Internet in Africa
Encyclopedia
Internet penetration in Africa is limited compared to the rest of the world. Measurable parameters such as the number of ISP subscriptions, overall number of host
s, IXP
-traffic, and overall available bandwidth
all indicate that Africa is way behind the "digital divide
". Moreover, Africa itself exhibits an inner digital divide, with most Internet activity and infrastructure concentrated in South Africa
, Morocco
, Egypt
as well as smaller economies like Mauritius
and Seychelles
.
While the telecommunications market in Africa is still in its early stages of development, it is also one of the fastest-growing in the world. In the 2000s, mobile telephony in Africa
has been booming, and mobile telephony is now substantially more widespread than fixed line telephony. Telecommunication companies in Africa are looking at Broadband Wireless Access
technologies as the key to make Internet available to the population at large. Projects are being completed that aim at the realization of Internet backbone
s that might help cut the cost of bandwidth
in African countries.
The International Telecommunication Union
has held the first Connect the World meeting in Kigali
, Rwanda
(in October 2007) as a demonstration that the development of telecommunications in Africa is considered a key intermediate objective for the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals
.
, available bandwidth and bandwidth cost) give an essentially homogeneous picture. South Africa
is the only African country that has figures similar to those of Europe and North America; it is followed by some smaller, highly touristic economies such as Seychelles
and Mauritius
, and a few North African countries, most notably Morocco
and Egypt
. Apart from South Africa, the leading Subsaharan countries in telecommunication and Internet development are Kenya
and Nigeria
.
in the population, poor infrastructures, and high costs of Internet services. Power availability is also scarce, with vast rural areas that are not connected to power grids as well as frequent black-out
s in major urban areas such as Dar es Salaam
.
In 2000, Subsaharan Africa as a whole had less fixed telephone lines than Manhattan
, and in 2006 Africa contributed to only 2% of the world's overall telephone lines in the world. As a consequence of this general lack of connectivity, most Africa-generated network traffic (something between 70% and 85%) is routed
through servers that are located elsewhere (mainly Europe).
Overall bandwidth in Africa is scarce, and its irregular distribution clearly reflects the African "inner digital divide". In 2007, 16 countries in Africa had just one international Internet connection with a capacity of 10 Mbp
s or lower, while South Africa alone had over 800 Mbps. The main backbones connecting Africa to the rest of the world via submarine cable
s, i.e., SAT-2 and SAT-3, provide for a limited bandwidth. In 2007, all these international connections from Africa amounted to roughly 28,000 Mbps, while Asia has 800,000 Mbps and Europe over 3,000,000 Mbps. The total bandwidth available to Africa was less than that available to Norway
alone (49,000 Mbps).
As a consequence of the scarce overall bandwidth provided by cable connections, a large section of Internet traffic in Africa goes through expensive satellite link
s. In general, thus, the cost of Internet access (and even more so broadband access) is unaffordable by most of the population. According to the Kenyan ISPs association, high costs are also a consequence of the subjection of African ISPs to European ISPs and the lack of a clear international regulamentation of inter-ISP cost partition. For example, while ITU
has long ratified that the cost of inter-provider telephonic connections must charged to all involved providers in equal parts, in 2002 the Kenyan ISP association has denounced that all costs of Internet traffic between Europe and Africa are charged to African providers.
Internet access is also irregularly distributed, with 2/3 of overall online activity in Africa being generated in South Africa (which, on the other hand, only accounts for 5% of the continent's population). Most of the remaining 1/3 is in Morocco and Egypt. The largest percentage of Internet subscribers are found in small economies such as Seychelles, where as much as 37% of the population has Internet access (while in South Africa this value is 11% and in Egypt it is 8%).
It has been noted, anyway, that data on Internet subscribers only partially reflect the actual number of Internet users in Africa, and the impact of the network on African daily life and culture. For example, cybercafes and Internet kiosks are common in the urban areas of many African countries. There are also other informal means to "access" the Internet; for example, couriers that print e-mail
message and deliver them by hand to recipients in remote locations, or radio station
s that broadcast information taken from the Internet.
alone. The relatively developed Nigeria, despite its 140,000,000 inhabitants, has 1/3 of the hosts found in Liechtenstein
(35,000 inhabitants). As usual, the largest part of African hosts (80%) is found in South Africa, Morocco and Egypt.
The table below lists the number of hosts for African countries with more than 1000 hosts (in 2007). These countries collectively account for 99.6% of Africa's overall hosts. The last column provides the "host density" measured as the number of hosts per 1000 inhabitants; for comparison, consider that the average host density in the world is 43.
s (IXPs). On African IXPs, traffic can be measured in kbps
(kilobits per second) or Mbps (megabits per second), while in the rest of the world it is typically in the order of magnitude of Gbps (gigabits per second). The main IXP of Johannesburg
, JINX
(which is also the main IXP in Africa) has about 450 Mbps traffic (in 2008).
