by Adlane FellahAfrica remains the least connected continent in the world both from the view of the total bandwidth feeding the entire continent and from an Internet penetration perspective. Restrictive regulatory policies, state monopolies, high costs and a shortage of local skills in information and communication technologies have been responsible for the slow development of African telecoms.
Things are changing however. For the past 3 years, a wave of deregulations and the prioritization of the telecoms sector through pan-African initiatives such as the NEPAD have boosted the creation of independent regulators and the entry into the market of competing services providers. Initially, those operators were dominated by either small and local ISPs (Internet Service Providers) or new mobile operators attracted by a huge demand for voice services not met by the state monopoly. By 2010 most of the countries will be open to competition. All these facts make the African continent one of the most viable for telecom application using BWA especially for WiMAX which will bring the standardization's low cost advantages and allow new entrants and ILECs to compete and construct viable business cases when addressing residential and business customers.
African operators who have deployed DECT or Wireless Local Loop will use existing networks to the limits before investing in any new fancy wireless technology. Money or the lack of it is an issue in Africa. Other challenges include entities that have won licenses and either do not know what to do with them or lack the cash to invest in the required network. So what is the current situation in the continent?
Current Deployments of BWA/WiMAX:
Various system vendors have deployed modest BWA networks in Africa. Maravedis has interviewed selected system vendors to learn more about their commercial activities in Africa. However this list is not exhaustive.
SR Telecom claims it has deployed 700,000 lines in the continent with the majority of customers being ILECs. SR has been selling narrowband wireless local loop systems in Africa for decades. Those lines are mostly narrowband links for voice and low data to urban and rural areas. Most deployed bands include 1.5 GHz, 3.5 GHz and 2.4 GHz.
According to Jalal Benbrahim, Market Development Director EMEA at SR telecom, the African market for BWA/WiMAX is very promising. "With deregulation and the opening of the fixed market in countries like Algeria, Morocco and Sudan, new operators will need to deploy wireless networks to avoid dependency on incumbents".
Does this base of narrowband networks represent a potential for migration of those networks to broadband and WiMAX? "There is a great potential but all depends on the network topology and the demand for bigger pipes," says Jalal.
The Graph below shows the top 10 African economies by Internet penetration (left) and distribution of Internet users by sub-region (right) for 2003.
Source: ITU (click the image to enlarge it)
Among the challenge faced by African operators is the ability to build a decent business case with a low-income population. Jalal believes there is an opportunity to provide broadband Internet to businesses and high-end users in the short term. He also believes for mass adoption to take place, a “prepaid” model similar to mobile must be implemented to control bad debts.
Chinese equipment maker is also active in Africa. ZTE claims it has deployed successfully its BWA system in Kenya. Other countries have smaller networks or trials. According to Jennifer Chen, Manager Business Development with ZTE "African markets are different from Developed markets, Voice, Data and E1 are all very necessary."
IP Wireless, although not a WiMAX player, has also been very active in Africa through its partner Axcera with substantial deployments reported. The largest of those deployments is in South Africa with operator Sentech. Sentech is a state owned enterprise that provides broadcast signal distribution, international telephony and broadband services. The network is composed of about 50 base stations (or 130 sectors) and serves about 5,000 users in the 2.5GHz band. The service named "MyWireless" targets both residential and business users with fixed and portable data services.Sentech also deployed VectaStar fixed wireless access equipment at 3.5GHz from UK-based Cambridge Broadband's. Sentech is the only operator in South Africa other than the incumbent telecom operator to have a 3.5GHz fixed wireless license. The company plans to use the spectrum to provide Broadband Wireless services to business and residential customers, as well as for backhauling traffic from other network components.
In Nigeria, IP Wireless/Axcera deployed a network with Netcom Africa in the 2.5GHz band. The service name "MyNetcom" is initially offered in the largest cities including Lagos and Abuja. In Tanzania, Axcera reports that CatsNet, a local ISP has deployed a commercial network in the 1.9Ghz. Other actives in the continent include trials in Douala (Cameroon) and with EmilNet in Mozambique.
