Developing South Africa

With Evotel knuckling down to action in an effort to reclaim its place within the telecommunications space, we take a look at other tech-savvy countries around the world excelling within the fibre internet space.

Research reveals that Singapore, South Korea, and the UAE are some of the states at the peak of the rest when it comes to high Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) penetration, coverage, and internet speeds.

In Africa, South Africa has developed an intense competition with leaders Mauritius, Morocco, Kenya, Namibia, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Tanzania and Nigeria.

However, boasting the best technology in Africa are Mzansi and Mauritius who possess the best sophisticated infrastructure that makes it feasible for everyone to have access to the fibre internet, and the latter is reported to be at 95% of its population connected.

Allen Gong, Huawei’s Senior Managing Consultant, has highly rated South Africa on the continent and has no doubt that competition is limited between Mauritius and Mzansi, however, he is not ruling out Tunisia.

According to Gong, some of the countries that have already migrated to fibre internet space will have to change their technical approach and ensure they use the technology that will make them compatible with the rest of the world.

“Most are still stuck in core (urban) market but ignoring villages where internet is mostly needed,” he said, reasoning that it doesn’t work as strongly like before.

“They cannot make business only in cities when most of its occupants come from villages. My international experience tells me that I can give you, as South Africa, assurance that you’re on the right track, but government must help too by passing legislations that will make internet available to the people at affordable prices.

“The organisation like Evotel could be on an upward spiral considering the organisational structure, criteria, and sales people will be enabled by technology companies like Huawei.

“Social responsibility is very important and it works for South Africa. I would vouch for you in Africa.”

Despite all, Gong says in Africa, South Africa leads in the fibre market: “I’ve been to Kenya, Nigeria and a lot of other countries, and this is my expertise analysis. In South Africa, there is more than six million homes passed. Kenya is two million passed, and Nigeria is a paltry 50 000 from studies. South Africa is better. But Mauritius is way ahead with 95% covered with fibre internet.” 

In comparison to his country, China, and Fibre in South Africa, he indicated that the Asian country is second to none in the world when it comes to technological changes.

He indicated that their internet technology power is derived from a combination of many factors, comprising increasingly digitally savvy population, government support and the development of new technology, coupled with their special approach to internet governance that fosters innovation within a controlled environment. 

According to him, the winning concept for China was selling internet in a combo of Fibre-To-The-Home, sim-card for mobile device and camera, and in some instances cloud storage space.

“You can have everything all at once in China,” he boasted.

“The combo package is cheaper than paying it separately. Internet is far cheaper in China than South Africa for different reasons, most infrastructure is manufactured there, and the start up speed is 1Gig speed, which is well promoted.”

Unlike in South Africa, the Chinese government is reportedly taking seriously the importance of technology for economic growth and national power, allocating significant resources to research and development in key areas.

This is derived from fact that China’s mobile internet penetration is high, “and the country is a major player in mobile technology development, including 5G and related applications.”   It is believed that the Chinese technology companies prioritise unique solutions toward challenges they faced by the country’s market, which in turn is exported globally for others to foot their research bill.