Satellite Internet adoption is vital for Africa's economic growth, especially amid recent fiber optic cable disruptions. It offers a resilient alternative, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity and sustaining essential digital services, fostering economic development.

Smart Africa has made a strong case for adopting satellite technology to address internet connectivity challenges in African countries. This was revealed during the opening meeting of the 13th Smart Africa Council of African Regulators in Lilongwe, on April 17.

Director General of Smart Africa Lucina Kone emphasized the importance of collective efforts in adopting satellite technologies to overcome the challenges posed by internet connectivity issues in Africa, where the distribution of cables has been inadequate.

"Most African countries are surrounded by internet cables but it has been a challenge to make these cables move across the continent. We, as Africans, should strive to making sure that they move so that internet connectivity challenges can be addressed,” Kone said at the meeting.

Thokozani Chimbe, Director of Legal Services at the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA), highlighted the significance of projects like One Africa Network (OAN) in enhancing digitization and addressing data roaming and charges.

In his “African Wireless Communications Yearbook 2022,” Paul Hamilton of Hamilton research reveals that as of June 2021, 57.1% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa (669 million) was within a 25km range of an operational fibre optic network node, compared to 55.9% (620 million) in 2020, 41.8% (371 million) in 2013, and 40% (345 million) in 2012.

Despite these advancements, the communication infrastructure in interior African regions remains inadequate, limiting access to more populations. This gap can be effectively addressed by satellite technology to boost connectivity which is now more crucial for development given the role of the digital in economic growth.

Hikmatu Bilali