That said, the situation began to change after the landing of the ACE (Africa Coast to Europe) cable in 2012, while MTN’s involvement in the West Africa Cable System (WACS) also improved international bandwidth.
Also, MainOne, in September 2019, completed a spur line to its Stock Adobe submarine cable running from Lisbon to Cameroon. This spur line is Photo: Photo: connected directly to a data centre built next to MainOne’s landing worth noting is the concentration of infrastructure in densely populated, station at Abidjan. urban areas; geographic coverage is 22% for Orange, falling to only 6% As Lancaster points out, “There is always scope for new cables, for MTN and less than 4% for Moov. particularly since MainOne links to partner networks covering inland But, Lancaster suggests, there is pent-up demand for LTE, since data countries (such as Burkina Faso). The greater the capacity, the lower the services and platforms such as m-money are based on LTE rather than wholesale cost for backhaul. Admittedly,” he adds, “this mainly benefits 3G. And the paucity of fixed-line broadband makes mobile data the only costs for mobile backhaul; the mobile sector accounts for 99% or so of option for the vast majority of the population. all voice and data traffic. However,” he says, “competition among the “So” says Lancaster, “with only just over half of the population cable providers, coupled with improved bandwidth, has enabled able to access a ‘proper’ mobile data service you can see how much operators such as Vivendi to invest in fibre broadband, believing that more investment is required in infrastructure.” That said, he adds, there is a business case – affordable access – for fibre in some urban “There are options as a cheaper alternative to building more base areas. This would not have been viable without the additional stations. These can include refarming GSM spectrum for LTE, bandwidth made available during the last three years.” repurposing GSM/3G base stations for LTE, or creating a RAN wherein As Lancaster has noted, mobile usage is more widespread in Côte all spectrum assets can be used for any platform.” d’Ivoire – but it isn’t yet universal. Mobile penetration is dependent on Not surprisingly, BuddeComm assumes that the mobile platform the technology platform as well as the provider. The important dynamic will remain dominant in Côte d’Ivoire for the foreseeable future. This is population coverage, rather than geographic coverage. is only partly due to the greater expense required for building fixed- Unless spurred by coverage obligations determined by their licence line infrastructure. conditions, or universal service obligation (USO) considerations, “The main factor,” says Lancaster, “is the continuing development operators generally weigh up how many potential customers could be or improvement of mobile services, which makes mobile a compelling covered by investing in infrastructure in a given area. “Thus,” says medium for voice and data. Three MNOs in any well-regulated market Lancaster, “for purely commercial considerations the more highly are capable of providing effective tariff competition.” There is also the populated areas are serviced first. As of March 2020, GSM networks One Area Network, which has eliminated international roaming covered 92-94% of the population.” charges among most West African states (further reducing the cost of This applies mainly to basic voice. Basic data via 3G is less generous, calls and intended to stimulate business activity). ranging from 54% (operator Moov) to 91% (Orange). LTE can offer more, LTE for now provides sufficient capacity for customer needs, so 5G is allowing for greater digital inclusion with m-commerce, for example, but not an urgent need. However, says Lancaster, “all three operators have coverage is as low as 34% (Moov), ranging to 55% (Orange again). Also the backing of their parent companies, and so the 5G lessons drawn from Orange Group, MTN Group and Etisalat in other markets will in time be translated to Côte d'Ivoire”. There is always scope for new cables, As for mobile finance, this requires considerable cooperation particularly since MainOne links to partner among players on several levels before the platform reaches a stage networks covering inland countries. where it becomes a natural concept for customers and worthwhile for continuing investment for MNOs. This stage, Lancaster reckons, has
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COUNTRY FOCUS Côte d'Ivoire Photo: Adobe Stock Adobe Photo:
The arrival of more subsea cables may lower the wholesale cost for backhaul.
certainly been reached in Côte d’Ivoire. He says, “The regulator balanced, with only a moderate adjustment to forecasted growth. estimated that two-thirds of the population makes use of m-money Demand for services – data traffic – is high but growth in subscriber services (including m-payments).” numbers is muted.” Recently, Orange Group established Orange Bank Africa in a number of its West African markets. “Launching the bank in this General trend of lower tariffs region was logical for the group,” says Lancaster, “given the close As for whether device costs are falling, BuddeComm does not carry out human ties between France and the ex-colonial countries – think of tracking of device availability for MNOs. But Lancaster does say, “We remittances – as well as the support which the French government expect that the general trend of lower tariffs (influenced by competition gives to the banking systems in ex-colonial countries: the currency and regulatory intervention), and hardware costs will continue in the in some West African countries is backed by the French state.” long term. Any interruption to the trend affecting the latter would be a temporary response to difficulties associated with supply chains.” M-money interoperability As for challenges in the coming year, he says, “Covid-19 may continue To help the sector along (that is, improve the level of digital inclusion), the to place unfamiliar pressures on customer disposable incomes, while government last July began the process of implementing m-money additional taxes will be burdensome. Otherwise, we anticipate that interoperability, meaning that customers can make use of services across operators will capitalise on the additional bandwidth from the MainOne mobile networks and banking systems. cable to offer improved services, with the side benefit of reduced end- Lancaster explains, “The move formed part of the government’s user pricing. New infrastructure such as MainOne’s new Tier 3 data National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (SNIF). The government has centre has improved QoS.” its own fiscal interests to attend to as well: last February a new tax Other developments that may support the sector include the came into effect for all money transfers via mobile phones, including November 2019 joint agreement – a charter – signed by telcos and the MNOs as well as banks and other financial institutions. The tax which is concerned with peering agreements, QoS, internet speeds, was part of the Fiscal Annex to the 2020 Finance Law. The and a reduction in the cost of carrying data. government noted that between CFA15 and CFA18bn (about US$27mn All telcos in the country have been obliged to pass traffic through and US$32.3mn) circulates daily via money transfer services.” the CIVIX exchange since the end of 2019. However, the regulator Lancaster says the Covid-19 crisis is having some immediate effects and telcos (Orange, MTN, Moov, VipNet and YooMee) have agreed to on the sector but points out, while economic insecurity could affect build a new IXP, though no completion date has been fixed yet. subscriber numbers, growth can be stimulated by general “This augurs well for the future, since the maturing telecom requirements for people to work from home. This could mean an infrastructure supports the operators in their plans to expand the reach of increase in the demand for additional SIM cards for work purposes, their networks and the quality of services to customers,” says Lancaster. ✆ though conversely it could mean a reduction in the number of SIM cards as people focus on core spending needs. “Thes pressures are *BuddeComm is a research and consultancy company, focusing on likely to be most intense through to the end of 2020, though, are likely the telecommunications market. To read the BuddeComm report on to retain an influence into 2021,” he adds. Despite all these Côte d Ivoire: Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses consideration, Lancaster says, “The net effect is expected to be visit www.budde.com.au
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Angola cables SUBSEA CABLES
Data: the currency of the future digital economy In the second part of our interview with Angola Cables CEO António Nunes, we look at how subsea cable projects can benefit both participants and end users – and the continuing potential in Africa for subsea cable as data demand rises.
