Rabat – As the continent with the youngest population in the world, Africa is full of digital potential, said Li Peng, Huawei’s Corporate Senior Vice President and President of the company’s Carrier BG.
Speaking at the Africa Mobile Broadband Summit 2023, Peng shed light on Huawei’s work in Africa, saying that the telecommunication company is “in Africa, for Africa.”
Huawei is actively working to enhance internet connectivity on the continent, Peng insisted. “Together with regional carriers and industry partners, we will increase investment in developing innovative solutions to connect the unconnected,” he said.
According to Peng, Huawei’s projects in Africa will help “bridge the digital divide, and accelerate the mobile broadband industry.”
Closing the digital gap would enable Africa to better seize the “opportunities of digitalization,” he added.
For Peng, mobile broadband networks are the “cornerstone of digital infrastructure,” and they need to “keep evolving” to pave the way for Africa’s digital transformation.
“As for how this evolution takes place,” he said, “we believe that Africa can benefit from coordinated development of 4G and 5G.”
While addressing the importance of boosting internet connectivity to support digital transformation, Peng stressed the importance of energy efficiency.
“Network energy efficiency is critical as Africa takes a more sustainable path forward,” he said. “Together with customers and partners, we are innovating nonstop to improve energy efficiency and drive green development with greener ICT.”
Africa’s mobile industry has been gaining significant traction in recent years, making mobile Internet a practical reality for more people across the continent.
In the past 10 years, the number of mobile broadband users in the region has increased by a factor of 20, but gaps in usage and coverage still remain, a statement from Huawei explains.
“Narrowing the connectivity gap is top priority for all industry stakeholders in Africa,” Peter Jarich, Head of GSMA Intelligence, a research center specializing in the mobile industry, said during the event.
Data from GSMA Intelligence suggests that at the end of 2022, only 28% of Africa’s population was connected to and using mobile broadband.
While 3G remains the dominant form of connectivity in Sub-Saharan Africa, the mobile industry is expected to expand rapidly and shift towards next-generation technologies over the next few years, GSMA Intelligence data shows.
To help expand mobile penetration and bridge the digital divide, Jarich recommended that policymakers and regulators increase the supply of spectrum across all bands, ensure technology neutrality, and reduce the fiscal burden on devices.
He also suggested that, while carriers continue to expand coverage, they should also consider how to more effectively drive migration from 2G/3G to 4G/5G.
GSMA Intelligence predicts that 4G and 5G will account for nearly two-thirds of total mobile connections in Africa by the end of 2030.
Meanwhile, the mobile industry is expected to generate $280 billion in economic growth and become a new locomotive for socioeconomic development in the region.
Al Hassan Agack, Chief Marketing Officer of Orange Guinea, shared his own views on how to accelerate 4G development and unleash demographic and data dividends. He noted,
“Sub-Saharan Africa has entered an era of data-driven operations,” said Al Hassan Agack, Chief Marketing Officer of Orange Guinea.
Carriers across the region should think about how to further accelerate the mobile industry through digital transformation and fully unleash demographic and data dividends.
Orange Guinea looks to enhance “business-network collaboration through innovative digital solutions, which will help promote business transformation, improve operation efficiency, and increase business revenue,” Agack explained.
Africa Mobile Broadband Summit 2023 brought together African telecom regulators, industry organizations, carriers, and industry specialists to discuss a wide range of topics, including expanding mobile coverage, increasing 4G uptake, and managing the region’s evolution towards 5G.
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