Africans need good access to the internet to contribute to the digital economy. Well aware of this challenge, Orange has, over the past five years, increased its investments in network coverage on the continent.

Telecom group Orange and Sonatel, its Senegalese subsidiary, announced on February 16, 2022, their partnership with the Luxembourg-based satellite telecom services provider SES to expand broadband connectivity in Africa. In this framework, Orange and Sonatel will deploy and manage SES' O3b mPower gateway on the continent. O3b mPower, a next-generation medium earth orbit satellite communications system, will be deployed in Senegal at Sonatel's teleport site in Gandoul, and other local satellite sites.

Jean-Luc Vuillemin (photo), director of international networks at Orange, explained that the partnership with SES stems from Orange’s conviction that “satellite remains a technology of the future and that the recent innovations it has been experiencing will surely reinforce its position in the telecommunications industry, in Africa but also other regions with more developed infrastructure like Europe or North America.”

Demand for high-speed internet in Africa has gone up significantly since 2020. This demand was mainly driven by the Covid-19 pandemic which sped up the digitization of several services, as well as changed data consumption habits. However, despite a greater demand, the network coverage in Africa is still low - in rural areas especially. In 2021, the penetration rate for mobile Internet on the continent was 28%, according to the GSMA. The latter also reports that 206 million sub-Saharan Africans have no access to a mobile network; this is out of a population of 1,084 million in the region.

For Jean-Luc Vuillemin, the collaboration with SES “will play a key role in Orange’s mission to build intelligent and open networks that will help make digital technologies more accessible and used by as many people as possible.”

Adoni Conrad Quenum

Officially launched on Jan 1, 2021, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) holds several business opportunities for African e-commerce. However, to leverage these opportunities, African countries need adequate policies. Assessing the gaps in these policies is a mission recently undertaken by Smart Africa Alliance.

On Dec 17, 2020, the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group greenlit a $1.5 million grant to Smart Africa Alliance, a group of 32 African countries, organizations, and international companies that want to create a single digital marketplace in Africa. 

The grant, provided by the African Development Fund (the Bank’s concessional window), will be used to assess policy gaps in the digital and e-commerce ecosystems of Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Ghana, Liberia, Uganda, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Republic of Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Lacina Koné, CEO of Smart Africa, said: “One of the critical challenges preventing the continent from preparing for Africa’s bold new future is the inability to conduct cross-border payments for goods and services due to a lack of solutions and crippling policies. Our partnership with the African Development Bank is crucial in creating an enabling environment to advance e-payments, and the digital economy is essential for Africa’s renaissance.”

Smart Africa Alliance will, as part of its assessment mission, consult with public and private sector stakeholders to develop an e-learning program that will directly benefit 600 stakeholders, including government officials, small and medium enterprises, private sector mobile network operators, and indirectly benefit another 2,500.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) officially began operations on Jan 1, 2021. Regrouping all 55 African Union member states, this 1.2 billion people market has a gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.5 trillion. According to the UN’s Economic Commission for Africa, it is an asset that can foster the boom of e-commerce in Africa. However, for this to happen, every country must have a legal e-commerce framework that favors international trade.

“This project is both timely and vital. For the continent to create a unified digital market by 2030, efforts should focus on harmonizing and building a cohesive policy environment for intra-continental trade,” said Nicholas Williams, Division Manager for ICT Operations, AfDB.

Muriel Edjo