NGOLA CABLES HAS played – and The future global economy is continues to play – a pivotal role in a digital one – and Angola positioning Angola as a primary intends to be part of it. Acommunications hub for the African continent. The installation and commissioning of the South Atlantic Cable System (SACS), for example, has provided a digital highway for governments, businesses and end users to connect to the rest of the world. And, as António Nunes, CEO of Angola Cables, a telecommunications multinational operating in the wholesale market, points out, SACS has other benefits. He says, “The fast, low-latency and secure connection provided by SACS presents many opportunities for developing countries in Africa Adobe Stock Adobe to accelerate social and economic
development across the continent.” Photo: But that’s not all. SACS also provides a The company has also been actively Africa but across continents and sectors such reliable redundancy option for telecom service engaged in promoting improved internet as agriculture, telemedicine, research and providers and operators in Africa. Nunes traffic routing across the southern hemisphere, endeavours that can promote a more explains, “The recent faults that impacted the which will, in effect, be more direct than inclusive digital future to the benefit of all.” delivery of services on the SAT-2 and WACS the traditional routings through Returning to the many subsea cable cables meant that by switching to the SACS European exchanges. projects now under way, an important cable many internet connections and services Impressive though these achievements question is who benefits and how. For could be restored quickly and without hassle are, Nunes adds, “While Angola Cables has example, what is the business opportunity while the repairs were undertaken to the made many advances, there is much still to for participants in such projects? faulty cables.” be done; therefore we are constantly looking Nunes says, “There are multiple benefits The company has also expanded its for solutions to broaden our network and advantages to business partners, operations in Brazil, with investments being and efficiencies.” resellers, CDNs, ISPs, edge and cloud service made into the data centre in Fortaleza, the Angola Cables is also a regular contributor providers and the like in expanding digital upgrading of PoPs and seeking out new to the various think tanks and programmes ecosystems across the world and across the peering arrangements. that are hosted under the banner of the World continent of Africa. With Angola Cables However, the evolution of the Angola Economic Forum and ITU. “We aim to play a providing the backbone connectivity to many Cables business has also been built on contributory role in shaping the future of of these providers, digital connectivity and partnerships. The company has established telecoms on the continent and we are related services can be enhanced agreements with the likes of De-Cix, Ciena, committed supporters of the 17 Sustainable and advanced. Nokia, Microsoft, Malaysia Telecom and Development Goals as prescribed by the UN There is also, he suggests, a growing need others. in working towards a more equitable world,” for collaboration and cooperation. “The Nunes says, “These partnerships have says Nunes. evolution of the Internet of Things will see been fundamental in expanding our network He continues, “More recently the company many more sectors of industry – from reach, capabilities and services. In doing so, has been actively seeking out opportunities automotive to agriculture – relying on digital businesses and customers connected to our where our network and services can promote data and solutions to improve business and global network can benefit from high- co-operation and collaboration, not just in manufacturing processes. In the field of performance connections to the major collaborative research, companies such as telecommunication hubs from PoPs and Angola Cables can play a primary role in international connection points connecting The global Covid-19 providing connectivity between different the major cities across the world. Customers pandemic underlined the research bodies – from academic to medical using our SACS cable can benefit from an up research. This is all being made possible by to 60% improvement in latency and value and importance of the subsea cable networks that exist in our connection speeds when compared to other digital connectivity. world today.” available traffic routings.” Continued on page 25
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DATA CENTRES Investment
What is driving data centre investment in Africa? Datacentrepricing.com (DCP), which provides analysis and research worldwide on the data centre industry, recently launched a new report on data centre activities across Africa. As Keith Breed, DCP research manager, tells Phil Desmond, there are still challenges for new data centre developments, but more investors are now entering Africa.
LACK OF FIXED lines, attracted by the growth in percent of total third party data regulation and power demand for space and the centre facilities with the carrier would once have made potential for digital commerce.” neutral data centre accounting for Ainvestors in data centres And costs seem to be coming 27% of facilities,” says Breed. think twice about moving to down. “Over time in most Africa is still a new market for Africa. However, growing activity established markets rack space CSPs, with Microsoft Azure Cloud seems to indicate that investors rates tend to be stable,” says first opening in Africa in 2016 are no longer deterred. What has Breed. “Although well-connected followed by AWS and others. changed? data centre providers (including There is a wide range of resellers, Keith Breed, research manager Equinix or Interxion) charge a particularly telecoms providers, for analysis and research group consistent price premium when who are reselling into the SME Datacentrepricing.com, which compared with the market segment throughout has just reported on the growth of average – based on their superior the continent. the African data centre market*, connectivity – average rentals Breed adds, “Although cloud agrees that there are still across the market are stable as services in Africa can be more infrastructure challenges for new lower-cost regional providers also expensive than in other regions, data centre developments, but enter the market with lower- DCP believes there is says investors are now entering priced offers.” considerable suppressed Africa. “The market for third party However, as he points out, “In demand for pay-as-you-go African data centres is still at an Africa average rental rates are storage and computing services early stage of development – but higher as there have been fewer offered by the cloud in Africa.” it is becoming more mature,” he entrants, with the exception of Another factor that plays a part says. “It is also attracting private South Africa. As new data centre in driving growth is pre-fabricated equity funds and funding from providers enter individual modules (PFMs), which are Interxion (a Digital Realty markets our expectation is that widespread in Africa. Breed company) looking for new average rental rates will fall.” explains, “Data centre modules facilities as an investment [and] As for areas driving this can be built and equipped off-site business, demand is coming from and delivered to Africa for cloud solution providers (CSPs), installation. PFMs can be used for In Africa average rental rates are higher as content providers, hosting, a mix of services, including there have been fewer entrants, with the telecoms and broadband network, mobile base station and providers. “Governments are also collocation services. They were exception of South Africa. starting to use third party data first installed by mobile operators centre sites rather than build their such as MTN, Tigo and Vodacom own facilities and are moving to with some space available for the cloud,” says Breed. collocation services. PFMs can be “Enterprises are using third party a low-cost and quick way of facilities, but in most cases are putting small amounts of not large users of African data collocation space in new centre space.” locations.” The carrier-neutral data centre As for where these locations segment is emerging in a number are, large data centres to date of countries, including Ethiopia, have been located close to Senegal, Uganda and Zambia. existing population centres in However, the most established large cities – due mainly to the carrier-neutral data centre availability of power and fibre. provider is Teraco Data “Areas with power sub stations Environments (South Africa) and resilient power supplies are
Adobe Stock Adobe offering NAPAfrica [a not-for-profit receiving investment. Data neutral internet exchange (IXP)] centres are also being located Photo: Photo: and cloud interconnects. close to subsea cable landing The carrier-neutral data centre segment is emerging in a number of countries, “Telecom providers account for 45 stations,” Breed adds. including Senegal.
