As our summer internship session winds down, TeleGeography welcomes summer pricing intern Zar Adisuryo to the blog! Zar just graduated from Georgetown University with a master's in communication, culture, and technology here in Washington, DC.
We had the best time with her intern class in the office; our interns are an asset as we compile large, data-intensive research projects throughout the summer. Today, Zar shares what she's learned about broadband in Africa while on the job.
We'll pass the baton to Zar to tell you the rest. ⬇️
This summer, I was glad to join TeleGeography’s Pricing Team as a research intern assisting with the annual update of our business broadband data. I spent a chunk of my time focusing on Africa and some parts of Asia.
As my internship experience winds down, I wanted to reflect on what I’ve learned from the TeleGeography team about the broadband market in Africa.
The Telecom Encyclopedia
First, let’s start with a few definitions I needed to brush up on.
Regarding internet access services, broadband is any internet access that provides higher-speed capabilities with low latency, compared to traditional dial-up access.
Business broadband includes the broadband services internet providers offer to businesses, as opposed to home access. This type varies in terms of access types, including fiber (LAN/FTTx), wireless, DSL, cable, and satellite.
Business Broadband Access Types in Africa
LAN or FTTx captures the use of fiber-optic cables to bring signals to the area of a user’s premises. This is the most popular access type of business broadband in Africa at about 53% of the market penetration, followed by wireless and satellite.
We may be looking at rapid development in Africa’s connectivity market over the next decade. Here’s why.
Infrastructure Development & Tech Giants
TeleGeography is no stranger to the African connectivity market.
In August 2023, TeleGeography Senior Research Manager Patrick Christian presented at the African Peering and Interconnection Forum. In this presentation, Patrick reported a significant increase in submarine cable investment.
Regional Subsea Cable Investment | AFPIF 2023
Submarine cable investments consist of fiber optic cables. Thus, the increasing investment here will increase access to the connectivity market, including business broadband.
There are two current projects worth highlighting—one from Meta and one from Google—hyperfocused on increasing connectivity between Africa and the world.
The first is the 2Africa Subsea Cable Project. 2Africa is the largest ongoing subsea cable system coming in at 45,000 km cable with an expected capacity of 180 Tbps to provide continuous capacity within Africa while connecting countries in Africa toward Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.
This project is backed by eight major technology and telecommunications companies including Meta, Vodafone, and China Mobile. The project launched in 2020; Airtel Africa activated the portion connecting Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa in June 2024.
The second cable project worth noting is Umoja from Google. Anchored in Kenya—passing through Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, before crossing the Indian Ocean to Australia—Umoja becomes the first ever subsea fiber optic route that connects Africa and Australia. Umoja follows Equiano, a previous subsea cable project by Google that goes from Portugal to South Africa.
Looking to the Sky
Apart from fiber infrastructure investments, Satellite broadband popularity is on the rise.
As of May 2024, satellite broadband provider Starlink provided services to eight African countries. They have plans to expand to 20 countries by the end of 2024.
Satellite broadband access is popular among rural areas where it is challenging to plant fiber due to challenges on the land infrastructure. And while Starlink is gaining attention, many other satellite connectivity providers are also active in Africa and teaming up with satellite and telecommunications companies to bring higher speed and lower latency internet connectivity in the market. In the Low Earth Orbit satellite market, one recent example is Eutelsat Group partnering up with Liquid Technologies.
Business broadband is an important element in the market connectivity in Africa. Since we are looking at these large investments on the backbone infrastructure projects focused in the region, and satellite disruptors like Starlink grow influence in the African region, cables, and satellite will affect the business broadband, which is a part of the connectivity market as a whole.
My TeleGeography Reading List
- Starlink Expanding in Africa Trends
- Africa Update: More Cables, Less Dependency on Europe
- New Cables Are Coming to Africa
- Beyond the Red Sea Blues: West Africa Faces Fresh Cable Faults
- Mobile as Infrastructure in Africa
- Nigeria: Africa’s Mobile Giant
Many thanks to Zar for sharing insights from her summer internship. If you'd like to explore a TeleGeography internship, keep an eye on our Careers page for opportunities in 2025 and beyond.