High-speed data in Africa: an assessment of provision via mobile networks
| Published date | 08 January 2018 |
| Date | 08 January 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/DPRG-07-2017-0037 |
| Pages | 23-41 |
| Author | Peter Curwen,Jason Whalley |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information policy |
High-speed data in Africa: an
assessment of provision via
mobile networks
Peter Curwen and Jason Whalley
Peter Curwen is Professor
and Jason Whalley is
Reader, both at the
Newcastle Business
School, Northumbria
University, Newcastle
upon Tyne, UK.
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the current provision of high-speed data networks
in the African continent, in particular taking into account both licences and launches related to long-term
evolution (LTE).
Design/methodology/approach –An up-to-date underlying database of licences and launches
relating to LTE in Africa has been compiled. There is also a review of the international operators that are
playing a significant role in LTE provision. A number of individual country case studies are considered.
Issues of corruption are addressed.
Findings –Africa is interesting because it has been a laggard in the development of high-speed data
networks, but now finds itself in a position to leapfrog 3G technologies, and hence close the gap that had
opened up compared to, for example, Europe and Asia. This process is effectively assisted by the lack
of fixed-wire connectivity but has to take account of the difficulty of attracting the requisite investment.
Research limitations/implications –Databases relating to Africa are always difficult to compile.
Originality/value –Published work relating to mobile networks in Africa is not plentiful, and it is difficult
to find relevant data in the public domain. A key aspect of the paper is that the database is entirely
up-to-date.
Keywords Africa, Mobile, 4G, Long-term evolution, Network operators
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
This paper is effectively the latest in a sequence of papers in this journal (Curwen and
Whalley, 2015,2017a,2017b,2017c) that examine a similar theme – that of the introduction
and spread of high-speed mobile technologies and its consequences for the structure of
the mobile sector in a variety of countries and continents. In this particular case, attention
is focussed on the continent of Africa.
The most commonly accepted version has it that there are 54 sovereign states in Africa[1],
although for the purposes of what follows, the databases below also include the islands of
La Réunion and Mayotte that technically qualify as départments d’outre-mer of France as
the operators there are independent providers of high-speed connectivity.
Africa has undergone considerable change in recent years. Not only has the population
grown such that there are now more than a billion Africans (African Development Bank,
OECD and UNDP, 2016), but so has its economy – in 2015, Africa’s GDP was US$2,259bn
(McKinsey Global Institute, 2016). In response to this, Africa has attracted ever larger
amounts of foreign direct investment (FDI) and has witnessed a growth in the number of
multi-national enterprises (MNEs) (Barton and Leke, 2016).
Received 13 July 2017
Revised 25 July 2017
Accepted 16 August 2017
DOI 10.1108/DPRG-07-2017-0037 VOL. 20 NO. 1 2018, pp. 23-41, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2398-5038 DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE PAGE 23
Underpinning economic growth has been a transformation in how Africans communicate –
mobile replaced fixed-wire as the primary communications technology quite soon after its
introduction, with the result that there are now more than 500 million mobile subscribers
(GSMA, 2016), a figure many times larger than the number of fixed-wire connections. The
number of smartphones used in Africa is rapidly growing and is predicted to reach 50 per
cent of handsets by 2020, up from just 2 per cent a decade earlier (Barton and Leke, 2016).
This widespread availability of mobile communications has been transformative, improving
existing business opportunities, as well as facilitating new ones. Given the inherently
dynamic nature of mobile communications, where a new generation of technology appears
roughly every decade, this transformation promises to continue. The most recent
generation available is the fourth and provides, in particular, faster data transfer speeds
than previous generations (Curwen and Whalley, 2013).
As Africa has historically lagged behind other parts of the world with regard to the adoption
of mobile communications (ITU, 2015a,2015b), the advent of a new generation offers the
possibility of “leap-frogging” – that is, missing out a generation altogether and adopting a
more recent technology. James (2012) observed that mobile leap-frogging can occur
regardless of the income level of the developing country. Given the advantages that accrue
from adopting the latest technology, by no means the least of which is the provision of
internet access to Africans considerably faster and cheaper than building costly fixed
networks (GSMA, 2016), it is informative to assess the current availability of so-called “4G”
across the continent.
With this in mind, the rest of the paper is divided into eight sections. In the next section, a
brief overview of pertinent issues relating to Africa is provided, while Section 3 shifts the
attention to technological matters, primarily highlighting the licensing of 4G technology
across the continent. While a licence gives permission for a mobile operator to use the
technology, it does not necessarily mean that 4G-based services are available to be used.
To shed light on this matter, Section 4 details the 4G launches that have occurred to date.
Section 5 sheds light on two key aspects of service provision, namely, availability and
speed, and is followed in Section 6 by a discussion of the role that pan-African operators
have played. Section 7 considers the problems posed by a lack of transparency.
Conclusions are drawn in the final section of the paper.
Africa
Over the past decade or so, Africa has experienced considerable growth: in 2000, the
combined GDP of Sub-Saharan Africa[2] was US$367bn, while in 2015, it was US$1,596bn
(World Bank, 2017). The continent’s population has also increased, from around 800 million
at the turn of the millennium to almost 1.2 billion by 2015 (African Development Bank, OECD
and UNDP, 2016). Partly, as a result, Africa continues to attract FDI – in 2015, FDI into Africa
was US$54bn (UNCTAD, 2016). Although this figure was slightly less than in the previous
year, it is worth nothing that it was considerably more than the US$12bn that took place at
the turn of the millennium (Diop et al., 2015;UNCTAD, 2016). However, this investment is
not evenly spread across the continent. In 2015, six countries – Angola, Egypt, Ghana,
Mozambique, Morocco and Nigeria – each received FDI of at least US$3bn (UNCTAD,
2016). In other words, at least one-third of the continent’s FDI was accounted for by just six
countries. Moreover, within these six countries, some – for example, Egypt – managed to
attract more FDI compared to the previous year, while others – such as Mozambique –
attracted less. More broadly, although Africa’s economy, as whole, grew between 2010 and
2015 (Barton and Leke, 2016), the growth of some countries accelerated over this period,
while for others, the rate at which they were growing declined – Ethiopia and Ghana are
examples of the former, and Nigeria and South Africa of the latter.
The three leading investors in Africa are France, the UK, and the USA (UNCTAD, 2016),
with each having FDI across the continent of more than US$60bn. While the growth of the
PAGE 24 DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE VOL. 20 NO. 1 2018
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