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Angola Cables SUBSEA CABLES
Continued from page 23
As for the benefits of such networks to end continents, countries, communities and users and governments, he points out, “The enterprises connected, Nunes argues, and future global economy is a digital one and he notes, “Subsea cables are responsible data will be the new currency. It is therefore for the transmission of more than 99% of all important for governments and players within data in our digital world and will continue to
the local and international telecoms sector to Angola Cables Photo: play a major role in being the carrier and cooperate and collaborate – especially when conduit for the expansion of future digital this comes to bridging the divide between ecosystems – be these mobile, network or those on the continent of Africa who are cloud solutions.” connected and the many millions of people However, he warns that we must not be that still need to be provided with affordable, complacent. “At the same time, the recent secure connectivity.” faults and resulting outages experienced on He continues, “Digital connectivity will be the Sat-3 and WACS cable systems also the conduit towards providing the access and underline the need for redundancy options benefits that are available within the rapidly on cable networks to ensure the continuity evolving digital economy. Through the Angola of services.” Cables’ network, customers have access to a The global demand for data will continue range of international connectivity, data to rise as more people and devices are centre and cloud computing options and connected to the Internet of Things. This services.” demand will require bandwidth and as many And there is still a lot of potential in Africa of the older cables are decommissioned Antonio Nunes CEO Angola Cables: there will be a continued demand for subsea “Partnerships have been fundamental in cable infrastructure. As a company, says expanding our network reach.” Recent faults and outages Nunes, “Angola Cables is well placed to underline the need for for subsea cable, not least after the global offer capacity and services to business and Covid-19 pandemic underlined the value commerce as well as the backbone redundancy options on cable and importance of digital connectivity. Such infrastructure to manage and cater to the networks. connectivity is essential in keeping growing demand for digital content.” ✆
As for data centre interconnection across countries, to date there are few networked data centres across African borders, and investments by Liquid Telecom (Africa Datacentres), Actis and Fast Brick Holdings (FBH) are yet to develop networked facilities across African countries. That said, “Interxion (a Digital Realty company) has acquired a majority shareholding in Icolo – with data centres in Mombasa and Nairobi, Kenya – which may become part of the PlatformDIGITAL interconnection fabric in the future.” PlatformDIGITAL is a global data centre platform developed by Digital Realty. So what is the present state of play? At the time of writing half of the countries in Africa First Brick Holdings First have launched third party data centre facilities but to date South Africa alone accounts for Photo: Photo: 54% of African third party data centre space. Raxio Data Centre Uganda on the outskirts of Kampala. However, that proportion is forecast to decline provided for CSPs by Teraco Data by Ngoya Etix. to 45% by 2025. The country remains the main Environments,” Breed explains. Nigeria is seeing investment in Rack hub for the cloud on the African continent. “It But other countries are nevertheless Centre from private equity fund Actis, which has been boosted by the attractiveness of attracting interest. Breed says, “East Africa is intends to allocate US$250mn in data centre South Africa as a content and cloud location, seeing investment in new data centres – investment across Africa. So there is scope with connectivity and wholesale space particularly Kenya – with investment made by for further investment in African data centres Interxion and in Icolo. Interxion is also from a number of private equity and partnering with PRIF (Pemani investment funds.” ✆ To date there are few RemgroInfrastructure Fund) to invest networked data centres in Africa. *More information on DCP and its report, across African borders. Ghana is seeing investment by PAIX (Pan The Cloud and Data Centre Revolution in Africa Internet Exchange) in Rack Africa and Africa, is available on the DCP website at: www.datacentrepricing.com.
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COUNTRY FOCUS Nigeria
Internet access via Wi-Fi: can Lagos lead the way? Akin Marinho is an entrepreneur – and Fiam WiFi is his company. It’s hoping to attract Nigerian consumers with a low- cost Wi-Fi service that also represents a viable business model. Marinho told Vaughan O’Grady what stage Fiam WiFi is at now – and where it hopes to be very soon.
N OUR LAST issue we briefly mentioned Project Isizwe. This is an award-winning, non-profit organisation which works with Fiam Ithe public and private sector to bring Photo: free, public Wi-Fi internet access to low- income communities across South Africa. The potential role of telecommunications – in this case Wi-Fi – in allowing people to access the internet cheaply, with all that implies for business opportunities and information transfer, has not been lost on companies in other countries either. Take Fiam WiFi, for example. Fiam WiFi is one of Nigeria’s newest telecommunications companies, providing internet via hotspots to underserved communities that have been, as the company Getting connected: thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots are coming to Lagos puts it, short-changed for internet by Of course the first and most obvious incumbent operators. We hope to install question is: Why Wi-Fi? What are its The company’s business is based on a advantages over traditional cellular – which is disruptive way of delivering internet access to thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots widely used in Nigeria, though smartphone communities based on proven Wi-Fi all over Lagos and take-up is still modest – for internet technology. This is a strategy focused on connectivity? driving down the cost of delivery and ensuring throughout Nigeria, making “The main consideration for us was cost,” integration into the communities Fiam serves it more affordable for the says Marinho. “It’s much affordable to deploy a by actively driving digital inclusion through Wi-Fi network than a traditional cellular or LTE partnerships with healthcare and educational average person to access network. These are the most common forms of providers of content. the internet. connectivity in Nigeria. However, with Wi-Fi, we As the company’s website puts it, “Our DNA don’t have to get an expensive licence.” is designed to maximise social impact Kingdom and Nigeria, having worked at law It’s clearly a reasonable argument but how alongside a financially sustainable model.” firms and investment banks in London and enthusiastic is the market? Is Wi-Fi widely Akin Marinho is founder and CEO of the Lagos. He’s also an entrepreneur – and Fiam understood and used in Nigeria? company. He has more than 20 years’ WiFi is a business he feels has a future As Marinho points out, public outdoor Wi-Fi corporate legal experience in the United in Nigeria. is a fairly new service in Nigeria; not many establishments offer Wi-Fi to their customers. “But,” he says, “we hope to change that by installing thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots all over Lagos and throughout Nigeria, making it more affordable for the average person to access the internet.” Of course installation is only part of the service, given that Wi-Fi is not well- known in Nigeria. “As Wi-Fi is still in its infancy we do have to educate people on its limitations,” Marinho explains. “Many people who use our outdoor community Wi-Fi complain that the signal doesn’t get into their homes. So we have had to educate people on Wi-Fi and how it’s used.” Residents of Lagos will no doubt also be
