The new year has telecommunication experts excited about the possibilities for Africa. With the increase in new cables delivering more than 20 terabits of fiber capacity to the continent by the end of the year, a jump from less than 20 percent that capacity a decade ago, analysts are hopeful that the industry can pick up where it left off in 2011.
“I think we are heading toward a great year where we will see major jumps in the sector here in Uganda and across the continent as a whole,” said Yussif Khalil, a former Warid Telecom executive and now private consultant.
He told IT News Africa that “the future of the telecom industry in Africa will depend on whether all these new technologies and cables will function properly and companies do not try to move too quickly with new offerings,” echoing the Ugandan government on Monday.
“Africa has been our biggest market for the past three years,” said Leigh Frame, COO of Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks.
At the end of the year, Africa will be well connected and not need any new major international submarine systems for a while, said Frame. Looking beyond 2012, Frame does not see any single region experiencing a wave of submarine cable demand on the scale of Africa. That said, there will likely be a mix of projects of in Asia and the Americas where operators will need capacity for existing routes or their own systems to expand their business.
“Many operators want autonomy and control over their systems,” Frame explained. “This is the case in India for companies like Reliance, Bharti, and Tata.”
The push into the continent by Indian companies, especially in East Africa, has Khalil and others optimistic. “This should be a good year and one that sees foreign companies increase competition that will be passed on to customers,” he said.
Andrew Matapare
