11 minute read
How unlocking rural communities’ connectivity is key to fixing the digital skill gap
Over a decade ago, South Africa-based technology journalist, Toby Shapshak, wrote “... Africa is not just a mobile-first continent. It is mobile-only.” While much has changed in those ten years, including Africa becoming the second largest mobile phone market in the world, that statement still rings true.
Craig Bowley, Regional Vice President, EMEA at ST Engineering iDirect
For many years, Africa’s Internet economy has been regarded as one of the largest, yet most overlooked investment opportunities. According to a report by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Google, it’s overlooked, primarily, due to the outdated misconception surrounding the continent’s need for Internet connectivity. According to the African Development Bank though, the mobile telecoms space in Africa is the fastest growing market in the world, with eight out of 10 Africans having a mobile phone.
The State of Industry Report on Mobile Money 2023 also cited that the value of mobile transactions in 2022 hit $1.26 trillion, while transactions in Africa alone were valued at $836.5 billion, about two-thirds of the global value.
A mobile-only mindset has been at the forefront of Africa’s socio-economic development for some time. But, like many locations across the globe, the pandemic demonstrated Africa’s need to build a future-proofed economy. An economy resilient to shocks, built to manage its increasing population, enhance productivity and efficiency in service delivery, as well as ensuring more inclusive socioeconomic development.
A fundamental part of that plan is to connect the unconnected.
Despite its premier place within the mobile connectivity space, and its continued efforts to pilot 5G programmes around the continent, there remains a deep disparity between online access for residents residing in urban and rural locations
THE GREAT DIGITAL DIVIDE
As many as 60-80 percent of the continent’s population reportedly live in rural locations, yet, comparably, as little as six percent of these areas are said to “have access to some form of digital connectivity”. Compounding the challenges, less than one third of the population has access to broadband coverage and around 11 percent of households own a computer.
Such disparity is leading to a growing digital divide, leaving many without all-important access to online resources for educational, entertainment and medical purposes. This is also putting a pause on African workers’ wider demands for more remote working policies to be implemented across the continent - a privilege which 80 million, just five percent, out of approximately 1.467 billion African citizens, already enjoy.
Evidence of an apparent digital divide can be found in reports that reveal the number of African countries lagging behind with digital skills, having achieved scores between 1.8 and five on the Digital Skills Gap Index - well below the global average of six.
The BCG (The Boston Consulting Group) report also estimates that 650 million workers would need to be trained, or retrained, in digital skills by 2030 in order to meet the demand for digital services on the continent.
The challenge to narrow the divide remains a tall order, particularly when you consider that 28 African countries have doubled their population over the last three decades, and predictions suggested that 26 more African countries will double their population across the next 30 years.
Training and retraining a growing continent will be no easy feat, especially without the capabilities that online access brings.
It is not only the older generation being hindered by a lack of connectivity. So, too, are its children. Current statistics show that 90 percent of children in Africa leave school without learning any basic digital skills which limits much of what they can do in today’s world. And as the population continues to grow, this issue will only be exacerbated.
There are also wider infrastructure developments that are set to take place, putting pressure on the need for connectivity as the economy adapts to its changes. From the demand for electricity, which is set to increase by 93 percent by 2035, or the repaving of 47 percent of the continent’s roads and ports, to an additional 300 million people that need access to the Internet to keep up with the continent’s economic growth - the pressure is on.
Investment in the region’s infrastructure, including its telecoms provisions, will be vital to meeting these new demands.
Online connectivity has the potential to accelerate the continent’s digital transformation, narrow the digital divide, and drive forward socioeconomic advancement. But, with challenges such as poor infrastructure, high costs and a lack of skills to access or understand the benefits of online connectivity, how can African governments fix the digital skills gap to ensure that those living in rural African communities don’t get left behind?
LESSONS TO BE LEARNED IN PERU
Estimates show that nearly 100 million people in remote areas of Africa are out of reach of traditional cellular mobile networks. And, although this is a significant barrier to acquiring those missing digital skills and - beyond thatopening up Africa’s digital revolution to all, this isn’t an isolated problem that only this continent faces.
There are lessons to be learned from other countries. And a large pool of untapped ‘potential’ in that remote audience, just waiting to be connected.
In recent years, the development of telecommunications networks and services have led not only to more connected and serviced communities, but also to the addition of new applications that have a direct effect on the welfare of users and communities as a whole.
While there have been significant strides made to connect residents across the globe, there remains a large portion, approximately 3.8 billion people (half the world’s population), that have not experienced the benefits of connectivity and access - like Peru, for example.
As recent as 2020, only 60 percent of Peru’s 30 million citizens were connected to the Internet; an obstacle that put a strain on residents’ connectivity during the pandemic. Though technological advancements have been made to improve Internet capacity in urban areas, the Peruvian Government still faces challenges with expanding access in areas with lower population density, only today reaching approximately 30 percent of homes with their TV channels.
In 2023, ST Engineering iDirect partnered with the Peruvian Government, contracting us - alongside DIVICAM - to deploy the SKYflow ecosystem to deliver OTT (overthe-top) video and documents to remote regions of Peru. This connectivity would enable residents to access public content, including educational content and telemedicine, that had previously been unavailable to them.
Much like Africa, there are reasons why Peru has remained unconnected to the outside world - mountainous landscapes, hard-to-reach locations and inclement weather have meant it is a challenge to connect its residents - particularly those residing in its most remote regions.