Photo: Fiam Photo: able to point out potential practical problems with rollout of Wi-Fi in high-density areas – Fiam WiFi is spreading the message to residents of Lagos. problems like power, connectivity and limited
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Nigeria COUNTRY FOCUS
coverage. Of this list Marinho notes that power is the main challenge his company encounters We are finalising plans to bring in our own branded devices in Nigeria. “Reliable and stable grid power in for a competitive market price under US$100. Nigeria is a problem for all businesses. In order to mitigate that we power our network using has had decades of experience in regulating of data from us the maths is quite convincing. solar, inverters and batteries. We want to be one of the most dynamic telecom markets in It’s a numbers game for Africa’s most zero carbon-neutral in our operations.” Africa. We have had audits by them and we populous country.” That said, Wi-Fi coverage is obviously an have attended a few of their stakeholder In addition, the company drives down the issue as each hotspot has a fairly limited events and consultative fora. We have a cost of delivering the service by integrating into radius of 100 metres, so the company will need cordial working relationship.” He adds, “The the communities it serves. “We essentially to install more hotspots. “We will, though, be NCC just approved our new pricing of US$0.50 build community networks,” says Marinho. meshing our network as we roll out more cents for 1 GB of data without validity or “Our strategy involves leveraging on the hotspots” [wireless mesh networks are a way expiration period.” community by employing as far as possible of extending signals via nodes]. The Wi-Fi iteration in this case is Wi-Fi 5. only personnel who are from the community. You might expect there to be regulatory Marinho confirms that there is limited “We also leverage on the community by issues, but apparently not. Marinho says, “The penetration of high-end devices, saying, using community buildings to host our Nigerian Communications Commission is one “Android devices are pretty much the standard equipment. All of these factors enable us to of the foremost telecom regulators in Africa. It in Nigeria and we are dealing with lower- drive down the cost of delivery of connectivity income earners, so they typically have older to our communities and have enabled us to clunky Android phones that use up a lot of offer data at 0.50 US cents for 1 GB.” bandwidth and slow the network down a little.” It’s all a matter of finding the right market On the other hand if the market won’t come and the right business model, it seems. In this to the devices you could bring the devices to case, an advertising-led model is of limited the market, if you can offer a decent price – and use. Akinho explains, “Our target customers – that’s what Marinho is hoping to do. “We are those in the high-density, low-income areas of finalising plans to bring in our own branded Lagos and rural communities – are looked on devices for a competitive market price under as non-consumers by the big players who US$100,” he says. advertise goods and services, as they consume That all seems reasonable, but what is the very little and are thus probably not a target business model? “It’s a very simple model for segment for their marketing teams. I think Lagos,” says Marinho, pointing out that Lagos though that a few other WISPs have tried that has a population of approximately 22 million. advertising model and haven’t been He explains, “If you then strip out the HNI successful. The advertising model works where [high-net-worth individuals] and middle there is a discernible middle class.” That said, classes and those that are maybe very elderly he adds, “We will get there in the medium-to- or too young you have an addressable market long term as the Nigerian middle class moves Photo: Fiam Photo: Akin Marinho: It’s much affordable to deploy a Wi- of 10 million people. If we can get 10% of that from single to double digits as an overall Fi network as our paying customers monthly buying US$1 percentage of society.” ✆
NigeriaCom and the virtual event calendar NIGERIACOM 2020 TOOK place in September – but virtually – focusing on a number is that with digital transactions becoming the new norm for consumers, MNOs of points Nigerian telecoms might need to address in the coming years. need to look into ways to capitalise on this trend and digitise their portfolio, The topics highlighted by the event’s organiser Informa included Nigerian improve their customer reach, reduce churn and increase ARPU. tech’s response to Covid-19, MNO strategies, Nigeria’s power problem and the role For Upstream the vast reach of mobile network operators in Nigeria highlights of satellite. the potential in advertising when it comes to driving revenue for operators, For mobile technology company Upstream, which helped kick off the event as though the company added that to eliminate fraud, protect their customers and part of a panel entitled The Future of Nigerian Telecoms – Exploring Telco & MNO revenues, and stay ahead of regulation, MNOs must always add a layer of security strategies, there is clearly tremendous potential for MNOs to drive change and across their digital offerings. close the digital gap. NigeriaCom was made exclusively virtual for the first time ever due to the Covid- As the company points out, with low penetration and prepaid connections 19 pandemic. It regularly brings together more than 650 executives and digital tech dominating, the country’s mobile market itself is on a dynamic upward track. leaders to discuss the region’s digital economy. According to data from the GSMA, out of 179 million connections, 96% are prepaid, The question, inevitably, is how much this changes the dynamics of conferences with only 7.7% of those 4G-enabled. Market penetration is also less than 50%, and whether they remain relevant. Certainly a number of companies appear to be with just over 102 million unique mobile subscribers out of a population adopting a virtual event schedule and even hiring virtual booths at events. We will of 206 million. no doubt see how the conference and trade show ecosystem is adapting to the Not surprisingly, Upstream’s focus was on its business model: Zero-D, an online changing environment in which it operates when AfricaCom 2020 arrives. It will run platform that allows MNOs to offer free, ad-funded access to key internet services from the 9th to the 13th of November and it will be another virtual event. when their users have run out of data. It seems to have been useful during the The choice of virtual events or no events is unlikely to change until sometime pandemic which, the company pointed out, has forced a shift to digital, next year. However, it will be interesting to see whether the virtual experience underpinned by the closure of physical stores and some call centres. continues and in what form when the pandemic eases enough to permit An interesting point, and one we can expect to hear more and more in future, international travel.
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SATELLITES Marine connectivity
How satcoms iDirect support mining Photo:
At the Boffa port in Guinea, where 3G and 4G connectivity is poor, mining ships need reliable satellite communications. Pieter-Paul Mooijman of iDirect tells Ron Murphy how this can be enabled.
