Demand for content is driving Africa’s internet growth, says Richard Bell who is the vice chairman of Kenyan-headquartered home entertainment operator Wananchi Group.
In a keynote address at AfricaCom in Cape Town on Thursday, Bell also said that Africa has the ability to produce local quality content.
Wananchi Group owns Zuku TV, which is an East African triple-play service that sells broadband and television services from an entry level price of about Kshs 1,500 (R150). Zuku also sells satellite television services.
Wananchi Group also owns SimbaNet, which provides corporate voice and data services across Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Other parts of the group include Wananchi Telekom, which is an infrastructure operator, and iSat, which is a specialised VSAT operator with a pan African footprint.
And Bell says that thanks to undersea fibre broadband cables having landed along Africa’s shores over the last five years, it has helped local content and the creative arts to flourish more.
Zuku produces a number of local television channels, ranging from entertainment to sport.
"The real change is in the content of the internet," said Bell.
"A lot has changed.
"And it is this explosion of content on the internet that is driving growth," he added.
However, he did point to challenges being faced by his company in the region such as high internet prices in Tanzania compared to Kenya and “bottlenecks” in the likes of an Etisalat data facility that Wananchi uses in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
But Bell is nevertheless upbeat about the prospects for his business especially as he said that the fixed line sector in Africa has not reached the same saturation point in growth that the mobile industry has.
AfricaCom is a technology conference that has taken place in Cape Town, South Africa from 12-14 November.
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