Africa, already the world’s fastest-growing market for telecommunications, is about to get a lot more connected. A new study by Boston-based AfricaNext Investment is predicting fourfold growth in broadband connectivity on the continent by 2012.

Hannah Armstrong

Massive investments in infrastructure and increased regional cooperation on regulatory frameworks are expected to expand access and drive down costs for broadband access across the continent, especially in east and Southern Africa, where the cost of high-speed Internet through dial-up or satellite remains prohibitively high.

Linking to distant international networks currently accounts for nearly two-thirds of the cost of connecting to the Internet from East Africa. Last year, construction was underway on three fiber optic cables off the coast of East Africa, as investors stepped up their competition to tap into the African broadband market. Private company Seacom began construction on an undersea cable in 2008 that is expected to link Africa to Asian and European networks by June of 2009. The World Bank is helping fund the installation of the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (Eassy) together with an association of regional telecom players. Kenya’s government is also working on an undersea cable to link to the United Arab Emirates. These cables could reduce the cost of Internet in East Africa and landlocked central regions by as much as 80 percent.

The connectivity advantages of underwater cables can only be realized in conjunction with improvements in national infrastructures. The e-Africa Commission, an initiative spearheaded by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), aims to coordinate countries’ infrastructural upgrades with the introduction of new cables, through a broadband infrastructure protocol calling for the signing countries to implement network integration projects and cooperate on regulatory and policy issues. Ten undersea cables and national networks are currently planned or under construction, for a total investment of $6bn.

According to the new study, “2009 could represent the most significant opportunity for investment returns in the African telecoms sector since the mobile voice boom, which saw subscribers rocket to 270mn in 2007 from 2 million nine years earlier”. Aside from offering substantial growth opportunities to operators and equipment firms, the vast and rapid expansion of the continent’s access to high-speed Internet is expected to usher in breakthroughs in healthcare, education, and poverty alleviation.