According to the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA), more than 400 million people—or 5% of the world’s population—live in places without mobile broadband coverage. This indicates that access to the internet has become a basic necessity in modern life.
With approximately 180 million people, or 15% of the population, living in places without coverage, Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the worst gaps in coverage and usage.
Moreover, 59 percent of people in Sub-Saharan Africa reside in connected areas but are unable to access the internet because of a variety of socioeconomic difficulties.
These four new developments from the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Kigali might transform a number of industries in addition to increasing mobile internet coverage in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Global Mobile and GSMA Foundry’s Aerostat for Telecoms
Mozambique saw the launch of Africa’s first commercial telecom aerostat by World Mobile and GSMA Foundry.
These aerostats function as floating cell towers; they are simply tethered balloons with technological equipment attached. The main objective is to use a customized radio payload to deliver last-mile connection to rural areas that are underserved. Terrain, infrastructural limits, and expense are all overcome by these aerostats, which have a conventional cellular connectivity radius of up to 130 kilometers.
The “hybrid dynamic” network of World Mobile combines aerial and ground infrastructure, providing a more affordable option for mobile network expansion than that of standard mobile networks.