 | Issue: | AME 2012 |
| Article no.: | 7 | |
| Topic: | Satellite technology offers opportunity to change lives in Africa | |
| Author: | IbrahimaGuimba-Saidou | |
| Title: | VP and GM | |
| Organisation: | SES | |
| PDF size: | 293KB |
About author
Mr IbrahimaGuimba-Saidou has more than 15 years of professional experience in the telecommunications industries worldwide. His expertise is in strategy, operations planning and management, market sizing, product marketing, business planning, Sales and Market development. Mr Guimba-Saidou has been recipient of several CEO Awards throughout his career. He joined SES as Vice President and General Manager, Africa in 2011.
Prior to joining SES, Mr Guimba-Saidou was Senior Key Director and Managing Sales Director with Intelsat. Before taking up this role, he was Director of the Regional Marketing Management team of Intelsat, a position he reached after having been Managing Director of Intelsat in South Africa from 2004 to 2006. He joined the company as a Communication Engineer in the Technical Operations Control Centre, where his responsibilities included configuring satellite transponders and plotting beam coverage.
Prior to Intelsat, Mr Guimba-Saidou worked for Société des TélécommunicationsInternationales du Niger, the Signatory of Niger where he advised the Director General on new technologies with a focus on the Internet.
IbrahimaGuimba-Saidouholds and Electrical Engineering degree from EcolePolytechnique of Montreal and a degree in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Niamey (Niger). He received his Master’s degree in International Management as well as an MBA from the University of Maryland.
Article abstract
Satellite is particularly suitable for African countries, with their vast distances and untamed terrain. Satellite is unrivalled in terms of quality, choice and reach, and maintains the same quality, no matter where the customer is, in a remote village or a major city.Satellite is now affordable with the improved throughput satellite transponders. It can integrate with existing technologies to provide seamless coverage. It is the key to unlocking the broadband immense benefits which will transform the African socio-economy, and enhance considerably education, health and e-government as well as commerce.
Full Article
The World Bank has found that in developing countries, each ten percent growth in Internet penetration increases per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by 1.4 percent.In Africa, approximately 300 million people find themselves over 50km from a fibre or cable broadband connection -and the further from the connection, the worse the broadband quality. An additional 400 million people on the continent have no internet access at all, indicating that around 700 million people have limited or no access to broadband. These figures signify a great opportunity for broadband to contribute the fulfilment of the promise of development on the continent.
Lack of reliable telecommunication infrastructure has a huge impact on:
1. Research – prevents proper collaboration and knowledge sharing; prevents many African universities from participating in the global research community; precludes the adaptation of the latest research findings to the real needs of the local economy and prevents relevant research in key focus areas such as agriculture, meteorology and renewable energy;
2. Education – deprives the community of the internet, which creates a level playing field for students worldwide;
3. Healthcare – lack of Internet means that skilled medical staff based in big centres cannot intervene and transfer knowledge to hospitals in rural communities;
4. E-government – prevents the proximity and decentralisation of governmental services in all provinces; the Internet improves the efficiency of state departments by offering quality services to the population.
While there are plans to increase fibre connectivity across the African continent by 2013 or 2014, satellite broadband has the advantage of reach, providing an efficient way of connecting the majority of the 700 million unconnected people.
Satellite connectivity maintains the same quality, no matter what the geographic location of the customer, and does not discriminate between villages and cities. Rapid deployment is possible with satellite, providing services across an entire region, and it’s not necessarily more expensive. Significant progress has been made in the satellite value proposition, making it more appealing through the efficient use of technology, which provides better throughput on each transponder. As part of a hybrid solution, satellite can act as an extension to an existing fibre network. VSAT, WiMax, WiFi and Picocells can also be installed to extend the reach.
As with mobile penetration in Africa, bringing universal broadband connectivity to Africa will have a dramatic impact on GDP, allowing commercial activities to develop in remote rural areas. For example, broadband for farmers will give them access to market knowledge to allow them to trade online, pre-sell their wares and have instant communication with the rest of the world. Of course, broadband will also offer farmers access to the latest information on agricultural best practice and other developments.
First time access for African communities will offer opportunities in many different areas of human activity. For example in education, where some of the world’s top universities including Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania now offer free online education to anyone with an internet connection: “This is revolutionary stuff. It means that people around the world (at least, those who speak English) can access top-quality higher education without paying a cent. The various initiatives of these schools offer an exciting model for the future of higher education, one in which knowledge is more accessible and opportunities for learning more equitable than ever before” (Moneyweb, 3 May 2012).
Health services also benefit from internet technology, allowing health professionals in the developed world or in major cities to connect with remote areas via satellite to advise local, less qualified professionals. Government services, communication services, entertainment, news are further areas which benefit from broadband connectivity.
Broadband stimulates people’s natural curiosity and creativity and leads them to find new avenues to make technology work for them and generate income. An excellent example of this creativity and lateral thinking is MPESA money transfer in Kenya, which now carries a significant proportion of the money circulating in the country. The concept has since grown across the continent and today its reach has been extended to the service industry in many African countries (e.g. electricity payments), indicating the flexibility of technology. “Today the mobile money service has around 15-million users and about a third of the Kenyan GDP passes through it. Some think that MPESA has disrupted entire economies and others that it is the only real economic disruptor of the 21st-Century” (Memeburn.com 7 May 2012).
There is no doubt that technology will enable further financial services for less wealthy people across the continent. In the insurance industry, ICT infrastructure can be used to establish a virtual office, rendering travel unnecessary and serving a broad audience. There is potential to establish a franchise operation along these lines.
In Senegal, technology enabled a smooth transition of government because rural areas are no longer cut off from communication and have access to news. The Arab Spring was based on technology, giving a voice to the masses.
Most African countries have a sizeable proportion of their population in rural areas covering vast distances across uneven geographic features. Lack of infrastructure in many African countries also points to the opportunities offered by satellite coverage. While there is a growing TV and cellular penetration in Africa (one in three households in Africa has a TV set), fewer than ten million homes in Africa receive content in a digital format.
Mobile network operators are cautious about making further capital investments, and here satellites can be used to alleviate some of the current and future mobile congestion and limitations. Satellite is unrivalled in terms of quality, choice and reach. SES has eight satellites currently serving Africa, with more capacity in the pipeline to help meet the growing demand both in terms of broadband and digital broadcasting.
As a continent, Africa is hungry for human, economic and social development. Technology has opened up considerable opportunities. Satellite certainly has an important role to play in bringing the myriad benefits of broadband to the majority of the population.
