100% Broadband for Africa
Alan Knott-Craig is guest blogging for the Forum. He is Founder, World of Avatar, South Africa and a Young Global Leader. He will be attending the World Economic Forum on Africa. You can follow him @alanknottcraig.
Want to change Africa? Simple. Make the Internet universally accessible. This is why:
1. Economic growth
Broadband has been shown to have a multiplier effect on GDP growth in emerging markets1. Economic growth leads to more jobs, which leads to lower inequality, which leads to happy people.
2. Basic services
Universal broadband means universal access to online health information and educational programmes. Most Africans suffer from lack of physical infrastructure (i.e.: classrooms, textbooks) and teachers. The Internet solves these problems.
3. Political governance
Universal access to information is the key to making informed political decisions. The Internet is the ultimate source of information. It is no coincidence that four of the top five African countries ranked according to broadband penetration have recently experienced political revolution. Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco. Give voters access to information and they’ll make better political decisions. And politicians will be held accountable.
What is the best way of bringing the Internet to everyone?
1. Wireless
Africa is vast and there is virtually no existing fixed line infrastructure. The solution is wireless.
2. Mobile
Everyone is Africa is comfortable with mobile phones. They have become an indispensable part of the fabric of life. There are no user-adoption issues, and even challenges as big electricity for charging have been overcome!
3. Private competition
The countries with the lowest mobile penetration are those with state-owned monopolies. Ethiopia has the second highest population in Africa, whilst having only 6% mobile phone penetration. It has one operator, which is state-owned. Also, coincidentally, it is a military dictatorship.
110 percent increase in broadband household penetration delivers a boost to a country’s GDP ranging from 0.1 percent to 1.4 percent. McKinsey 2009
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