According to Rich Schwartz, Director Marketing and Product Management for Axcera, "Africa represents a great opportunity for BWA to both extend current services or provide a quick initial roll out." Rich added, "Most of our customers are offering consumer and enterprise portable/mobile broadband wireless. Although the technology is capable, none is yet using its network to offer VoIP services."
Axcera sell through local agents which they train to provide 1st line support but the company send it staff to install the equipment, provide coverage analysis, system design, OSS, etc...
In April 2005, Wireless Business Solutions (WBS) officially launched its iBurst mobile broadband service in South Africa, after six months of pre-commercial operation. WBS’ network using Arraycomm iBurst equipment is now operating in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban, and Robin Island. WBS will continue to intensify its base station roll-out in metropolitan areas and is currently looking at beginning roll-out to rural areas.
Connections to the iBurst network can be made through a desktop modem or PCMCIA card, providing full subscriber mobility.
WBS’ Chief Operations Officer (COO) Thami Mtshali says the demand for broadband and affordable high-speed Internet access is increasing and "we want to ensure that we are able to meet the market’s expectations." He continues, "People are also glad to find a new service that can provide mobility for both work and play."
WBS has also connected several schools with its iBurst service.
According to Steven Glapa, Director of Marketing for ArrayComm, the company has activities underway in several countries where the operators are flying 'under the radar' for a variety of reasons.
Although there was no announcement related to the African market in 2004, our knowledge of Airspan and its operations in Africa allow us to stipulate that the projects initiated in the past year are still on their way. We recall that the OEM relationship in Africa with Siemens produced business but that relationship although active is not expanding. During 2003, Airspan expanded its presence in the EMEA market adding 30 new customers: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria (thousands of lines) with Mobitel (3.5GHz-AS4020), and Uganda Telecom (3.5GHz,WipLL), to name just a few.
Alvarion is the largest pure BWA/WiMAX system vendor so far with activities in all continents. Its presence in Africa is strong. In 2004, Telkom SA Limited has placed additional orders for MGW™ equipment to complete a countrywide, wireless network infrastructure project initiated in 2003. Kenya Data Networks Ltd. (KDN), a subsidiary of Kenya’s Sameer ICT Group, is deploying Alvarion solutions with orders valued at over $900,000 in a project seeking to replace leased lines and provide broadband access services to Kenya’s ISP’s and business community.
According to company sources, there are 50 Alvarion BWA/WiMAX networks in Africa. Alvarion claims a presence in the following countries: South Africa, Ivory Coast, Congo, Burkina, Faso, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Botswana, Swaziland, Madagascar, Eritrea, Benin, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Angola, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia Mauritania. Networks have been deployed using a variety of licensed and unlicensed spectrums to provide voice and data services to residential and business users.
"We expect the overall market for voice and data solutions to continue to grow since most of Africa's population still does not have a phone and PTTs are increasingly under pressure to give them one. BWA will continue to be the fastest and most cost-effective way of reaching areas without any existing wired infrastructure—or where the wired network is old and/or saturated," says a representative of Alvarion.
At press time, Alvarion announced a new customer in Ivory Coast. Arobase Telecom, the Ivory Coast’s second national operator, has placed orders for BreezeMAX 3500, Alvarion’s WiMAX-ready platform. Upon its commercial launch, the operator will supply broadband data and voice services to corporate and SME subscribers in the nation’s capital city of Abidjan.
WiMAX will drive down the cost of components and improve the business model for all types of organisations. Alvarion's BreezeMAX CPE currently costs an operator about US$300-$500. However, we expect these prices to fall rapidly over the next couple of years” Alvarion added.
NextNet Wireless is also active in Africa. Afnet Internet Services (Côte d’Ivoire) a WISP has deployed a dozen or more of base stations to serve high-end businesses and residential users in the 2.5GHz band. In Cameroon and Ghana, NextNet reports modest commercial deployments while in Zambia and Congo trials are being conducted.
Continue on to part 2.
