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A broadband Fiber-infrastructure boom awaits Africa
These challenges include “cross border penetration to landlocked countries”, and in-country issues such as obtaining permissions for metro and access deployments. Furthermore, bureaucracy is also a key stumbling block for Africa, Clark explained. “Red tape remains the number one barrier to fixed line infrastructure deployment. It is critical for African governments to remove red tape, or delays, and put effective policy and procedures in place,” she said.
Regardless of the challenges, Africa is increasingly being pushed into a position to use fiber infrastructure amid rising data demand. And even wireless operators are feeling this pressure. Clark said that it is envisaged that “as much as 47% of the mobile architecture” in Africa will be made up of fiber infrastructure in future.
Clarke concluded, “Networks are buckling under 3G will not for much longer be able to serve the needs of the data-hungry consumers, and all indications are that data consumption will double and triple over the next few years… Quality of Service (QoS) remains a key differentiator and it has been proven that consumers will pay more for Quality of Experience. Therefore fibre is becoming a critical infrastructure in backhaul architecture.”
Source: ITWeb Africa
