According to the Africa Development Bank, the African continent has seen spectacular growth of international bandwidth since the Connect Africa Summit held in Rwanda in 2009.

The assessment of Post Connect Africa Summit held in 2009 identifies that much has been achieved in terms of connecting the capital cities and major towns in at least half of African countries due to private sector investment and public broadband projects.

In addition, Northern Africa is served by a variety of cables with a total bandwidth of well over 10 terabytes. The Eastern coast of Africa that has seen a completion of a number of cables has also seen a dramatic increase of international bandwidth to about 7 terabyte.

The completion of undersea cables around the continent is also expected to increase the current bandwidth in the western coast of Africa from around 4 terabytes to 27 Tbps by the end of 2013 and over 50 Tbps in 2014.

The dramatic increase in Africa’s international fibre bandwidth has definitively ended the continent’s dependence on satellite communication.

Within the next decade Africa will have no shortage of international band width, estimated at some 50 Tbps in 2012, largely sufficient capacity in the short and medium term to meet the demand of end users in the key aspects of quantity (amount bandwidth), quality (alternative and secure international routes) and competitiveness.

However, one of the main gaps identified in the African continent’s infrastructure value chain is the national and regional backbone that underpins the delivery of broadband capacity to government, academia, businesses and individual users.

Over 30 countries in Africa have yet to build the adequate backbone networks that support social and economic growth. This deficit is unevenly distributed among countries with some, such as Morocco, Tunisia and South Africa which have a significant density in terrestrial network, while others, such as most of the countries in ECCAS have virtually no national infrastructure. The major regional broadband gap is in west, central and eastern Africa.

It is important to highlight the fact that Broadband Internet is more likely to benefit the social and economic development of all members of society if it is supported by clear policy leadership and strategic frameworks. Over the past few years international ICT regulators and policy-makers have begun to recognize broadband as a policy imperative.

While many countries around the world have some form of broadband policy in place and many Ministries of Education have called for broadband in all schools, progress towards reaching these goals is irregular and difficult to track, especially because many African countries do not distinguish between connection types when collecting data related to ICT access and use.

In terms of mobile broadband, the opportunity to support teaching and learning through mobile technologies is increasingly being explored by educational institutions. Some governments and school systems are leveraging the power of mass purchasing to negotiate lower prices for equipment and cheaper connectivity rates for schools.

In Senegal, mobile network operators are key players in the extension of internet connectivity to schools by rolling out broadband GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) networks. Exact figures on the penetration of mobile broadband in schools in developing countries, however, are extremely rare.

Overall, the political efforts made to facilitate access to technology in schools have been remarkable. It is also important to remember that many young people around the world already have better access to technology outside their schools than inside them, thus reversing the situation of a decade ago when access at home was lower than in school. It is important that the African continent does find itself behind the digital revolution currently underway.