What’s your driving force for advancing Africa’s internet ecosystem?
The main objective for us is to drive internet into Africa, enabled by subsea cables on the east and west coasts. The more capacity we buy, the more cost effective it becomes, and that’s essentially what we’re doing. We’re getting those lower-end prices, and we capitalize on that for our customers, the internet service providers (ISPs).
What’s the most challenging aspect of acting in a booming market?
The wholesale market is extremely aggressive. There’s been a price war for the last two years where everybody is driving down costs – not among the tier one operators per say, but with the ISPs and the wireless companies which are demanding ever lower costs.
Is the bustling connectivity market reaching those Africans who need it most?
We were recently having a tech day at a rural school, the objective of which was to educate the school children on how the internet works, what potential jobs they could get after they’ve studied telecoms, etc. While I was out there, the connectivity was very poor – we couldn’t even get a phone signal. The school doesn’t have any wireless capacity, and the internet that they do have is very slow.
It’s all about connecting the unconnected. It’s important that ISPs in South Africa focus more on these remote areas. But how do you connect at a competitive price?
The challenge with these rural areas in South Africa is that the fibre network owner-operators are often not near these rural schools. Today, we’re looking at it from a different point of view. Say that the school is 5km from the fibre – we’re working with network operators to create a model where we build the last 5km ourselves, splicing to the fibre owner’s infrastructure, allowing us to deliver that much-needed connectivity. For me, that’s the only way to get connectivity to these rural locations.
As part of our work with the Wireless Access Providers Association (WAPA), we’ve been exploring different models with wireless ISPs to increase commercial viability. Instead of charging the consumer 5 Rand a day, we’re approaching it from the other direction. We’ve worked with an advertising agency and spoken with them about their target markets. Accordingly, we’ve installed equipment to deliver internet connectivity – for free – in those places, and the catch is that the end user receives pushed ads. The ad revenue is supporting the wireless ISP! We currently have a proof of concept with an ISP in an Eastern Cape village, and so far, the results have been very successful. People are connecting, they’re using the bandwidth, and they’re looking at the advertising. We’ve utilised ad clicking trackers so we can tell exactly how many people are genuinely looking at the content.
It’s so difficult for these wireless ISPs to get out there, to connect these more rural regions, so this is another great model we’re exploring.
Do you think that every person in Africa will be meaningfully connected one day?
I do, because I travel the whole of South Africa monthly. I get in my car, and I go to these remote towns to find wireless ISPs and speak to them face to face. They’re delivering a good service, and their network is stable, but how much coverage do they have? There are gaps where people just do not have connectivity, and they’re having to rely on GSM networks – and GSM data is very expensive in South Africa. But, if the wireless ISP comes on board, they can offer, for example, unlimited data for 5 Rand a day. That’s the approach to achieve meaningful connectivity.
What success stories can you share with us from 2024?
Internet access and affordability have been pressing issues in Zimbabwe, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has heightened the need for digital tools and platforms to access information and communicate.
Honourable Ability Gandawa, Deputy Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services, emphasized in his keynote address that internet access in Zimbabwe remains a challenge due to high costs and limited infrastructure.
At AFR-IX Telecom, we collaborated with one of Zimbabwe’s largest telecommunications infrastructure providers and internet service providers to enable IP Transit. This initiative not only improved access to more affordable internet but also ensured reliable connectivity across the country.
Can you tell us about your hopes and dreams for 2025?
Data centres have been around for a while, but with the entry of new market players, businesses, corporates and ISPs can now bring their equipment into those facilities at a more affordable cost.
As such, this year our focus will be to bring our nodes closer to the ISPs. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Digital Parks Africa – their commercial models are very good, as are their power models. It made sense for us to choose them as our first data centre, we are breaking the barrier to entry. I think that bringing our equipment closer to where our clients are makes a big difference.
Our plan for 2025 is going to be expanding these nodes, installing equipment and servicing ISPs wherever they are – the more remote, the better!