IXP traffic, anyway, is only a measure of local network traffic (mainly e-mail), while most of African generated traffic is routed through other continents, and most web contents created in Africa are hosted on Web server
s located elsewhere. Additionally, measurable data do not consider private peering, i.e., inter-ISP traffic that does not go through IXPs. For example, the main academic network in South Africa, TENET
, has 10 Gbps private peering with ISP Internet Solutions
both in Johannesburg and Cape Town
.
(BTC), respectively. The mobile telephony market is generally more open and dynamic, and even more so is the Internet market.
The table below depicts the percentage of African countries where telecommunications markets (fixed line telephony, mobile telephony, Internet) are fully competitive, partially competitive, or monopolistic, either de iure or de facto (data refer to 2007).
The regulamentation of network businesses and the establishment of authorities to control them is widely recognised as a relevant objective by most African governments. A model for such regulamentation is provided by Morocco; after an authority was established in 1998, and Meditel
entered the market in 1999 to compete with the main incumbent Maroc Telecom
, the situation has been quickly developing. Based on such experiences and on the directions provided by ITU, most African countries now have local Internet authorities and are defining local regulamentation of the Internet market. In 2007, 83% of African countries had their own authority for Internet services and data traffic.
and other areas in Africa, with dramatic benefits for local agricultures.
Internet-based telemedicine
and distance education
could improve quality of life
in the most remote rural areas of Africa. The availability of information on the network could benefit education
in general, counterbalancing the general lack of local libraries. It has also been suggested that e-Government applications could indirectly alleviate widespread political issues such as authoritarianism
and corruption
, and they would definitely help bridge the gap between the institutions and remote rural areas. Most Web 2.0
applications developed in Africa insofar have actually been created by governments.
African economy might also benefit from broadband availability, for example as a consequence of the applicability of e-commerce and outsourcing
business models that have long proved effective in Europe and North America.
Internet in Africa is now growing even faster than mobile telephony. Between 2000 and 2008, Internet subscriptions have grown by 1030.2%, versus the world's average of 290.6%.
The table below summarizes figures for the number of Internet subscription in Africa from 2000 to 2008, based on estimates made in 2008.
have been started. EASSy
(East African Submarine cable System), sponsored by the World Bank
and the Development Bank of Southern Africa
, is a cable system that will connect Mtunzini (South Africa) and Port Sudan
(Sudan), with branches to several countries on the eastern coast of Africa. The Kenyan government has started a similar project named TEAMS
(The East Africa Marine System), with the collaboration of Etisalat
. A third project, SEACOM, is completely African-owned. SEACOM bandwidth has already been sold to several customers, including the South African network TENET
.
In South Africa, the SANReN
network, with a 500 Gbps core, has been designed to become the fastest academic network in the world; the universities of Witwatersrand
and Johannesburg are already using a bandwidth of 10 Gbps provided by this network.
problem, i.e., to make bandwidth available to the final user. To be feasible for Africa, last mile solutions must be found that take into account the limited penetration of fixed telephony lines, especially in rural areas. Of about 400.000 rural communities that are estimated to exist in Africa, less than 3% have PSTN access. Note that providing network access to rural communities is one of Millennium Goals defined by the World Summit on the Information Society
.
Most studies on this subject identify Broadband Wireless Access
(BWA) technologies such as WiMAX
as the most promising solution for the end user's Internet access Africa. These technologies can also benefit from the wide availability of the mobile telephony network. Even in smaller countries like Seychelles
, most Internet users already access the network via the GSM network. Providers that have 3G
licenses will be able to provide WiMAX services.
Some experimentation is already being conducted in a few countries. In Kenya
, the Digital Village Scheme project aims at providing government services in rural areas via wireless access. In Nigeria, Horizon Wireless is running a broadband (3.5 GHz
) wireless network. Since 2007, MTN Rwanda
has been working to provide broadband wireless access in Kigali
. In Algeria, the Icosnet ISP and Aperto Networks have been collaborating for a business WiMAX solution. The South African authority ICASA has already assigned WiMAX licences to several providers, and Neotel
is implementing WiMAX-based last mile solutions in Johannesburg
, Pretoria
, Cape Town
and Durban
.
Host (network)
A network host is a computer connected to a computer network. A network host may offer information resources, services, and applications to users or other nodes on the network. A network host is a network node that is assigned a network layer host address....
s, IXP
Internet Exchange Point
An Internet exchange point is a physical infrastructure through which Internet service providers exchange Internet traffic between their networks . IXPs reduce the portion of an ISP's traffic which must be delivered via their upstream transit providers, thereby reducing the average per-bit...
