Bridging the global digital divide

Some 3.7 bil­lion peo­ple around the world do not have inter­net, the major­i­ty of them liv­ing in devel­op­ing coun­tries. New and more afford­able tech­nol­o­gy is help­ing to change that, by mov­ing away from com­plex, cost-pro­hib­i­tive infra­struc­ture.

High through­put satel­lite tech­nol­o­gy, oper­at­ing main­ly in the pow­er­ful Ka-band fre­quen­cy spec­trum, enables local net­work oper­a­tors and tow­er com­pa­nies to pro­vide cheap­er access to reli­able, fast com­mu­ni­ca­tions. The set­up results from an unprece­dent­ed col­lab­o­ra­tion between ter­res­tri­al and satel­lite oper­a­tors that accel­er­ates the pro­vi­sion of inter­net access in devel­op­ing nations, includ­ing in remote regions.

“Gov­ern­ments and the pri­vate sec­tor have realised they need­ed to be more cre­ative about how to get inter­net to uncon­nect­ed peo­ple. By bring­ing togeth­er dif­fer­ent parts of the ecosys­tem, con­nec­tiv­i­ty can be deliv­ered at less than a tenth of the cost,” explains Kyle White­hill, chief exec­u­tive at the satel­lite provider Avan­ti Com­mu­ni­ca­tions.

Under Avanti’s Extend ser­vice, high per­for­mance 2G, 3G and 4G can be quick­ly and afford­ably rolled out to local mobile net­work oper­a­tors, bol­stered by small­er and smart­ly-pow­ered cell tow­er sites. The tech­nol­o­gy is being advanced even fur­ther under the company’s Instant5G project with the Euro­pean Space Agency, tech­nol­o­gy busi­ness­es and uni­ver­si­ties.

The effects of such com­mu­ni­ca­tion changes on people’s lives are quick­ly vis­i­ble. “Pro­vid­ing prop­er con­nec­tiv­i­ty allows peo­ple to access edu­ca­tion and health­care, and work more effec­tive­ly to be able to feed their fam­i­ly and have secu­ri­ty,” says White­hill. “We believe every­one has the pow­er to ‘be more’ – and by break­ing down these tech­nol­o­gy bar­ri­ers, oppor­tu­ni­ties will be unlocked for them.”

High through­put satel­lite projects are already apace across sub-Saha­ran Africa, where only 26% of peo­ple have mobile inter­net. In north­ern Nige­ria, satel­lite capac­i­ty pro­vid­ed by Avan­ti to the tow­er com­pa­ny IHS and mobile net­work oper­a­tor MTN has enabled mobile con­nec­tions in extreme­ly rur­al areas. Else­where, in Kenya, a col­lab­o­ra­tion between the British gov­ern­ment, tech­nol­o­gy com­pa­nies includ­ing Avan­ti, and pri­vate investors – as part of the Glob­al Part­ner­ship for Edu­ca­tion – is enabling school con­nec­tiv­i­ty for under­rep­re­sent­ed com­mu­ni­ties. The Red Cross in Kenya has also worked with Avan­ti to use satel­lite tech­nol­o­gy as part of their dis­as­ter com­mu­ni­ca­tions, to enable rapid, reli­able com­mu­ni­ca­tions dur­ing human­i­tar­i­an dis­as­ters.

As take-up of mobil­i­ty ser­vices grows, users will inevitably start to rely more on data, and 5G pow­ered by satel­lites will become key to meet­ing this demand. “Many peo­ple in Africa have relied on mobile phones for years but the big move now is access to fast data for cru­cial aspects of their lives. Reli­able and super­fast inter­net con­nec­tiv­i­ty will give peo­ple essen­tial sup­port for advanc­ing their edu­ca­tion and busi­ness­es,” explains White­hill. A major tip­ping point is expect­ed in the com­ing years as 5G hand­sets become sig­nif­i­cant­ly cheap­er.

Along­side projects by the British gov­ern­ment and its coun­ter­parts glob­al­ly, the UK’s pri­vate sec­tor has an impor­tant role to play in help­ing lives in the devel­op­ing world become more secure and empow­ered, White­hill notes. Exist­ing projects that Avan­ti is heav­i­ly involved with include help­ing mar­gin­alised peo­ple access edu­ca­tion and tech­nol­o­gy in Kenya, South Sudan, Rwan­da, Ghana and Ango­la. In Kenya alone, over 200 schools and more than 170,000 chil­dren now have inter­net at school.

“Get­ting high through­put satel­lite tech­nol­o­gy across Africa will bring mea­sur­able changes to people’s lives. While in Europe and the UK we might think of 5G in terms of faster stream­ing and enabling con­nect­ed cars, for Africa the first ben­e­fit will be depth of cov­er­age that unlocks vital life oppor­tu­ni­ties,” White­hill con­cludes. “Giv­en the sig­nif­i­cant growth in band­width that will be need­ed, high through­put satel­lite tech­nol­o­gy will enable rapid and afford­able progress.”

To find out how 5G and satel­lite tech­nol­o­gy is con­nect­ing the world, vis­it avantiplc.com

Pro­mot­ed by Avan­ti