As the African continent sought to bridge the communications ‘digital divide’, it should be cautious not to fall into “an even deeper gap – the broadband access gap”, emphasised Intelsat Africa regional vice-president Flavien Bachabi.

He maintained that it was a challenge, however, all relevant role-players, including telecommunications (telecoms) operators, regulators, suppliers, and even consumers, had to start working to raise awareness of the widening broadband access gap on the continent.

A shift from concerns over pure telephony to broadband access was needed, and computer illiteracy was also an important obstacle to overcome in ensuring that the benefits of broadband were realised.

Bachabi drew the distinction between availability and accessibility of broadband, and argued that it was virtually available, particularly considering that Intelsat’s infrastructure covered 95% of the continent, but was not accessible to all.

Regulators had a significant role to play in promoting and facilitating broadband penetration, he said, stressing that the creation of a level playing field, by way of opening markets, and creating legally compliant business environments in countries, would attract investors into the sector.

He said that African regulators should not be conservative when drawing up policy relating to broadband, and should, besides defining what a broadband service is, be more specific on what “affordable broadband” is, in terms of service speed, monthly usage caps and price.

“We need an adequate and well-defined broadband policy – then it will be easier to get all operators fitting in under those guidelines. Allocation of spectrum must be balanced, and licences must be handed out in a timely way, otherwise companies lose out on business opportunities,” added Bachabi.

South Africa’s draft Broadband Policy, was released for comment in September, and it states that “each citizen in South Africa has a right to have access to basic broadband”.

However, while the government said that increasing access and availability of broadband was one of the methods of achieving its goals of social upliftment and growth of the economy, there was not much finer detail on how this would be achieved or what the minimum standards would be.

Interestingly, Finland's Ministry of Transport and Communications has recently committed to ensuring that every person in Finland can access the Internet at a minimum speed of 1Mb/s from July 2010, as the Internet was viewed as a basic right. Indeed, in many rural areas it is seen as an enabler of basic rights such as healthcare and education.

CONNECTIVITY BOOSTS ECONOMIC GROWTH

Bachabi noted that a recent World Bank report indicated that 80% of the world’s population did not have access to broadband, and most of these people were situated in developing countries.

The report also noted that for every 1% increase in broadband connectivity, a corresponding 1,3% increase in the gross domestic product of a country usually followed – which was why developing countries have, and should continue to put a focus on enhancing broadband.

Bachabi highlighted that even though the world has been severely affected by the global financial crisis, the information and communication technology (ICT) industry has continued to experience growth in Africa, as demand for ICT services on the continent continues to increase. The sector has also created more jobs than any other during the period.

Intelsat, which has an office in Johannesburg, has been operational in Africa for over four decades, providing voice, data, video and television services through satellite transmission. The company also supports numerous mobile operators on the continent.

“Intelsat has been a part of the evolution of African telecommunications services and infrastructure,” said Bachabi, adding that it was the first company to introduce voice telephony services through satellite, and the first to provide services to pay-television company Multichoice in the 1990s.

The company started establishing Pan-African broadband networks in 2003, and has assisted mobile operators by providing mobile backhaul through base transceiver stations and switches.

In addition to providing services to telecoms operators in Africa, Intelsat provides corporate network operations, specialised services for the military, and specialised services for governments and disaster recovery services.

Bachabi said that increasing political stability, and reconstruction efforts in Africa would assist in driving growth of the telecoms sector. Progress on the regulatory front, as well as continuously improving technologies, and increased applications would also ensure the continued growth of the industry.

AFRICAN CONNECTIVITY

The map of African connectivity was set to change dramatically by 2011, as a number of new undersea fibre-optic cables increase the bandwidth capacity to the continent. In addition to the existing SAT-3 and Seacom cables, another seven cables are planned for the continent.

It was anticipated that the introduction of these cables would provide increased and more affordable Internet connectivity, and would reduce the need for reliance on more expensive satellite technology for connectivity.

Bachabi noted that undersea cables were actually complementary to the satellite operator’s business, as it created further business opportunities. “In our experience, where a cable lands, we receive more demand for capacity. From the cable landing point, the capacity must be carried inland, and the fastest way to do that is satellite.”

Inland countries, which did not have access to sub marine fibre-optics cables landing on the coast, would continue to rely on satellite technology.

Bachabi also noted that Intelsat sometimes used fibre optics to provide hybrid services to customers when it was a more cost-effective option.

The benefits of satellite technology include: the ability to access remote areas, and overcome terrestrial obstacles, the ability to deploy antennae at a rapid rate, and the fact that a customer could build up and upgrade a network over time without having to replace existing equipment.