-traffic, and overall available bandwidth
Bandwidth (computing)
In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...
all indicate that Africa is way behind the "digital divide
Digital divide
The Digital Divide refers to inequalities between individuals, households, business, and geographic areas at different socioeconomic levels in access to information and communication technologies and Internet connectivity and in the knowledge and skills needed to effectively use the information...
". Moreover, Africa itself exhibits an inner digital divide, with most Internet activity and infrastructure concentrated in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
as well as smaller economies like Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
and Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
.
While the telecommunications market in Africa is still in its early stages of development, it is also one of the fastest-growing in the world. In the 2000s, mobile telephony in Africa
Mobile telephony in Africa
Mobile telephony is well spread in Africa just like in the Western World; while in Europe and North America there is a trend towards an average of two cell phones per person, more and more Africans own cell phones. The percentage keeps increasing year after year...
has been booming, and mobile telephony is now substantially more widespread than fixed line telephony. Telecommunication companies in Africa are looking at Broadband Wireless Access
Broadband wireless access
Wireless Broadband refers to technology that provides high-speed wireless Internet access or computer networking access over a wide area.-The term broadband:...
technologies as the key to make Internet available to the population at large. Projects are being completed that aim at the realization of Internet backbone
Internet backbone
The Internet backbone refers to the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected networks and core routers in the Internet...
s that might help cut the cost of bandwidth
Bandwidth (computing)
In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...
in African countries.
The International Telecommunication Union
International Telecommunication Union
The International Telecommunication Union is the specialized agency of the United Nations which is responsible for information and communication technologies...
has held the first Connect the World meeting in Kigali
Kigali
Kigali, population 965,398 , is the capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is situated near the geographic centre of the nation, and has been the economic, cultural, and transport hub of Rwanda since it became capital at independence in 1962. The main residence and offices of the President of...
, Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
(in October 2007) as a demonstration that the development of telecommunications in Africa is considered a key intermediate objective for the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals
Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015...
.
Current situation
All measurable parameters about Internet in Africa (ISP subscriptions, host number, network trafficNetwork traffic
Network traffic is data in a network. In computer networks, the data is encapsulated in packets.*Network traffic control*Network traffic measurement*Network traffic simulation...
, available bandwidth and bandwidth cost) give an essentially homogeneous picture. South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
is the only African country that has figures similar to those of Europe and North America; it is followed by some smaller, highly touristic economies such as Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
and Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
, and a few North African countries, most notably Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Apart from South Africa, the leading Subsaharan countries in telecommunication and Internet development are Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
.
Context
Obstacles to the accessibility of Internet services in Africa include generally low levels of computer literacyComputer literacy
Computer literacy is defined as the knowledge and ability to use computers and related technology efficiently, with a range of skills covering levels from elementary use to programming and advanced problem solving. Computer literacy can also refer to the comfort level someone has with using...
in the population, poor infrastructures, and high costs of Internet services. Power availability is also scarce, with vast rural areas that are not connected to power grids as well as frequent black-out
Power outage
A power outage is a short- or long-term loss of the electric power to an area.There are many causes of power failures in an electricity network...
s in major urban areas such as Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...
.
In 2000, Subsaharan Africa as a whole had less fixed telephone lines than Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, and in 2006 Africa contributed to only 2% of the world's overall telephone lines in the world. As a consequence of this general lack of connectivity, most Africa-generated network traffic (something between 70% and 85%) is routed
Routing
Routing is the process of selecting paths in a network along which to send network traffic. Routing is performed for many kinds of networks, including the telephone network , electronic data networks , and transportation networks...
through servers that are located elsewhere (mainly Europe).
Overall bandwidth in Africa is scarce, and its irregular distribution clearly reflects the African "inner digital divide". In 2007, 16 countries in Africa had just one international Internet connection with a capacity of 10 Mbp
MBP
MBP may refer to:In biology:* Major basic protein, a protein which in humans is encoded by the PRG2 gene* Maltose-binding protein, a part of the maltose/maltodextrin system of Escherichia coli* Mbp, an abbreviation for mega base pairs...
s or lower, while South Africa alone had over 800 Mbps. The main backbones connecting Africa to the rest of the world via submarine cable
Submarine cable
Submarine cable may refer to:*Submarine communications cable*Submarine power cable...
s, i.e., SAT-2 and SAT-3, provide for a limited bandwidth. In 2007, all these international connections from Africa amounted to roughly 28,000 Mbps, while Asia has 800,000 Mbps and Europe over 3,000,000 Mbps. The total bandwidth available to Africa was less than that available to Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
alone (49,000 Mbps).
