The Web Foundation and Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) have collaborated to launch a campaign to push for the improvement of internet services in Africa.

The two organisations used the World Economic Forum (WEF) this week in Kigali, Rwanda, to introduce the FAST (Fast, Affordable, Safe and Transparent) Africa campaign agenda and lobby leaders for concrete action on internet rollout.

At the core of this campaign is the demand for average download and upload speeds of at least 4MB per second; the cost of a basic prepaid data plan of 1GB to be less than 2% of average national monthly income; privacy, security and rights online to be protected in line with the African Declaration of Internet Rights and Freedoms; and policies related to ICT laws, taxation and pricing to be openly available and easy to understand.

"African leaders have committed to strive for universal and affordable Internet in least developed countries by 2020, through the UN Sustainable Development Goals," said Renata Avila, Global Campaigns Manager at Web Foundation, citing a declaration, signed a year ago, which she says has ignited the movement's demand for decisive action.

Avila said FAST Africa representatives took part in closed high level meetings at WEF to discuss infrastructure and social projects taking place in the region.

"We will be targeting other high profile gatherings throughout the year, such as the African Union's gatherings. FAST Africa participants will also be taking forward country specific plans," she said.

Avila said Africa's Internet is expensive when calculated based on the cost of connectivity as a share of income. "It is almost three times as expensive for Africans to get online than on any other continent. A basic 500MB pre-paid mobile broadband allowance costs on average 15.2% of monthly incomes. By comparison, a European would pay less than 1% of their income, and a citizen of the Asia-Pacific region around 4%."

According to the Web Foundation and A4AI infrastructure problems and lack of net neutrality regulation represent significant challenges to the rollout of FAST internet.

"Most of Africans access the internet via mobile phone, and companies are permitted to create different experiences for different prices, offering faster Internet to those who can pay more and a very limited connectivity experience for the marginal users. Good net neutrality regulation will prevent the creation of even more inequality."

Avila said investment in infrastructure should be accompanied by state subsidies in areas which are not viable for the market to serve, and there should be better use of Universal Service Funds for targeted investments for marginal market segments.

She challenged governments and companies to work together to put in place better infrastructure, share towers and airwaves to keep costs down.