NSURING RELIABLE, president, Africa, at ST HIGH-SPEED connectivity Engineering iDirect, says, “This is to mining ships based in GEO [geostationary satellite] EGuinea isn’t easy. connectivity, and handover Vessels move from the mouth of between satellites is managed the river Pongo in Guinea to the through OpenAMIP-enabled Port of Conakry. Occasionally hardware and our built-in they will exit that area, but the advanced mobility capabilities.” main service is provided there. OpenAMIP is an IP-based The vessels and their crew protocol, a specification for the require constant and reliable interchange of information communications to keep in between an antenna controller permanent contact with their and a satellite modem. Mooijman headquarters on land, and with explains, “It allows the modem to other shipping vessels during command the controller to seek a operations at the Boffa port in particular satellite and allows the All aboard for satellite Guinea. However, 3G/4G modem and controller to connectivity. connectivity is poor and internet exchange the information services are limited. necessary to permit the modem to That’s why ST Engineering initiate and maintain remotely guide our local VSAT YouTube applications. iDirect, which provides satellite communications through the installer, who had very little Cellular continues to reach communications technology and antenna and the satellite for experience of maritime VSAT. The remoter areas but Mooijman solutions, recently announced seamless connectivity.” second vessel was quick, once the believes that opportunities like that its long-term customer The ships were installed with local and remote team had better this one in Guinea will remain Paratus, which provides satellite the iDirect modem and KNS 1.2m knowledge. The third had some strong. “Cellular is quite limited in connectivity across Africa, had Maritime Antenna Z12Mk2 in line-of-sight issues that we rural Africa and rural coastal deployed its iDirect modems – Shanghai, China. Paratus remotely managed to solve using a satellite Africa,” he explains. And, of with marine antenna from configured the modems and with higher elevation.” course, satellite also provides manufacturer and integrator KNS commissioned the antennas for Of course, there was a security based on an independent Inc – on these ships. the ships when they arrived in completely unforeseen challenge connectivity source. The satellite solution is a Boffa. Installation, however, was too. “The first installation was In addition, the demands of viable one for these ships, but not always straightforward. “The completed pre-Covid-19. maritime connectivity are growing. there are challenges – for first vessel was a bit challenging Installation of the antennas on the “As digitisation in the maritime instance, handover between because installation took place in second and third vessel was environment increases, leading to satellites. As Pieter-Paul February and our team could not carried out in Shanghai during the more functions taking place in the Mooijman, regional vice travel to the site. We had to pandemic. Modem installation, cloud, more automated processes commissioning and LAN using on board the vessel, and the ever- router and APs were completed in growing need for crew One of the mining ships supplied by iDirect and its partners. the port of Guinea during the early connectivity, a variety of stages of Covid-19.” communications approaches will The Ku-band portion of the be required to work in harmony to spectrum is being used for this create the most robust service. The main vessel and crew connectivity solution.” requirements were messaging Not just satellite but cellular apps, “which are used could be involved. Mooijman professionally to communicate explains, “Adding cellular into a with the team on the ground or HQ hybrid solution, where available, offices and personally on their only strengthens the solution, and leisure time”. The real-time companies like Paratus are well- communications are based mainly placed to manage the overall on WeChat and WhatsApp, with network to meet each of their
Photo: iDirect Photo: high bandwidth required for some customers’ unique needs.” ✆
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Packing scrap TERRESTRIAL FIBRE
How network deployment affects optical fibre cable manufacturing How is it that almost one-tenth of the output of fibre is not even making it to new networks? The answer lies in how networks are typically deployed. Ron Murphy takes a closer look at packing scrap and its impact on fibre lengths.
OR MORE THAN three decades, optical fibre cable manufacturing F units have been serving as the backbone of telecommunications networks around the world. From 3G rollouts to the upcoming 5G infrastructure, optical fibre continues to be the essential ingredient empowering data networks in the 21st century. In 2018 alone, the world’s communications networks consumed 512 million fibre kilometres of optical fibre cable. Interestingly, 556 million fibre kilometres of optical fibre was manufactured to cater to this cable requirement. It is often asked why global fibre production is usually 8-10% higher than the global cable consumption, precisely in terms of fibre kilometres. In a world that is hungry for
fibre, how is it that almost one- Jakupec/Pixabay Tomislav Photo: tenth of the output of fibre is not The world’s communications networks consume millions of kilometres of optical fibre cable every year. even making it to new networks? This comprehensive planning also cable length requirements may 10% extra length for the cable to The answer lies in how networks includes the engineering of the vary in different regions across the achieve a minimum 2 km cable are typically deployed, and in turn, cable, including its material, globe. length. This means that, for a how this affects optical fibre weight, and lengths, apart from For example, in India, one requirement of 2 km, the target cable manufacturing. obvious characteristics, such as telecom operator specifies lengths cable length should be 2.1 to 2.2 In building a single part of an fibre count, the characteristics of of 2 km / 4 km / 8 km / 10 km with km. The excess length ensures operator’s telecom network, a optical fibre and so on. a flexibility of ± 10%, whereas that the cabler is able to deliver a constellation of engineers, Standardisation is the key to another specifies that cable minimum 2 km length to the technicians and labour spanning reducing the risk of in-field lengths be 3 km ± 10%. In practice, customer or network installer in one or more network integrators failures, which can be costly in only + 10% is acceptable, as the field, taking into account and infrastructure vendors is terms of time, labour and capital. shorter lengths can cause losses and damage. involved. Considering the complex For outdoor cable networks, the productivity losses during The optical fibre cable lengths, ecosystem and tough conditions, most commonly used cable deployment. as specified in the purchasing certain standard practices have lengths are 1 km, 2 km, 3 km, and In order to meet the target cable document of the user, depend on been adopted to streamline so on. In order to allow some extra lengths, optical fibre cable the specific application network installation projects. cable length on hand, operators manufacturers must produce requirements – for example, While planning a network often allow some flexibility in cables of slightly greater lengths. installation distance, installation rollout, network installers length. It is worth noting that these The usual practice is to target 5- techniques, weight of the cable, consider everything from easy handleability and easy installation distances and terrain transport. The length of the cable characteristics to infrastructure For cable manufacturers, it is important to can vary from 100m to 12 km in a availability. This ensures easy drum. The most common lengths handling, minimal damage, higher procure the right volume of commercially for outdoor cables are 1 km / 2 km speed, and better network quality. usable optical fibre. / 3 km and so on.
