(left to right) ATU’s John Omo; Tanzania’s Hon. Moses Nnauye; Botswana’s Thulagano Segokgo; Zimbabwe’s Dr Tatenda Mavetera; South Africa’s Philly Maphulane; and Huawei’s Leo Chen.

African countries have made significant accomplishments in digitalisation over the past year. However, gaps still remain in connecting all people to wireless technologies across the continent.

This is the observation of Leo Chen, president of Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa, while delivering a keynote address at the Ministerial Forum at the AfricaCom 2023 in Cape Town.

“We are pleased to see that, since last year's Ministerial Forum, African countries have accomplished a lot in digitalisation,” he said.

“Over the past year, together with our customers, we have built more wireless sites and fibre to reach more people, cities and rural areas.”

Last December, Huawei supported the deployment of high-speed internet on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, which is known as ‘the roof of Africa’.

Among the achievements, Huawei has supported South Africa in launching Africa's first 5G-enabled coal mine, and helped deploy Nigeria's first ‘5G2B’ case in the education sector. The latter refers to Huawei’s branding of 5G adoption in a vertical industry scenario.

“These cases speak volumes about countries' commitment to digitalisation,” Chen noted.

To further the success of African countries in digital transformation, Huawei has proposed a ‘One Network, One Cloud’ approach.

“Let us also bear in mind that a coverage gap still remains in the continent,” Chen said.

“Therefore, it is still important to cover more people through wireless connectivity technologies, such as 4G and 5G, and through rural connectivity solutions.”