Category: Telecom Policy
Telecommunications and access issues.
The Failure of Spectrum Auctions in Africa
Spectrum auctions are widely regarded as “best practice” in the assignment of wireless frequencies where demand exceed availability yet, as of 2013 among African countries, only Nigeria had successfully conducted a spectrum auction. This is perhaps not surprising as spectrum...
The Internet Is U-Shaped
When we think about the problem of achieving affordable access to the Internet for all, the discussion often focuses on broadband targets. These targets are moving goalposts as infrastructure improves. Broadband used to be defined at 256Kbps, now it might be...
How to Lower Costs on State-Owned Fibre Networks in Africa
TLDR; Create a vehicle for smaller operators to become part-owners of state-owned fibre backhaul networks “It costs more to get data to the coast than it does to get it the rest of the way to Europe!” Since the arrival...
Africa Telecoms Infrastructure in 2015
Welcome to the 2nd annual review of telecommunications infrastructure development in Africa. Last year was my first attempt at painting a big picture of communication infrastructure development on the continent and it seemed to fill a gap in public information. Also I found...
Fibre And Other Laws of Infrastructure
Last Sunday, I was fortunate enough to participate as a representative of NSRC at an event at the United Nations to mark the launch of the US State Department’s new Global Connect initiative. My co-panelists were Cathy Novelli, Toomas Henrik Ilves, Jakaya...