Skywire eyeing African expansion

In November 2013, the BBC published an article in which Internet users from around the world shared and rated their broadband experiences. A user in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) described Internet connectivity in his country as "broadband hell".

"We are paying $600 per month for a very limited service that is supposedly connected to a fibre-optic system in neighbouring Rwanda," Charles Franzen from Goma in the DRC told the BBC. "Our options are limited. We have tried everything, including our own satellite system, and nothing provides us with the service and reliability we need."

The United Nation's Broadband Commission recently issued a report showing where every country in the world ranks in terms of Internet usage statistics, including fixed and mobile broadband penetration. Entitled "The State of Broadband 2013: Universalizing Broadband", it unsurprisingly shows that Africa still lags far behind the rest of the world when it comes to fixed and mobile Internet accessibility and connectivity.

Released in September 2013, the report shows South Africa ranking 111th out of 194 countries (although only 184 received rankings, with the last 10 deemed not applicable), with fixed broadband connectivity measuring at 2.2 per 100 inhabitants during 2012. Other African nations such as Botswana followed at 128th place with 0.8 broadband connectivity per 100 inhabitants, while the DRC straggled behind at 180th place with 0.0 broadband connectivity.

When it comes to mobile broadband penetration, Africa - where inexpensive cellular phones have become a common means of telecommunication for many - fared considerably better. Two of those three aforementioned countries score well in this round in particular. Also measured at connectivity per 100 inhabitants, South Africa came in at 62nd in the rankings, with a penetration rate of 26.0.

Again, Botswana followed just a few paces behind, ranking at 76th place with a penetration rate of 0.8 - the same as its fixed broadband rate. Only the DRC performed even worse, counting outside the 170 countries that were ranked and were therefore deemed not applicable.

"Internet access is tremendously important for Africa's socio-economic development," says Mondi Hattingh, co-director of Skywire Technologies, an Internet service provider (ISP) in South Africa, which makes use of innovative wireless technologies to deploy broadband in isolated rural areas and other challenging, hard-to-reach places such as mines and game lodges. "The world is becoming increasingly connected and virtualised, so in order to keep up - let alone retain a competitive edge - African businesses urgently need to get online. This is why Skywire Technologies have decided to roll out our network further into the rest of Africa."

A recent report by the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA), an industry lobby group that counts most of the world's mobile operators as members, found that if the governments in sub-Saharan Africa were to allocate more spectrum to mobile broadband over a decade-long period from 2015, it could result in additional gross domestic product (GDP) revenues of $235 billion (R2.3 trillion), but that a spectrum delay of five years could see these benefits fall to $50 billion in additional GDP and $10 billion in additional tax revenue.

Yet despite being the most rapidly growing mobile telephony market, the GSMA found that Africa still has one of the lowest penetration rates in the world, with only 31% of sub-Saharan Africans having a cellphone. Women in the region are 43% less likely than men to have access to the Internet.

Boosting economic growth and luring foreign investors are just some of the reasons behind the decision to expand Skywire Technologies' operations further into Africa, Hattingh says.

"Deploying networks in Africa is expensive and challenging, not only in terms of harsh terrain and lack of infrastructure, but also because you could be entering war zones and politically explosive situations. This is why the few ISPs that are there often lack competition and completely monopolise the market, and is why they are able to hold local consumers hostage despite terrible or even non-existent service and exorbitant costs," he explains. "We are specifically aiming to deploy our networks into neighbouring Botswana, and the DRC, where those UN statistics reveal that a desperate need for reliable Internet exists, which will allow residents to conduct business, study, stay in touch via e-mail and social media, and just enjoy all the myriads of other benefits that the Internet has to offer."