As a consequence of the scarce overall bandwidth provided by cable connections, a large section of Internet traffic in Africa goes through expensive satellite link
Satellite link
A satellite link is a communications subsystem that involves a link between a transmitting Earth station and a receiving Earth station via a communications satellite.-See also:*Earth terminal*Telecommunications link*Satellite truck*Ku band*C band...
s. In general, thus, the cost of Internet access (and even more so broadband access) is unaffordable by most of the population. According to the Kenyan ISPs association, high costs are also a consequence of the subjection of African ISPs to European ISPs and the lack of a clear international regulamentation of inter-ISP cost partition. For example, while ITU
International Telecommunication Union
The International Telecommunication Union is the specialized agency of the United Nations which is responsible for information and communication technologies...
has long ratified that the cost of inter-provider telephonic connections must charged to all involved providers in equal parts, in 2002 the Kenyan ISP association has denounced that all costs of Internet traffic between Europe and Africa are charged to African providers.
Internet access
According to 2007 and 2008 estimates, about 4% of African population has Internet access. While Africa accounts for 14.3% of the world's population, only 3.6% of Internet subscribers are Africans. Africans who have access to broadband connections are estimated to be in percentage of 1% or lower. In September 2007, African broadband subscribers were 1,097,200, with a major part of these subscriptions from large companies or institutions.Internet access is also irregularly distributed, with 2/3 of overall online activity in Africa being generated in South Africa (which, on the other hand, only accounts for 5% of the continent's population). Most of the remaining 1/3 is in Morocco and Egypt. The largest percentage of Internet subscribers are found in small economies such as Seychelles, where as much as 37% of the population has Internet access (while in South Africa this value is 11% and in Egypt it is 8%).
It has been noted, anyway, that data on Internet subscribers only partially reflect the actual number of Internet users in Africa, and the impact of the network on African daily life and culture. For example, cybercafes and Internet kiosks are common in the urban areas of many African countries. There are also other informal means to "access" the Internet; for example, couriers that print e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
message and deliver them by hand to recipients in remote locations, or radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
s that broadcast information taken from the Internet.
Host number
The picture provided by host number figures provide is coherent with those above. At the end of 2007, about 1,800,000 were counted for in Africa, versus over 120,000,000 in Europe, 67,000,000 in Asia and 27,000,0000 in South America; Africa had less hosts than FinlandFinland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
alone. The relatively developed Nigeria, despite its 140,000,000 inhabitants, has 1/3 of the hosts found in Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over , and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan...
(35,000 inhabitants). As usual, the largest part of African hosts (80%) is found in South Africa, Morocco and Egypt.
The table below lists the number of hosts for African countries with more than 1000 hosts (in 2007). These countries collectively account for 99.6% of Africa's overall hosts. The last column provides the "host density" measured as the number of hosts per 1000 inhabitants; for comparison, consider that the average host density in the world is 43.
| Nation | Number of hosts (thousands) |
% w.r.t. Africa's overall figure | Density (number of hosts per 1000 inhabitants) |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 1197 | 65 | 25 |
| Morocco | 273 | 15 | 9 |
| Egypt | 175 | 8 | 2 |
| Ghana Ghana Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south... |
24 | 1 | 1 |
| Kenya | 23 | 1 | 1 |
| Mozambique Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest... |
23 | 1 | 1 |
| Tanzania Tanzania The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state... |
21 | 1 | 1 |
| Zimbabwe Zimbabwe Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three... |
17 | 1 | 1 |
| Madagascar Madagascar The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa... |
10 | 1 | 1 |
| Mauritius | 10 | 1 | 1 |
| Zambia Zambia Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west.... |
8 | 1 | 1 |
| Namibia Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March... |
7 | 1 | 3 |
| Côte d'Ivoire Côte d'Ivoire The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be... |
6 | 1 | 1 |
| Botswana Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966... |
6 | 1 | 3 |
| Angola Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city... |
6 | 1 | 1 |
| Swaziland Swaziland Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique... |
2 | 1 | 2 |
| Nigeria Nigeria Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in... |
2 | 1 | 2 |
| DR Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world... |
2 | 1 | 1 |
| Rwanda Rwanda Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo... |
2 | 1 | 1 |
| Uganda Uganda Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by... |
1 | 1 | 1 |
| Eritrea Eritrea Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast... |
1 | 1 | 1 |
| São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is a Portuguese-speaking island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two islands: São Tomé and Príncipe, located about apart and about , respectively, off... |
1 | 1 | 8 |
| Africa | 1830 | 100 | 2 |
IXP traffic
An indirect measure that is sometimes used to assess the penetration of Internet technology in a given area is the overall amount of data traffic at Internet exchange pointInternet Exchange Point
An Internet exchange point is a physical infrastructure through which Internet service providers exchange Internet traffic between their networks . IXPs reduce the portion of an ISP's traffic which must be delivered via their upstream transit providers, thereby reducing the average per-bit...
s (IXPs). On African IXPs, traffic can be measured in kbps
KBPS
KBPS is a high school radio station run by Benson Polytechnic High School students enrolled in the radio broadcasting program. It is owned by Portland Public Schools...
