Delivering universal coverage in African countries remains a distant dream. While it is technically possible to bring coverage to even the most remote area, many consider that it is economically unfeasible to do so. Each new cell tower requires investment. Each site has OPEX – and in remote regions, OPEX can be a significant burden, as many sites are off-grid and beyond the reach of supporting infrastructure.
Yet Africa and other regions are full of latent demand.

It’s not just that consumers and businesses want connectivity. Access to mobile voice and data services also brings economic and social benefits that can boost growth and citizen welfare. Investment in mobile access unlocks new investment and development opportunities, enabling economic growth nationally – and for each citizen.

What is the problem and why does it exist?
Despite this, progress towards greater coverage remains slow. While cost of delivery is an issue, there is a further, more fundamental problem. Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) obtain and license spectrum for the countries in which they operate.
Such rights are granted by regulators, acting in the national interest. Since spectrum rights are a scare resource, it has value and, once in ownership, there is a vested interest in retaining rights.

As the rise of the mobile phone continues, and demand for data-based services accelerates exponentially, it is easy to forget that voice still has a vital role to play in the communications mix. In fact, in many developing parts of the world, such as Africa and Asia Pacific, voice is vital not just for personal communications, but also for the growth and economic prosperity of maturing commercial districts.

In many such regions, fixed line networks are often too expensive, impractical or economically unviable for service providers to install. As a result, mobile reigns supreme. In some regions, however, even mobile is simply not viable for operators, with diminishing returns on investment. Here, the only option is satellite.

However, as well as bringing voice communications to as many people as possible in order to promote commercial growth, satellite can also be used for backhaul on traditional GSM networks, and for carrying international traffic. Using satellite removes the need for heavy engineering, such as digging fibre or laying undersea cable, and is fast and cheap to deploy.

A key goal for both the telecommunications industry and society at large is to increase the penetration and coverage of networks to deliver access to more people in more areas. Even while growth in mobile and fixed connections has surged and data consumption has exploded, millions of people lack access to even basic telecoms services. It’s not only the ability to communicate more widely that matters: as many have noted, the potential of the Internet to transform lives has made it a key part of the United Nations’ 2030 goals for sustainability.

Recognising this, a diverse range of stakeholders has emerged to champion the cause of the unconnected, both through direct investment for the deployment of appropriate infrastructure and indirect lobbying activities targeted at governments and other organisations.

However, a gap has opened up that impedes delivery of solutions that can be used to connect the unconnected. Even while funds have been created to drive such investment in infrastructure, the pace of delivery has not kept pace with deployments in areas that have already secured the benefit of fibre broadband and high speed mobile data access.

Reliability is a critical element of any VoIP network. It is fundamental to network performance and to subscriber retention and their experience. What’s more, it seems that network quality is becoming an increasingly important factor in attracting new customers.

Since it is a characteristic that can easily be measured, the impact of unreliable systems on operational performance can easily be determined. But this is a retrospective viewpoint: it depends on data collected through time.

Operators need to be sure that systems they select will provide the performance levels they need and cope with additional capacity as network traffic increases. If they offer Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to important customers, then they need to know that they can deliver on these terms.

The challenge of delivering broadband connectivity in the last mile continues to limit the spread of high- speed data access. Solutions such as ADSL rely on an existing copper connection, while more powerful techniques, such as fibre, depend on the deployment of costly new infrastructure. As a result, they may not be economic for many areas, both urban and rural, due to the cost of deploying infrastructure.

Alternatives based on forms of cellular or radio access have been considered for some time.
In the 1990s, fixed wireless access was used to deliver telephony and basic rate ISDN services to households in the UK, for example, with similar projects enjoying some success in other countries, but the technology was soon superseded by other approaches.

Delivering universal coverage in African countries remains a distant dream. While it is technically possible to bring coverage to even the most remote area, it is believed by many to be economically unfeasible to do so. Each new cell tower requires investment. Each site has OPEX – and in remote regions, OPEX can be a significant burden, as many sites are off-grid, beyond the reach of the supporting infrastructure.

Yet Africa and other regions are full of latent demand.
It’s not just that consumers and businesses want connectivity. Access to mobile voice and data services also brings economic and social benefits that can boost growth and citizen welfare. Investment in mobile access unlocks new investment and development opportunities, enabling economic growth nationally – and for each citizen.

The MVNO model is, by now, well established. Most people are familiar with the concept of a service provider renting capacity from an established MNO and reselling it to establish its own business. Some do this to add mobile capabilities to existing operations, while others do so to exploit a brand or specific market segment.

While many see an MVNO as simply a lightweight operational company that is focused more on sales and marketing than its network capabilities, such a focus is short sighted. In order to maximise operational efficiency, all MVNOs must, at some point in their development cycle, turn their attention to the infrastructure that supports their operations. Whether you are an established MVNO or seeking to become one, keeping control of costs is a vital ingredient for your success.
Making sure that you efficiently optimise your operational costs will go a long way to ensuring that you maximise profits and returns and generate the kind of sustained success to which you aspire. It is no longer sufficient to rely on arbitrage between call termination and origination rates to ensure profit.

In many such regions, fixed line networks are often too expensive, impractical or economically unviable for service providers to install. As a result, mobile reigns supreme.

In some regions, however, even mobile is simply not viable for operators, with diminishing returns on investment. Here, the only option is satellite.
However, as well as bringing voice communications to as many people as possible in order to promote commercial growth, satellite can also be used for backhaul on traditional GSM networks, and for carrying international traffic. Using satellite removes the need for heavy engineering, such as digging fibre or laying undersea cable, and is fast and cheap to deploy.

The only things holding more operators back from embracing satellite is a perceived view that it is expensive, and that it cannot match
the voice call quality of terrestrial networks, particularly with VOIP.

While mobile penetration continues to grow in Sub-Saharan Africa and other emerging economic regions, the full potential to enable widespread coverage has yet to be realised. According to leading industry group the GSMA, in 2013, mobile penetration reached a mere 31% of the population of the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) region1. Clearly, there is potential for huge and unprecedented growth.

The economic benefits of mobile and internet connectivity are well known. Mobile connectivity makes a significant and growing contribution to GDP.

Put simply, the more mobile connections there are, the greater the economic and social benefit. In the same report, the GSMA forecasts that the contribution of the mobile economy will contribute to around 8 percent of total GDP in SSA by 2020, rising from a figure of 6 percent in 2013.