Wireless is necessary for Africa

The digital divide remains, particularly where accessibility to broadband services and the Internet is concerned, according to the ITU.

Winston Smith, MD of Alvarion SA, says with its sub 6% Internet penetration, Africa remains firmly trapped in this chasm. Telecom services uptake throughout Africa is low compared to other developing countries and the rest of the world, despite a mobile penetration rate of more than 100%.

Smith says wireless is necessary in Africa as a result. "To successfully roll out new infrastructure or upgrade very old systems in terms of wired technologies... wireless is essential."

Speaking at the recent IT Web Broadband Summit, Smith says, however, that there is hope for Africa and its wireless broadband penetration. "Africa is the fastest growing region, with the number of subscribers expected to increase to 19 million by 2014 (compared to 5.2 million in 2008)."

He ascribes this growth rate to the ever-changing environment. There are several new and different types of operators and content players entering the market; in addition, networks have evolved with convergence to all-IP. Smith says it is ultimately the customer that is driving the change with increasing demand for high bandwidth services and a desire for "always on and with me" availability. "As a result, there are also several new devices, new applications and usage models being launched from data-centric to consumer electronics devices."

He says that aside from a myriad infrastructure benefits, Africa needs wireless broadband because the Internet is becoming more complex with rich multimedia. "The average Web page size has tripled in the past five years. There has also been a marked increase in HTTP requests for images, 75% up from 20% in 2003. In addition, 95% of Web pages today have images."

Video and HD are also here, with the average file size being 10Mbytes. Smith says video accounts for 80% of all bytes transferred. "Videos are also growing in size and length; 90% of videos are three minutes, up from under one minute in 1997."

This evolution equals unprecedented opportunity, according to Smith. He says there is a window of opportunity in both the business and high-end residential customer sector, with the mass market evolving as economies of scale drive pricing down. "Wireless technologies will capture a significant portion of the broadband opportunities especially in sub-Saharan Africa. There are also major opportunities for greenfield operators."

Alvarion is a 4G wireless broadband company with the industry`s most extensive customer base and more than 280 WiMax networks in over 100 countries. Alvarion is the leader in 4G wireless broadband market, a founder of the 4G WiMax industry and major contributor to IEEE 802.16 standards. Three hundred million people are covered by top 20 Alvarion networks, with more than 10 of the largest telecom operators globally as customers.