(kilobits per second) or Mbps (megabits per second), while in the rest of the world it is typically in the order of magnitude of Gbps (gigabits per second). The main IXP of Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, JINX
JINX
JINX , located at Johannesburg, South Africa, is the main Internet Exchange Point in Africa. It is run by the Internet Service Providers' Association of South Africa .JINX started operating in 1996...
(which is also the main IXP in Africa) has about 450 Mbps traffic (in 2008).
IXP traffic, anyway, is only a measure of local network traffic (mainly e-mail), while most of African generated traffic is routed through other continents, and most web contents created in Africa are hosted on Web server
Web server
Web server can refer to either the hardware or the software that helps to deliver content that can be accessed through the Internet....
s located elsewhere. Additionally, measurable data do not consider private peering, i.e., inter-ISP traffic that does not go through IXPs. For example, the main academic network in South Africa, TENET
TENET (network)
The Tertiary Education and Research Network is a wide area network connecting various educational and research institutes in South Africa....
, has 10 Gbps private peering with ISP Internet Solutions
Internet Solutions
Founded in 1993, Internet Solutions is South Africa's largest corporate ISP, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dimension Data.IS is a leading African Internet Protocol-based Communications Service Provider....
both in Johannesburg and Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
.
Regulamentation
The privatization of the telecommunication market, as well as the regulamentation of the competition in this market, are in an early stage of development in many Africa countries. Kenya and Botswana have started a privatization process for Telekom Kenya and Botswana Telecommunications CorporationBotswana Telecommunications Corporation
Botswana Telecommunications Corporation is a telecommunications and Internet service provider in Botswana. BTC is headquartered in Gaborone. It provides telecommunications services all over the country and the majority of its services are in the capital city, Gaborone and the second largest city,...
(BTC), respectively. The mobile telephony market is generally more open and dynamic, and even more so is the Internet market.
The table below depicts the percentage of African countries where telecommunications markets (fixed line telephony, mobile telephony, Internet) are fully competitive, partially competitive, or monopolistic, either de iure or de facto (data refer to 2007).
| Internet | Mobile telephony | Fixed telephony | |
| Monopolistic | 10 | 9 | 55 |
| Partially competitive | 12 | 41 | 23 |
| Fully competitive | 69 | 43 | 25 |
The regulamentation of network businesses and the establishment of authorities to control them is widely recognised as a relevant objective by most African governments. A model for such regulamentation is provided by Morocco; after an authority was established in 1998, and Meditel
Méditel
Méditel is one of three licensed telecommunications operators in Morocco. Its headquarters is based in Casablanca.Méditel obtained the second license of mobile telephony in Morocco in 1999...
entered the market in 1999 to compete with the main incumbent Maroc Telecom
Maroc Telecom
Maroc Telecom is the main telecommunication company in Morocco.IAM employs around 11,178 employees. It has 8 regional delegations with 220 offices present on all the territory of Morocco.IAM is controlled by Vivendi which has a 53% share of its capital...
, the situation has been quickly developing. Based on such experiences and on the directions provided by ITU, most African countries now have local Internet authorities and are defining local regulamentation of the Internet market. In 2007, 83% of African countries had their own authority for Internet services and data traffic.
Uses of Internet in Africa
It is widely recognized that increased availability of Internet technology in Africa would provide several key benefits. Specifically, some of the major issues of the continent might be tackled by applications of this technology, as demonstrated by some initiatives that have already been started and that proved successful. For example, organizations such as RANET (RAdio and interNET for The communication of Hydro-Meteorological and Climate-Related Information) and the ACMAD (African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development) use Internet to develop reliable weather models for SahelSahel
The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition between the Sahara desert in the North and the Sudanian Savannas in the south.It stretches across the North African continent between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea....
and other areas in Africa, with dramatic benefits for local agricultures.