SKYflow is a collaboration between partners, EKT, EasyBroadcast and ST Engineering iDirect. The native IP over satellite ecosystem offers cost-effective, ultra-fast, low-latency delivery of live video to mobile devices and large screens alike for global audiences. Thanks to this solution, 100 percent of the Peruvian population will receive DTH (direct-to-home) content and have access to live content that can be recorded, enabling the government to attain its goal of reaching every household in the country.
This is especially significant for the distribution of content in a multi-screen environment to households that may not have Internet access but have access to a television, tablet or smart device.
SKYflow is capable of providing two-way broadcasting which would expand the use cases available to the Peruvian Government in the future, allowing it to benefit from the unique attributes that satellite brings to the delivery of OTT services.
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE DRC
There are a number of reasons why a country, or region, may experience difficulties in bringing connectivity to all. Beyond hard-to-reach places, another primary reason for unconnected communities could be conflict.
In the words of the World Bank, the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) has faced “probably the most daunting infrastructure challenge on the African continent.” Conflict has damaged most infrastructure networks and, as a result, its residents still rely heavily on 2G in many areas. Thanks to its tropical climate and vast geography, low population density and extensive forestland, the installation of new networks is a complicated task.
We’ve been working to reconnect its population amidst its conflict.
Vodacom, the largest mobile network operator in the country, selected ST Engineering iDirect - alongside partner Gilat Telecom - to install and commission two Dialog hubs to power cellular backhaul services across the region. At the start of our partnership, Internet penetration rate sat at approximately three percent, with the DRC still developing its 4G and 3G networks.
Although delayed due to the pandemic, the network is now used primarily for cellular backhaul services, for applications such as social media, video sharing and conferencing platforms, as well as data transfer applications.
Access to these applications has already had a profound impact on remote communities like the DRC - giving Africans in the region the ability to connect with family and friends, market their businesses and stay upto-date with the latest local and global news.
In addition to this, the new hubs have enabled Vodacom to quickly deploy a 3G network across the 150 BTS sites and the Base Station Controller located in Kinshasa, meaning that DRC residents no longer need to rely on 2G network connectivity.
As the continent grows, so too will the DRC’s network system. The Dialog platform, thanks to the Mx-DMA return technology, will enable increased satellite network coverage and to deliver a large amount of capacity when it is ready to expand.
MISSING PIECE IN THE JIGSAW PUZZLE
There’s no doubt that satellite is critical to achieving ubiquity of connectivity. In remote locations like Peru and the DRC, we’ve seen how their very landscapes have limited the possibilities of connectivity. Satellite’s capabilities are unmatched in remote areas, but it’s not the full story.
Satellite is part of a wider ecosystem that comprises different types of connectivity. In order to make connectivity affordable and accessible to all, this ecosystem must be optimized.
As we move forward, 5G will be the enabler and will offer the capability to provide the right type of connectivity for application, regardless of location, at a cost-effective rate. But, right now, the overall cost for 5G is too high.
Much like anything, there is no one-size-fits-all solution - each country and region, as I’ve demonstrated, has different requirements. But rather, a hybrid or ‘blended’ solution, that offers the best solution based on its location, is bound to be of significant value. This might be cellular, it might be satellite, or another technology.
We’re always on the look-out for solutions that provide flexibility, scalability and efficiency. That’s why we’ve created technology like the Mx-DMA MRC (multiresolution coding), which brings forth the full scalability of TDMA (time division multiple access) return technology to SCPC-like (single channel per carrier) efficiency levels, enabling service providers to cover a myriad of use cases without having to compromise speed, efficiency, scale or cost.
This particular offering has been a popular choice to the African region and our customers, who need a combination of all four - speed, efficiency, scale and cost - in order to make connectivity a reality.
We know that satellite itself offers a number of advantages in remote regions. For example, with satellite connectivity, mobile operators can offer first responders and government agencies critical communications immediately following any severe weather disasters or conflict. This capability ensures relief teams can connect residents, coordinate aid and maintain the continuity of government as communities recover.
During large events, or in high-density areas, strain may be placed on terrestrial networks. Yet, with hybrid networking, satellite connectivity can help relieve any bottlenecks.
Increased reliance upon OTT content will also likely put a pressure on terrestrial networks in rural and urban geographies; paired together, satellite will free-up those terrestrial networks for other traffic, so that content can be accessed without interference.
MOVING FORWARD
When we started out, our mission was to get the unconnected in Africa connected. And, while this remains at the forefront of our minds, there have been many challenges along the way - the pandemic, changing legislations and rising high adoption costs.
Governments, commercial companies and telecoms specialists in the ecosystem however, are working to change this, all with the support of schools and workplaces, to fuel missing digital skills from an early age.
In an ideal world, we’d need to streamline all of these avenues into one ecosystem, so we can focus on reducing the end customer cost, allowing for faster and wider adoption of connectivity for the unconnected. We’re doing our best to support the evolution of this ecosystem, through innovation and optimization.
We can learn much from our existing case studies, in particular our ongoing work with the DRC and the Peruvian Government. Connectivity can open doors to critical resources like education, digital medical information as well as connecting remote communities to family, friends and organizations across the world, and we’ve seen this impact first-hand.
Everyone has a right to connectivity, but we’ve got to work together in order to achieve it
