In terms of investment and growth, there is little doubt that the African tech and telecoms sectors are showing plenty of promise.
There are lots of reasons to be optimistic about the impact that these industries can have on economic development and social mobility throughout the region. But no one is under any illusions that it will be a straightforward journey.
We have already highlighted how, compared to other regions of the world, Africa is behind the curve on network development, both for 4G / LTE and 5G.
This is part of a broader issue - the rate and efficiency of digital transformation - which participants in our AfricaCom 2019 survey singled out as one of five key tech-related challenges facing enterprise and industry across the continent.
The speed of digital transformation was picked out as the most significant issue by 15% of industry insiders we spoke to - on a par with IT and tech skills shortages and the affordability of data.
Above these three, the two most commonly cited challenges were cybersecurity and digital privacy (25%) and the digital divide between urban and rural areas (23%).
According to IT services and consulting firm Serianu, cybercrime cost African businesses $3.5bn in 2017 - an astonishing 75% increase on the previous year. That report contained two further stark warnings - up to 96% of cybercrime and data breaches across the continent were likely to be unreported, and despite the scale of the losses, 95% of organisations spent less than $1500 on cybersecurity measures.
The issue with cybercrime is that it becomes more of a threat the further along the path of digital transformation and technological development economies go. On that basis, it is little surprise that some of Africa’s most technologically developed nations such as Nigeria and Kenya suffer the most from cybercrime on the continent.
The strength of the mobile economy also poses its own issues. The mobile money market, for example, might bring critical financial services to under-banked communities, but it is also proving ripe for exploitation by fraudsters and organised criminal gangs. In Côte d’Ivoire, for example, it is estimated that 90% of digital crimes involve mobile money services. According to Kaspersky, 37% of mobile phone users were victims of cyber attacks in 2018.
In less technologically developed nations it is lack of access to technology itself which poses most concern. The scale of this challenge cannot be underestimated - according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), 75% of Africa’s population lacked internet access in 2018. This rises to 90% lacking access to high-speed broadband connections of 10Mbps of higher. The lines between those who are and are not connected are starkly drawn between urban and rural populations, and between the urban middle classes and the urban poor.
There is no doubt that progress is being made - the ITU says internet access has increased 20-fold since 2010 - and mobile is right at the centre of that trend, given the parlous state of the continent’s wireline infrastructure. But with 4G connections still only standing at 7% penetration, there is much to do to just to provide the foundations from which digital growth in the continent’s poorest countries can build.
Alongside access and connectivity, a lack of the requisite skills to drive digital transformation is another cause for concern. A study from PwC found that 36 per cent of business leaders in Africa believe skill shortages are preventing them from realising the full benefits of technology and hampering growth.