Internet-based telemedicine
Telemedicine
Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication and information technologies in order to provide clinical health care at a distance. It helps eliminate distance barriers and can improve access to medical services that would often not be consistently available in distant rural communities...
and distance education
Distance education
Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...
could improve quality of life
Quality of life
The term quality of life is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and politics. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of...
in the most remote rural areas of Africa. The availability of information on the network could benefit education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
in general, counterbalancing the general lack of local libraries. It has also been suggested that e-Government applications could indirectly alleviate widespread political issues such as authoritarianism
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
and corruption
Corruption
Corruption usually refers to spiritual or moral impurity.Corruption may also refer to:* Corruption , an American crime film* Corruption , a British horror film...
, and they would definitely help bridge the gap between the institutions and remote rural areas. Most Web 2.0
Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
applications developed in Africa insofar have actually been created by governments.
African economy might also benefit from broadband availability, for example as a consequence of the applicability of e-commerce and outsourcing
Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the process of contracting a business function to someone else.-Overview:The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider...
business models that have long proved effective in Europe and North America.
Internet availability
The African telecommunication market is growing at a faster rate than in the rest of the world. In the 2000s this has especially been true for the mobile telephony market, that between 2004 and 2007 grew three times as fast as the world's average. In 2005, over 5 billion USD have been invested in Africa in telecommunication infrastructures.Internet in Africa is now growing even faster than mobile telephony. Between 2000 and 2008, Internet subscriptions have grown by 1030.2%, versus the world's average of 290.6%.
The table below summarizes figures for the number of Internet subscription in Africa from 2000 to 2008, based on estimates made in 2008.
| Nation | Population (thousands) | Internet subscriptions (2000) (thousands of users) | Internet subscriptions (2008) (thousands of users) | % growth (2000–2008) | % Internet users |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algeria Algeria Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab... |
33770 | 50 | 3500 | 6900 | 10 |
| Angola Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city... |
12531 | 30 | 100 | 233 | 1 |
| Benin Benin Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located... |
8295 | 15 | 150 | 900 | 2 |
| Botswana Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966... |
1842 | 15 | 80 | 433 | 4 |
| Burkina Faso Burkina Faso Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated... |
15265 | 10 | 80 | 700 | 1 |
| Burundi Burundi Burundi , officially the Republic of Burundi , is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its capital is Bujumbura... |
8691 | 3 | 60 | 1900 | 1 |
| Camerun | 18468 | 20 | 370 | 1750 | 2 |
| Cape Verde Cape Verde The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa... |
427 | 8 | 37 | 362 | 9 |
| Central African Republic Central African Republic The Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the north east, South Sudan in the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west. The CAR covers a land area of about ,... |
4435 | 1 | 13 | 767 | 1 |
| Chad Chad Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west... |
10111 | 1 | 60 | 5900 | 1 |
| Comoros Comoros The Comoros , officially the Union of the Comoros is an archipelago island nation in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa, on the northern end of the Mozambique Channel, between northeastern Mozambique and northwestern Madagascar... |
732 | 1 | 21 | 1300 | 3 |
| Congo Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo , sometimes known locally as Congo-Brazzaville, is a state in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.The region was dominated by... |
3903 | 1 | 70 | 13900 | 2 |
| DR Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world... |
66514 | 1 | 230 | 45980 | 1 |
| Côte d'Ivoire Côte d'Ivoire The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be... |
18373 | 40 | 300 | 650 | 2 |
| Djibouti Djibouti Djibouti , officially the Republic of Djibouti , is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east... |
506 | 1 | 11 | 685 | 2 |
| Egypt Egypt Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world... |
81713 | 450 | 8620 | 1815 | 10 |
| Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea where the capital Malabo is situated.Annobón is the southernmost island of Equatorial Guinea and is situated just south of the equator. Bioko island is the northernmost point of Equatorial Guinea. Between the two islands and to the... |
616 | 1 | 8 | 1500 | 1 |
| Eritrea Eritrea Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast... |
5028 | 5 | 120 | 2300 | 2 |
| Ethiopia Ethiopia Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2... |
78254 | 10 | 291 | 2810 | 1 |
| Gabon Gabon Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west... |
1486 | 15 | 81 | 440 | 5 |
| Gambia | 1735 | 4 | 100 | 2405 | 6 |
| Ghana Ghana Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south... |
23383 | 30 | 650 | 2066 | 3 |
| Guinea Guinea Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures... |
10211 | 8 | 50 | 525 | 1 |
| Guinea Bissau | 1503 | 1 | 37 | 2366 | 2 |
| Kenya Kenya Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east... |
37954 | 200 | 3000 | 1400 | 8 |
| Lesotho Lesotho Lesotho , officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave, surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. It is just over in size with a population of approximately 2,067,000. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The name... |
