Tech giants take on mobile operators in local data market

Frankline Sunday 

Estelle Akofio-Sowah, the head of Google's fibre infrastructure company CSquared gives a presentation on the firm's deployment across Africa. [Courtesy]

A fresh race to bring broadband connectivity to the millions of people in Africa excluded from the Internet is heating up between giant technology companies and local mobile network operators with potentially big wins for consumers. Global conglomerates such as Facebook, Google and Microsoft have partnered with local Internet Service providers (ISPs) to rollout out thousands of kilometers of fibre infrastructure across the continent, giving local mobile network operators a run for their money. “Africa’s Internet penetration is lagging behind where we have 35 per cent of the population with an Internet connection compared to the global average of 56 per cent,” explained Estelle Akofio-Sowah, the head of CSquared, a private venture by several investors including Google, Convergence Partners, International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Mitsui & Company Ltd (Mitsui). About 145 million people in the major African markets of Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya are still unconnected from the Internet, most of them in the rural areas.  SEE ALSO :Portland cement records Sh1.2b after tax loss
While Kenya boasts Internet penetration levels much higher than regional peers, over 90 per cent of users access the utility through their mobile phones with broadband connectivity still quite low. Latest data from the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) indicates the number of fixed data subscribers stands at 371,498 as of December 2018. Of these, more than 73 per cent have access to speeds higher than 2Mbps (megabits per second), while 23 per cent subscribes to speeds between one and 2Mbps indicating consumer demand for fast broadband. “More than half of the broadband capacity that lands on our coasts through the undersea cables remains at the coast because there is inadequate infrastructure to take it inland and to the last mile,” explained Ms Estelle. CSquared, which is headquartered in Nairobi, recently announced Sh10 billion investment from investors including Convergence Partners, IFC, and Mitsui to roll out network infrastructure across Africa. SEE ALSO :Billions in fake notes seized in house linked to Uhuru impersonators
The company has already built more than 2,100 km of fibre in Uganda, Ghana and Liberia partnering with ISPs and mobile network operators that retail broadband services to the last mile. Kenya’s total international bandwidth capacity currently stands at 4,605Gps with the country served by four undersea cables – SEACOM, East African Marine Cable System (TEAMS), Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System EASSY and Lion 2.    However, the country only uses 24 per cent (977Gbps) of the available broadband with the underutilisation blamed on infrastructure constraints that limit the majority of the population from access. Giant tech firms stand to benefit in broadening broadband access by attracting new users to their platforms, some of which is recording stagnant growth in European and North American markets. According to Facebook’s latest earnings report, the number of daily active users in Africa and the rest of the world excluding Asia-Pacific, Europe, the USA, and Canada currently stands at 490 million. At the same time, Facebook earns an average of Sh635 per user in advertising revenue across the world. SEE ALSO :EAPC sinks further into the red as losses widen to Sh1.2b
Earnings are highest in the US and Canada (Sh2,969), Europe (Sh945) and Asia-Pacific (Sh277) but lowest in Africa and the rest of the world (Sh188). With more than one billion people on the continent and flattening user growth in the rest of the world, Africa thus presents the remaining growth opportunity for the giant social networking platform. This is largely the reason Facebook is currently engaged in rolling out fibre network infrastructure in partnership with local ISPs.  Express WiFi, one of Facebook’s connectivity initiatives has been rolled out in 12 counties across Kenya including Kajiado, Kakamega, Kiambu, Kilifi, Uasin Gishu, Vihiga, and Kisii. The enhanced fibre rollout is good for consumers as it will lead to more variety, competition and hopefully lower data prices. Mobile service providers have on their part continued to aggressively roll out dedicated fibre networks to connect the underserved and grow market share in the lucrative data market. SEE ALSO :KICC pushes for bigger conferencing pie
Telkom Kenya, which earlier this year announced a merger with Airtel Kenya, has committed Sh1 billion for the expansion of its 4G and 3G network. Recently, Telkom Kenya revealed it was part of the DARE Consortium that brings together Djibouti Telecom and Somalia’s Somtel in a project that seeks to install 484 kilometers of undersea cable in the Indian Ocean. Kenya’s leading telecommunications provider Safaricom has so far invested Sh13 billion to roll out its fibre network. Last year, it increased its rollout by 20 per cent. The firm now boasts of more than 5,000 kilometers of fibre network across the country, the highest among service providers. For operators, the benefits of rolling out dedicated fibre despite the massive capital and maintenance costs involved lie in growing subscriber numbers and thus ensuring long-term revenue. Fixed data is currently the fastest growing consumer segment and service providers with large networks have reaped the benefits. Data from the Communication Authority of Kenya indicates the number of fixed data subscribers in Kenya rose from 99,643 as at the end of December 2017 to 175,824 recorded at the end of last year. Safaricom has slurped up the majority of the new subscribers, it’s market share soaring from 16.7 per cent in 2017 to 29.6 per cent last year. Wananchi Online’s Zuku which pioneered the home broadband market and dominated the market for several years has stagnated at 35,300 subscribers. “Our fixed infrastructure strategy aims to optimize the build, partner, wholesale and buy models in order to achieve the widest possible coverage at the most attractive economic cost,” explained Safaricom in it’s latest earnings report. The Universal Service Fund (USF) established under the CA mandating network service operators to contribute a fraction of their annual revenues to go towards building infrastructure in underserved areas currently stands at over Sh7.1 billion. New amendments proposed in the Kenya Information and Communications Bill (Amendment) 2019 proposes widening the usage of the fund to increase access to low-income and rural areas. If approved by parliament, the Bill will see the fund used for rolling out telecommunication services in public institutions. The Bill introduces a new utilization formula with six per cent of the fund used in building network infrastructure in rural and low-income areas, 20 per cent on increasing access to telecommunications services in schools, libraries, and health facilities and another ten per cent on increased nationwide access to advanced services.