While the pandemic had changed the world, digital technologies - like 5G, AI and cloud were evolving rapidly, and ICT technology was becoming widely used in different industries, which created a window of opportunity for all, says Huawei Southern Africa region president Leo Chen.
He was speaking at the AfricaTech Festival at the Cape Town International Convention Centre yesterday.
Technology, he said, would boost productivity and promote employment leading to sustainable growth.
“In fact, over the last two decades Africa has made great progress in digitisation. Africa has established submarine cable infrastructure that is internet broadband infrastructure and bridged the digital divide between urban and rural areas. But the divide is worsened by the power supply deficit,” Chen said.
A lot of African enterprises that embraced digitisation were being held back due lack of experience, talent and valuable technology solutions.
Africa could break these bottlenecks by deepening the connectivity and connecting more people, unleashing digital productivity and enabling digital transformation among industries, as well as make the ICT industry more energy efficient and reduce emissions across all industries.
He said most African countries were migrating from 2G, 3G, 4G and some were moving quickly to 5G.
“But fragmented spectrum and limited fibre resources are making this very difficult,” he said.
Africa needed to unleash digital productivity. Ports in Africa could be enhanced with digital technology like 5G, AI and cloud trade efficiencies. Investment attraction could be enhanced to bring huge value to economic and social development. Similarly, solutions could be widely used for the other sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare and education.
“We also believe that digital technology will be key in reducing emissions across all the industries. As research indicates, by 2030 ICT is expected to help reduce industry emissions by 12 billion tonnes, roughly 10 times the amount emitted by the ICT industry itself,” he said.
As Africa steered its digital economy into the future, it needed to make sure it had what it takes.
“I would like to call for more favourable policy for the economy, including for spectrum and fibre-development. More investment in inclusive and robust digital infrastructure, more collaboration between the public and private sector to foster a richer digital ecosystem and cultivate more digital talent and local tech champions, Chen said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Deputy Minister Philly Mapulane said more than 450 million people still lived out of reach of a fixed mobile or mobile connection.
This as two-thirds of the developing world were still offline.
“It is common knowledge that the digital economy is one of the fastest growing sectors of the world economy. Globally it is estimated to be worth more than $14.6 trillion (R265trl). Africa cannot be left out of this. We cannot continue to be bystanders and digital consumers of digital products that scarcely address our unique challenges. We need to step forward and take charge of our journey in the 4IR.
“Universal connectivity is very important for us as a government because we are constantly working towards ensuring that our services reach even the poorest of the poor as we advance towards building an inclusive information society. The benefits and potential of being connected are not in doubt, yet too many are still totally excluded,” Mapulane said.
He said while the broadband networks roll-out and technologies evolved, there was a need to ensure that universal service regimes were reviewed so that they continue to fulfil their role.
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