2128 | 4 | 70 | 1650 | 3 |
| Liberia Liberia Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open... |
3335 | 1 | 1 | 100 | 1 |
| Libya Libya Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west.... |
6174 | 10 | 260 | 2500 | 4 |
| Madagascar Madagascar The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa... |
20043 | 30 | 110 | 266 | 1 |
| Malawi Malawi The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size... |
13932 | 15 | 139 | 830 | 1 |
| Mali Mali Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with... |
12324 | 18 | 100 | 431 | 1 |
| Mauritania Mauritania Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest... |
3365 | 5 | 30 | 500 | 1 |
| Mauritius Mauritius Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar... |
1274 | 87 | 340 | 291 | 27 |
| Morocco Morocco Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara... |
34343 | 100 | 7300 | 7200 | 21 |
| Mozambique Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest... |
21285 | 30 | 200 | 566 | 1 |
| Namibia Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March... |
2089 | 30 | 100 | 233 | 5 |
| Niger Niger Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east... |
13273 | 5 | 40 | 703 | 1 |
| Nigeria Nigeria Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in... |
138283 | 200 | 10000 | 4900 | 7 |
| Rwanda Rwanda Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo... |
10186 | 5 | 150 | 2900 | 1 |
| São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is a Portuguese-speaking island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two islands: São Tomé and Príncipe, located about apart and about , respectively, off... |
206 | 6 | 23 | 253 | 11 |
| Senegal Senegal Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north... |
12853 | 40 | 820 | 1950 | 6 |
| Seychelles Seychelles Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar.... |
82 | 6 | 32 | 433 | 39 |
| Sierra Leone Sierra Leone Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4... |
6295 | 5 | 13 | 160 | 1 |
| Somalia Somalia Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory... |
9559 | 1 | 98 | 48900 | 1 |
| South Africa South Africa The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans... |
43786 | 2400 | 5100 | 112 | 12 |
| Sudan Sudan Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the... |
40218 | 30 | 1500 | 4900 | 4 |
| Swaziland Swaziland Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique... |
1128 | 10 | 42 | 320 | 4 |
| Tanzania Tanzania The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state... |
40213 | 115 | 400 | 248 | 1 |
| Togo Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately... |
5859 | 100 | 320 | 220 | 5 |
| Tunisia Tunisia Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area... |
10383 | 100 | 1722 | 1622 | 17 |
| Uganda Uganda Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by... |
31368 | 40 | 2000 | 4900 | 6 |
| Zambia Zambia Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west.... |
11669 | 20 | 500 | 2400 | 4 |
| Zimbabwe Zimbabwe Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three... |
12382 | 50 | 1351 | 2602 | 11 |
| Africa (total) | 955206 | 4514 | 51022 | 1030 | 5 |
Infrastructure development
A number of projects have been started that aim at bringing more bandwidth to Africa, in order to cut down costs for both operators and end users. At least three projects for an underseas backbone in the Indian OceanIndian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
have been started. EASSy
EASSY
The Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System is an undersea fibre optic cable system connecting countries of eastern Africa to the rest of the world....
(East African Submarine cable System), sponsored by the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
and the Development Bank of Southern Africa
Development Bank of Southern Africa
The Development Bank of Southern Africa is a Development Finance Institution wholly owned by the government of South Africa and focuses on large infrastructure projects within the public and private sector. It is one of several development finance institutions in Southern Africa...
, is a cable system that will connect Mtunzini (South Africa) and Port Sudan
Port Sudan
Port Sudan is the capital of Red Sea State, Sudan; it has 489,725 residents . Located on the Red Sea, it is the Republic of Sudan's main port city.-History:...
(Sudan), with branches to several countries on the eastern coast of Africa. The Kenyan government has started a similar project named TEAMS
TEAMS (cable system)
TEAMS is an initiative spearheaded by the government of Kenya to link the country to the rest of the world through a submarine fibre optic cable. It was first proposed as an alternative to EASSy, the East African Submarine Cable System...
(The East Africa Marine System), with the collaboration of Etisalat
Etisalat
Emirates Telecommunications Corporation, branded trade name Etisalat is a UAE based telecommunications services provider, currently operating in 18 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa...
. A third project, SEACOM, is completely African-owned. SEACOM bandwidth has already been sold to several customers, including the South African network TENET
TENET (network)
The Tertiary Education and Research Network is a wide area network connecting various educational and research institutes in South Africa....
.
In South Africa, the SANReN
SANReN
SANReN is a project to create a new National Research and Education Network in South Africa. However, unlike most other NRENs, SANReN will provide its clients with both connectivity to the world's research networks as well as commodity Internet access.In 2005, the South African Department of...
network, with a 500 Gbps core, has been designed to become the fastest academic network in the world; the universities of Witwatersrand
Witwatersrand
The Witwatersrand is a low, sedimentary range of hills, at an elevation of 1700–1800 metres above sea-level, which runs in an east-west direction through Gauteng in South Africa. The word in Afrikaans means "the ridge of white waters". Geologically it is complex, but the principal formations...
and Johannesburg are already using a bandwidth of 10 Gbps provided by this network.