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TERRESTRIAL FIBRE Packing scrap
testing, repair, and rewinding or recoiling purposes. Most of the
Adobe Stock Adobe time, it is entirely consumed during testing or recoiling. Photo: Photo: Cable manufacturers pack about 0.5% extra fibre inside the cable to ensure that no individual fibre strand in the cable is shorter than the entire length of the cable. In some particular cable designs like loose tube designs, where fibres are loosely placed inside a hollow tube, the length of the fibre inside the tube is typically 0.2- 0.3% longer than the cable length. This is also known as excess fibre length of cable. Excess fibre length is a critical cable design parameter, which controls cable performance in extreme weather conditions and under high tensile load. Of course, an optical fibre cable may have anywhere between 1 and over 5,000 fibre Optical fibre continues to be the essential ingredient empowering data networks. count. As such, every single strand For cable manufacturers, it is optical properties of the fibre in spool to ensure that the customer of fibre must meet the target cable important to procure the right the spool and is rendered scrap can meet the minimum cable length. Any strand of fibre that is volume of commercially usable during the winding or ramp up or lengths it plans to manufacture, shorter is a waste. optical fibre. Therefore, cable ramp down process. while still having adequate length The 2.1 – 2.2 km length manufacturers must share The higher lengths allow for to test the fibre, and compensate multiple is a mandatory specifications that state the more cable efficiency and less for losses during ramp up and requirement for efficient cable precise minimum length of fibre – scrap of fibre. However, any ramp down. production, and is the global along with acceptable increments. deviation from a precise multiple Given the complex standard practice followed by all For instance, 2.1 km, 4.2 km, 6.3 of 2.1 km or 2.2 km (or any other interdependency of the length of cable producers who require an km and so on take into account the multiple as specified by the strands of optical fibre in network excess 100 – 200 m fibre length. required length plus excess cable. cabler) means that the rollout practices, short or residual This excess fibre length is required Since optical fibre commercial length of the fibre lengths of fibre have no to ensure the final finished cable manufacturers do not have spool will be measured to the commercial value. However, length achieves the minimum 2 absolute process control over the lower increment. instead of simply being scrapped km target sales length. length of fibre that will be coiled, For instance, a 42 km fibre and disposed of by optical fibre Many cable customers do not they must prepare fibre spools as spool will be measured as 42 km manufacturers, these residual allow delivery of any short cable close to (but greater than) an of commercial length, since it is a lengths in the form of excess lengths, and hence it is essential acceptable multiple of fibre length multiple of 2.1 km. However, a 43 length are shipped to cable that the starting fibre length cable ordered by the cable km fibre spool will also be manufacturers to ensure higher is longer than the finished cable manufacturer. In most regions of considered only as a 42 km of precision and success rate in length. This excess fibre length is the world, fibre spools are in the commercial length, since it falls downstream cable manufacturing. required to cover ramp up and range of 25.2 km to 50.4 km of short of the next increment, i.e., As such, the value of excess ramp down losses during the optical fibre. 44.1 km and the unusable extra 1 fibre, non-commercial and non- various cable manufacturing Once received, cable km (43 – 42 km) fibre will be marketable by itself, is implicit in steps, and any subsequent length manufacturers can cut longer declared as packing scrap. the overall price charged to cable mismatches between all the spools of fibre into 2.1 or 2.2 km The excess fibre is neither manufacturers. The optical fibre is individual fibres inside the cable. increments and prepare them for marketable independently nor cut into small pieces during cable As manufacturing efficiency cabling. The length that precisely commercially useful for the manufacturing. The length of the improves, fibre breakage reduces, meets the specified multiple is customer, since it is less than any cut piece is matched with the end and fibre yield accuracy is considered commercially usable. typical acceptable length of cable. cable length. Additionally, some enhanced, manufacturers of Therefore, any residual length of However, it is critical in the fibre length of extra fibre is kept for optical fibre and optical fibre cable fibre in the spool is not will be able to manufacture commercially usable and has no precise lengths of cable with commercial value. Excess fibre length is a critical cable design minimal wastage of raw materials. For instance, in a 27 km spool, parameter, which controls cable Technology will play a major role – 1.8 km (27 - 25.2 km), is not just in fibre rollouts and commercially unusable and performance in extreme weather conditions network infrastructure but even in considered packing or testing and under high tensile load. optimizing fibre manufacturing scrap. It is used for testing the and production. ✆
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Health SMART CITIES
Hard times, smart investments Smart cities won’t just help local governments to deliver more efficient services. They could also save lives. Simon Fletcher, CTO of independent wireless advisory firm Real Wireless, explains how.
T’S BECOMING A bit of a cliché to suggest that Covid- 19 has created inflection The pandemic may have made the argument Ipoints that will change for smarter cities more persuasive. behaviours forever. Nevertheless, right now the collection and analysis of huge volumes of data is accepted as key to bringing the spread of the virus under control – and those communities with the connectivity infrastructure and technologies to do this best have fared better than those that have struggled to keep up. From healthcare apps that enable access to services to the mobilisation of city-wide screening systems, governments
and public service providers are Stock Adobe seeing the concepts and theories Photo: Photo: of connectivity benefit materialise, with health and socio-economic paybacks that can be associated with the digitisation of urban life. AI are not in themselves enough sharing particular data is Similarly, edotco has led the way In particular, the argument for to defeat a pandemic, as recent evidently in the best interests of among developing nation towercos smarter, safer and more digitally events in China have shown, their the individual – most citizens are by deploying small cells in street integrated cities seems application and integration in prepared to sacrifice their privacy furniture in Sri Lanka, Malaysia and more persuasive. urban settings can lead to to a surprising degree. Bangladesh, not just to monitor Until recently, there have been accurate real-time data on the life This is already apparent where traffic congestion but also to help four main barriers to a more cycle of outbreaks, enabling the concepts of ‘smart city’ and prevent crime and terrorism. general adoption of smart city better management, the ‘safe city’ collide. For example, These approaches have proved strategies. First, public unease mitigation of risk and the since 2009, Mexican operator popular with both state and about infrastructure that implies preservation of higher levels of Telmex has partnered with citizens. There are hundreds of any kind of surveillance culture. normal economic activity. security firm Thales in a state- similar examples globally. Second, the availability of reliable, Even a small percentage sponsored safe-city initiative that During the current crisis, in March universal connectivity. Third, improvement to the significantly reduced auto-theft by almost the EU Commission asked mobile standardisation of connectivity greater economic damage from 60% and overall crime in parts of operators to share data with the infrastructure that can ensure the Covid-19 to regional economies Mexico City by more than 50%. Commission to track virus spread interoperability of a plethora of makes the price of strategic Telmex used its network to link and determine priority areas for systems and devices. And finally, investment in smart city some 15,000 CCTV cameras, medical supplies. Similar initiatives a business case that convincingly infrastructure seem trivial. panic buttons and loudspeakers have been reported in Africa, MENA underpins such significant The pandemic has also not only to reduce crime, but also and Latin America. This approach investment. demonstrated that, if the need for to alert citizens in the event of has been taken to the next level in Most of these barriers have specific data becomes natural disasters like China, Taiwan and South Korea, been eroded over recent months. sufficiently compelling – i.e., earthquakes. where personal smartphone The business case for investing in location data is also used to trace high-quality, interconnected the contacts of individuals who have network infrastructure for cities The collection and analysis of huge volumes tested positive, or to enforce now seems glaringly obvious. quarantine orders. While the use of tracking apps, of data is key to bringing the spread of the thermal cameras, IoT sensors and virus under control. Continued on page 34
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SOLUTIONS
KT SAT launches world’s Orange introduces Sanza Touch smartphone in Africa first satellite-5G TELECOM COMPANY ORANGE has to connectivity on the African router connectivity announced the launch of Sanza Touch, continent. One of the barriers to an exclusive affordable 4G Android internet use is the price and ease of KT SAT, THE satellite-operated (Go edition) smartphone, in Africa. use of most smartphones. The subsidiary of KT Corporation, This launch is supported by Google partnership with Google to offer the South Korea’s largest and builds on efforts since the launch Sanza touch smartphone for sale will telecommunications company, of Android (Go Edition) in 2018 to enable us to solve this problem has shown the world’s first 5G accelerate the pace of digital thanks to its affordable price and hybrid router transmission adoption across the continent. The advanced functionalities. technology at the SatelliteAsia device will retail at around US$30, “While 90% of the world’s 2020 exhibition. which is intended to make it the most population is now covered by mobile The technology for seamless accessible on the market, with the broadband, 3.3 billion people who live connectivity between satellite and aim of driving digital inclusion. in areas covered by mobile broadband 5G was developed jointly by the KT This 4G Android (Go edition) remain unconnected for reasons such Institute of Convergence smartphone has a 4-inch screen, 8GB as affordability, low levels of literacy Technology last November. The KT
memory and 1750mAh battery, offering Orange Photo: and digital skills.” SAT presentations at the Expo more than four hours of battery life The Sanza Touch smartphone is Mariam Abdullahi, director, highlighted the possibility of using while streaming videos. Customers can available with a bundled mobile data platform partnerships, Android and satellites as communication use the Orange app collection (My plan (voice, SMS, data) from Play, Africa , for Google, said, “The backup networks and extending October 2020. Orange, Orange Money and Livescreen) goal of our Android devices, including their use to broadcast to stay up to date with news trends and October 2020. It will be sold in most this first-of-its-kind highly affordable communication. access the most popular apps, including Middle East and African countries, Android (Go edition) device, is to “Our participation in the YouTube Go, Google Go, Facebook and starting with Guinea Bissau, Côte bring the power of computing SatelliteAsia online exposition WhatsApp. d’Ivoire and Madagascar. equitably to all. We can only achieve this year opens a new page in The Sanza Touch smartphone will Alioune Ndiaye, CEO of Orange this mission if everyone is able to global communication in a COVID- be available with a bundled mobile Middle East and Africa, said, “Orange access devices at affordable price 19 world,” said KT SAT CEO Song data plan (voice, SMS, data) from wants to strongly accelerate access points to use in their daily lives.” Kyung-Min.
