The problem with common beliefs and assumptions is that they are very often outdated, or wrong. For example, there’s a common belief that connectivity on the African continent isn’t on par with the rest of the world. That it lags the tap, click and go of commoditised First World connectivity. The belief that African connectivity is so poor that cloud is unattainable, along with innovation and the fourth Industrial Revolution. It is beyond time to rethink this reality.

The Speed Test market research survey for Africa undertaken by 4Sight Dynamics Africa found that the average download speed was well in line with the global average at 41.9Mbit/s. African Internet is fast, capable and continuously improving.

The survey captured results provided by 4Sight Dynamics Africa channel partners across 23 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa. The participating partners represented a cross-section of the company’s partner network with a total of 59 participating partners.

Every participant completed two recognised speed tests: the Ookla Speedtest and the Azure Speed Test, and the results were submitted over a five-week period during October and November 2020. The results captured by survey respondents using these two tests provide one very clear point: Africa’s Internet is not as bad as people think. It is, in fact, on a par with many developed countries and is capable of delivering the same quality service and performance.

In short, businesses and partners operating across key markets in Africa have excellent connectivity to fully benefit from the potential of cloud services and data centres.

The channel advantage

For the channel community servicing organisations across the continent, the survey results offer tangible proof of connectivity that’s perfectly capable of handling cloud-based applications and delivering full-scale capacity and capability to their customers. It is time to rethink the reality that has limited business investment into cloud, software and service offerings and to show how Africa can compete on the global stage.

The Internet speed test survey results found that the average download speed amongst partners in Africa was 41.9Mbit/s compared to the mobile global average of 39.2Mbit/s and fixed broadband speed of 87.8Mbit/s. The upload speed was 33.5Mbit/s compared to 11.6Mbit/s globally on mobile and 47.2Mbit/s on fixed broadband, while the average latency was 25.5 milliseconds compared to global mobile at 38ms and global fixed broadband at 21ms. Partners, based across multiple countries on the continent, are experiencing upload and download speeds that provide them and their customers with the connectivity they need to fully experience the power of solutions hosted and operating in, for example, Microsoft Azure.

The author, Nick Botha, argues that poor connectivity in Africa is a myth

However, it is not just the connectivity that’s changing the shape of cloud on the continent, it’s the technology itself. Technology is constantly getting smarter, evolving, committed to using less pipe, and becoming more efficient with bandwidth and data usage. There’s been significant investment from technology companies to compress data usage for cloud-based applications. An example of this is how communication tools like Microsoft Teams optimise the compression and encoding of video and audio files for users’ connected devices across Africa as more companies and individuals gain the toolsets they need to connect and collaborate.

The connected opportunity

For business partners, it is in how organisations approach their cloud strategies and to emphasise the investments made by the technology giants like Microsoft into local data centres and solutions. Africa doesn’t need to stand back when it comes to cloud accessibility and productivity. Not only have the large vendors invested into Africa with hyperscale data centres, but telecommunications operators are investing into networks, rolling out 4G and 5G connectivity solutions that are pulling the threads of the continent together.

The key takeaway from the survey is not just that poor connectivity in Africa is a myth, but that continued innovation and investment are paying off, creating a fertile ground for service providers and vendors alike.

Join us on Thursday, 18 February 2021 where we will be hosting a webinar to unpack the insights from our first Speed Test market research survey.

Register now to attend

About 4Sight
4Sight is a JSE AltX-listed, multi-national, diversified technology group (ticker: 4SI). Our purpose is to leverage our extensive product and services portfolio, focused on 4IR technologies, people and data-focused solutions to design, develop, deploy and grow solutions for our partners (customers and vendors). Our mission is to empower our partners to future-proof their businesses through digital transformation to make better and more informed decisions in the modern digital economy.

Across 4Sight, our teams sit with the core capabilities (people, skills and technologies) to accelerate the convergence between the operational technologies (OT), information technologies (IT) and business environment (BE) worlds through our integrated solutions. This empowers us to create new revenue streams and relevance for our partners. We are the digital transformation partner of choice to quantum leap your business into the realm of Enterprise 5.0.