Access
With bandwidth becoming more available and less costly, the first to benefit will be institutions and companies that already have Internet access. In order for the network to reach a larger part of the population, solutions are needed for the last mileLast mile
The "last mile" or "last kilometer" is the final leg of delivering connectivity from a communications provider to a customer. The phrase is therefore often used by the telecommunications and cable television industries. The actual distance of this leg may be considerably more than a mile,...
problem, i.e., to make bandwidth available to the final user. To be feasible for Africa, last mile solutions must be found that take into account the limited penetration of fixed telephony lines, especially in rural areas. Of about 400.000 rural communities that are estimated to exist in Africa, less than 3% have PSTN access. Note that providing network access to rural communities is one of Millennium Goals defined by the World Summit on the Information Society
World Summit on the Information Society
The World Summit on the Information Society was a pair of United Nations-sponsored conferences about information, communication and, in broad terms, the information society that took place in 2003 in Geneva and in 2005 in Tunis...
.
Most studies on this subject identify Broadband Wireless Access
Broadband wireless access
Wireless Broadband refers to technology that provides high-speed wireless Internet access or computer networking access over a wide area.-The term broadband:...
(BWA) technologies such as WiMAX
WiMAX
WiMAX is a communication technology for wirelessly delivering high-speed Internet service to large geographical areas. The 2005 WiMAX revision provided bit rates up to 40 Mbit/s with the 2011 update up to 1 Gbit/s for fixed stations...
as the most promising solution for the end user's Internet access Africa. These technologies can also benefit from the wide availability of the mobile telephony network. Even in smaller countries like Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
, most Internet users already access the network via the GSM network. Providers that have 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
licenses will be able to provide WiMAX services.
Some experimentation is already being conducted in a few countries. In Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, the Digital Village Scheme project aims at providing government services in rural areas via wireless access. In Nigeria, Horizon Wireless is running a broadband (3.5 GHz
GHZ
GHZ or GHz may refer to:# Gigahertz .# Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state — a quantum entanglement of three particles.# Galactic Habitable Zone — the region of a galaxy that is favorable to the formation of life....
) wireless network. Since 2007, MTN Rwanda
MTN
MTN may refer to:* MTN Group, a major South Africa-based mobile telephone network operator active in many African and Middle Eastern countries* Maritime Telecommunications Network, a mobile phone network that operates on sea vessels like cruise liners...
has been working to provide broadband wireless access in Kigali
Kigali
Kigali, population 965,398 , is the capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is situated near the geographic centre of the nation, and has been the economic, cultural, and transport hub of Rwanda since it became capital at independence in 1962. The main residence and offices of the President of...
. In Algeria, the Icosnet ISP and Aperto Networks have been collaborating for a business WiMAX solution. The South African authority ICASA has already assigned WiMAX licences to several providers, and Neotel
Neotel
Neotel Ltd., previously SNO Telecommunications, is the second national operator for fixed line telecommunication services in South Africa. It was unveiled on August 31, 2006 in Kyalami in northern Johannesburg...
is implementing WiMAX-based last mile solutions in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
, Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
and Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
.
See also
- AfriNICAfriNICAfriNIC is the regional Internet registry for Africa. Its headquarters are in Ebene City, Mauritius. Adiel Akplogan is the registry's chief executive officer...
(Regional Internet RegistryRegional Internet RegistryA regional Internet registry is an organization that manages the allocation and registration of Internet number resources within a particular region of the world...
for Africa) - Digital divideDigital divideThe Digital Divide refers to inequalities between individuals, households, business, and geographic areas at different socioeconomic levels in access to information and communication technologies and Internet connectivity and in the knowledge and skills needed to effectively use the information...
- Millennium Development GoalsMillennium Development GoalsThe Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015...
- Mobile telephony in AfricaMobile telephony in AfricaMobile telephony is well spread in Africa just like in the Western World; while in Europe and North America there is a trend towards an average of two cell phones per person, more and more Africans own cell phones. The percentage keeps increasing year after year...
External links
- Collections of articles on Internet in Africa at Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
- African office of the Internet SocietyInternet SocietyThe Internet Society or ISOC is an international, nonprofit organization founded during 1992 to provide direction in Internet related standards, education, and policy...
- Balancing Act, website on telecommunications in Africa
African online communities
- Kenyan Pundit, Kenyan blogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
server - Mentalacrobatics, Kenyan blog server
- Mashada, Kenyan forumInternet forumAn Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
- ACMAD
- TENET, the main academic network in Africa