TE Connectivity rolls out new antennas for 5G, Liquid Telecom unveils its cybersecurity unit to offer NB-IoT and LTE-M digital security solutions TE CONNECTIVITY (TE), A LIQUID TELECOM, A pan-African specialist in innovative telecommunications group, has wireless communication unveiled its cybersecurity unit that connectivity solutions, has offers end-to-end managed
introduced new 5G, NB-IoT and services for digital security
LTE-M antennas to address the TE Connectivity Photo: solutions. broad frequency band and Offering cellular IoT devices frequency The cybersecurity services are different bandwidth demands bands ranging from 600 MHz to 6 GHz. designed to protect customers at of cellular Internet of Things (IoT) devices. every intersection of their digitally The specialist stated that the growth of cellular IoT devices is driving transformed business, including the market demand for 5G and wide-area cellular low-power network network, people and systems.
(LPWAN) products. Cybersecurity is a real and Stock Adobe Michael Traitov/ Photo: NB-IoT and LTE-M are standards for LPWAN radio technology, with imminent threat to companies and Liquid Telecom has streamlined and the former focusing on indoor, low-cost, long battery life and high- their end users, as the survey its cybersecurity offers into one unit. density connection, and the latter focusing on machine-to-machine commissioned by Liquid Telecom in August 2020 highlighted. communication. The optimised 5G and cellular LPWAN connction IT decision-makers across Africa have been asked for their insights performance relies on wide frequency bands and reliable RF into cybersecurity trends, with 57% of those surveyed reporting performance that can be supported by TE antennas. A range of band increased threats during the Covid-19 pandemic period. solutions ranging from 600 MHz to 6 GHz can be provided by new And while many employees are returning to work across the continent, antennas introduced by TE for 5 G, NB-IoT and LTE-M. organisations embrace a hybrid model of digital and on-site work. As Customers can choose new antennas with various mounting types, such, there are growing concerns about data security, shadow IT and the cable length and connector options, depending on their system financial consequences of a security breach. architecture. Since no tuning is required, these antennas can be easily To address these growing concerns, Liquid Telecom has streamlined integrated into end devices and TE can offer services for embedding and enhanced its cybersecurity offers into one unit. The offer is designed and even complex multiple antenna assemblies. to address the major concerns of IT decision-makers by effectively Han Sang Cheol, product manager at TE’s data and devices securing businesses to increase productivity. business unit, said, “5G will bring 10x to 100x improvement over Liquid Telecom’s end-to-end solution is aimed at covering all aspects the existing 4G LTE. Cellular LPWAN is vital to make our life of security working together seamlessly, decreasing the opportunity for intelligently connected.” breaches and risks.
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SOLUTIONS
7SIGNAL announces portable enterprise-grade wireless monitoring appliance 7SIGNAL, A SPECIALIST in enterprise business metrics. with packet capture to help diagnose can connect to remote sites with easily wireless experience monitoring, has The Sapphire Eye 250 appliance is and solve network problems and deployable sensors without the need announced the general availability of powered by 7SIGNAL’s patented SaaS identify security threats. Customers for expert installation. the Sapphire Eye 250 wireless technology, which analyses user monitoring appliance. experience metrics, wireless Vertiv unveils monitoring solution for small The hardware acts as a portable Wi- metadata, access point (AP) service and medium-sized edge data centres Fi sensor that addresses the industry's level agreements (SLA) and radio VERTIV, A PROVIDER of critical digital infrastructure and continuity need for optimised user experience frequency (RF) interference patterns solutions, has introduced Vertiv Environet Alert, a new software offering across application environments and to enhance and stabilise that brings enterprise-level infrastructure monitoring and management alignment of KPI technology to endpoint connections. capabilities to smaller data centres and edge facilities. “The enterprise wireless network is Vertiv Environet Alert performs real-time, vendor-agnostic monitoring of just as important as the wired critical infrastructure systems and alerts appropriate staff immediately network,” said Simon Renouf, vice- when such systems are at risk. president of product at 7SIGNAL. “With The software acts as a single glass pane with a new, modern and intuitive the rapid growth of the Internet of user interface that delivers visibility and data to users. Users can customise Things (IoT), enterprise endpoints rely the data points that are monitored and reported to focus on what they need on wireless connectivity to save lives, to protect and optimise their business most effectively. Photo: 7SIGNAL Photo: increase sales and maintain Mike O’Keeffe, vice-president for service and software solutions at production levels. The Sapphire Eye Vertiv in Europe, Middle East and Africa, said, “Purpose-built data centre 250 has all of the features and monitoring is crucial to provide visibility to operations and to reduce risks functions of the Sapphire Eye 2200 but and costs, but few solutions have been able to economically scale for was designed to be portable with plug- smaller operations.” and-go functionality.” Vertiv Environet Alert provides superior monitoring, alerting, trending The Sapphire Eye 250 portable and data organisation capabilities for companies in vertical sectors such as The portable Sapphire Eye 250 appliance can be deployed over the air appliance can be deployed over the healthcare, financial services, government, education and other industries (OTA) or with an Ethernet connection air (OTA) or with an Ethernet that rely on smaller data centres and edge facilities. connection. and includes a full spectrum analyser
Globalstar unveils new satellite messenger KaiOS, Telkom Kenya introduce smart GLOBALSTAR EUROPE SATELLITE feature phone in Kenya Services Ltd has announced that SPOT Gen4, the new generation of the SPOT KAIOS TECHNOLOGIES AND Telkom Kenya have introduced the Satellite GPS Messenger, is available in Kaduda T-Smart, a new KaiOS-enabled smart feature phone. It also EMEA. marks the first operator launch in Kenya for KaiOS. SPOT Gen4 is the latest addition to the The T-Smart is said to be an important upgrade of Telkom SPOT satellite-enabled tracking and Kenya’s feature phone portfolio. The device aims to help address safety product portfolio. It provides the growing demand for competitively-priced internet-enabled users with ubiquitous reliable tracking devices with affordable data packages. and a vital line of communication with The phone enables Kenyans to access the internet via 3G/4G/LTE colleagues, friends and family, and and Wi-Fi. It has a user-friendly interface that is optimised for first-time emergency support enabled by Globalstar Photo: internet users. The phone comes with popular apps such as WhatsApp, Globalstar’s second generation satellite SPOT provides ubiquitous YouTube, Google Assistant, Google Maps, and Facebook, and provides satellite coverage. fleet in low earth orbit (LEO). access to hundreds of other applications through the KaiStore. The Some of the SPOT Gen4 features include upgraded IP68 rating, motion phone retails at KSh 3,100 (around US$28) and comes with a variety of activated tracking, long battery life, SPOT mapping, map layers, alerts, data packages, including a free daily bundle comprising 100 MB for shared view enhancements, customised position icons, geofencing, internet browsing and 200 MB to access WhatsApp and Facebook. SPOT map showing check-in/ok and track points etc. Steve Okeyo, Telkom Kenya’s managing director for consumer, As with its fellow SPOT devices, in an emergency, with a simple press of said, “Entry-level smart-feature devices constitute about 40% of SPOT Gen4’s SOS button, an alert along with the user’s GPS co-ordinates phones sold in Kenya, affirming their acceptance and popularity are instantly transmitted to the GEOS International Emergency Response due to longer-lasting batteries and the ability to pick signal faster Coordination Center (IERCC) which, in turn, engages with local first in areas that are underserved with regard to connectivity.” responders to swiftly dispatch help to precisely where it’s needed. Sebastien Codeville, CEO of KaiOS Technologies, commented, Globalstar partners with a worldwide network of highly innovative value- “Less than half of the people in Kenya are going online using their added resellers (VARs) who continuously innovate to create and develop devices and only 20% of them are on social media. advanced complementary software and operations platforms “At KaiOS, we are focused on closing the digital divide by specifically designed to support businesses and non-commercial providing affordable smart feature phones along with relevant and agencies to protect their at-risk, lone or remote working staff. useful apps and services for first-time internet users.” The new SPOT Gen4 is designed for outdoor recreation, adventure The phone features a KaiOS 2.5.3 operating system with 3G, 4G, enthusiasts and field personnel who travel beyond reliable LTE and Wi-Fi network bandwidth. It has a 2.4 inch colour display mobile coverage. and supports dual SIM card with a battery capacity of 1,900 mAh.
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SMART CITIES Health
Continued from page 31
But this does not imply a general acceptance of everyday The EU’s 5G-TOURS initiative is deploying full end-to-end 5G trials surveillance. In normal times, the ownership of personal data is a far of 13 representative smart-city use cases across three cities. Our more vexed issue – an unresolved negotiation between the citizen, role in the project is to assess the socio-economic benefit of areas the state and a mixed bag of service providers. In the case of the such as transport, healthcare, airport operations and tourism and latter, the ownership of data is also intimately linked to determine how sustainable business models emerge from the monetisationand, indeed, the ownership of the customer. What deployment of infrastructure and services. might be willingly shared in an emergency may be at risk of being We shape the concept of a city ‘digital services platform’ that hoarded when the crisis has passed. enables operational use cases for health, tourism and transport While delivering the high levels of network availability and workers but also supports services for consumers. We’re also integration a truly smart city requires may still be some way off, this is supporting the Liverpool 5G initiative that is directed by the health largely because issues associated with security and standards for and social care sector, which owns the benefits and the services Internet of Things networks and technologies remain at the and shapes the infrastructure, service and device approaches. But formative stage. the economics and processes of the health worker are a major On the other hand, most governments and many municipalities are focus. And the needs of patients remain the main priority. coming to recognise that ubiquitous cellular and/or Wi-Fi coverage has This is as it should be. The democratisation and opening of significant socio-economic benefits. We have already seen notable communications systems will enable cities and public services to regulatory shifts in both Europe and the US to make it easier to densify get what they need – and not what the members of the supply chain networks in urban environments and improve coverage in rural areas. think they want. This is the path to sustainable adoption beyond the And the pandemic has shown that both states and service providers current Covid-19 crisis. It’s also the path to a city that is resilient to can move fast and effectively when the socio-economic drivers are future challenges – be those viruses or other events. ✆ sufficiently powerful. Real Wireless is the world’s leading independent wireless advisory Most governments recognise that firm. Its network of experts includes engineers, physicists, economists, security advisors, business strategists and ubiquitous cellular and/or Wi-Fi coverage deployment specialists. www.real-wireless.com has significant socio-economic benefits.
For example, the FCC’s Keep America Connected initiative (which ended in June) made spectrum available to improve coverage and Subscription Form capacity during the pandemic; China has expanded its 5G health I wish to subscribe to COMMUNICATIONS AFRICA for 1 year (6 issues) starting with the next copy. programme in both scope and rollout; carriers in Malaysia pledged NAME ...... POSITION...... back in April to increase network densification investment and 5G ORGANISATION ...... buildout to support economic recovery. The challenge now is to turn TELEPHONE...... FAX ...... emergency responses into long-term investment strategies. ADDRESS...... There’s certainly an argument that the effective interconnection of ...... digital systems doesn’t just improve lives but also save them. However, COUNTRY...... EMAIL:...... our final major smart city challenge – the interoperability of devices, systems, networks, protocols and applications – remains a Subscription order can also be placed via the web: www.alaincharles.com huge barrier. or email at [email protected] For example, how many lives could have been saved by the global Please tick the most relevant box(es) YOUR BUSINESS availability and take-up of a universal track and trace app at the NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES IN YOUR ORGANISATION: Communication service providers beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak? And the fragmentation evident in 1 - 49 50 - 99 100 - 249 PTT/telephone organisation 250 - 499 Over 500 Network operator track and trace applications (and associated data storage and privacy Broadcast (TV, radio) protocols) is amplified exponentially when we consider the lack of YOUR JOB TITLE/FUNCTION Corporate Management Government telecoms ministry standardisation in sensors and other IoT devices, along with the Government Executive Communication equipment manufacturer/ supplier challenges associated with operating such devices across different General Management Communication service users types of network. Technical Management Industry Real Wireless is working on a number of city projects, some Others, Please specify Financial services/banking ...... focussed on the detailed practicality of barrier-busting and operational Defence YOUR INVOLVEMENT IN YOUR ORGANISATION deployment now, and some through our research and innovation COMMUNICATION POLICY (Please tick all that apply): Do you: Transportation (airlines, railways etc) programme, where we work in an ecosystem of suppliers and users Initiate/plan communication strategy Government departments (not telecoms ministry) shaping next-generation capabilities. Evaluate/select suppliers Other, Please specify Authorise purchase of equipment or services ......
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