Internet connectivity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
As many of avid whitepaper readers may know, 3air plans to start building out its first K3 stations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Nigeria. 3air has done extensive research and analysis of the countries’ current state of connectivity and the opportunities for the growth of 3air there. In this article, I share some of 3air's findings and plans with you.
Internet connectivity and Internet in DRC
When considering which countries to enter, 3air first looks at what the current state of connectivity is. How many individuals are connected? How many businesses already rely on broadband access? How difficult will it be to set up and expand locally?
DRC is an enormous country with a population of almost 90 million and a total size of 2.345.000 square km. That is 6 times the size of Germany and two thirds of all of Europe!
According to the Digital2020 report, there were 21.14 million internet users in the DRC in January 2021. This represents an increase of 4.8 million (+29%) between 2020 and 2021. Total Internet penetration stood at 23.2%.
Most of the internet users in DRC rely on mobile internet connections to get online. Many people have more than one mobile connection, which explains why there were 39.63 million mobile connections in total. The number of mobile connections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo increased by 2.0 million (+5.3%) between January 2020 and January 2021. In total, the number of mobile connections was equivalent to 43.6% of the total population.
Internet users in Kinshasa, DRC
With DRC being such large country, there is a big divide between half of the population that lives in rural areas, and the other half who live in big cities like Kinshasa and Lubumbashi.
First, 3air plans to focus on setting up three base stations in the capital city of Kinshasa. With a population of 17,07 million, Kinshasa is the DRC’s economic center. This means that there are millions of residents as well as thousands of businesses that need to rely on internet connectivity in every day life.
A study by the CDC group analyzed both business and private household internet access. Their research showed that only about 30 per cent of surveyed companies in urban Kinshasa have dedicated business access to the internet. This is driven by low rates of internet access in micro and small-sized firms, while medium and large-sized firms are much more likely to have access.
Business connectivity in Kinshasa, DRC
On average, surveyed firms in Kinshasa use the internet for 5.6 hours per day. Over 70% of these firms agree the internet helps expand their supplier network, helps staff improve skills, provides ideas for new or improved services, and helps to keep up with the competition.
This very much aligns with what 3air's team saw when visited Ethiopia. Companies and individuals from all sectors explained that a stable internet connection would greatly improve their ability to do business.
However, among connected firms in Kinshasa, 55% felt that the internet was too expensive or not worth it, mainly because of affordability and familiarity issues, and almost half of of the connected firms experience problems with internet connectivity on a daily basis. On the other hand, 47% of the companies that don’t use the internet state that their primary reason for staying unconnected is a lack of need or know-how.
Household connectivity in Kinshasa, DRC
In urban Kinshasa, almost 90% of surveyed households in urban Kinshasa have some form of internet access, primarily mobile — much higher than the average across the DRC’s total population. 97% of surveyed connected working-age individuals use mobile phones as their primary method of accessing the internet. Only 28% of users describe their internet connection speed as good or very good, while 23% describe their service as being unstable with frequent disconnections.
The technology that 3air and K3 Last Mile propose aims to solve disturbances and has proven to provide very good coverage with speeds up to 1 GBPS.
Costs are the primary barrier to internet access for households in urban Kinshasa, with more than 30% of individuals citing costs as the main limitation for internet use. The average monthly spending on data is roughly 17 per cent of average income per working-age individual.
High costs of connectivity — and a lack of affordable options — are significant challenges. As a percentage of average income (or GDP), the cost of data ranks among the highest in the world. DRC ranks 28 out of 29 African countries on the latest affordability index developed by the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI).
3air in the DRC
Because of Kinshasa’s size, economic importance and geographical location, it is strategically important for 3air to provide coverage here first. 3air's operations in the DRC are already in the funding phase, and its terrain offers a good terrain for K3 technology with an easy expansion option to Congo Brazzaville.
There are 3 initial base stations planned in Kinshasa at:
- Binza Pigon
- Mont Ngaliema
- Limete Tower
Each base station has signal range of up to 50 kilometers (31 miles), so this setup will allow coverage of about 90% target areas within Kinshasa.
You can find a comparison of the current biggest alternatives of broadband access on the African continent here.
Building out the K3 Last Mile solution infrastructure could include but is not limited to: acquiring a license, setting up initial infrastructure, staffing, marketing, providing users with support and maintaining the local infrastructure.
3air opens a local office in each of its target countries, which means that there are locals with experience in their local markets involved in managing our day-to-day operations.
The impact of providing connectivity in the DRC
Fast, stable and affordable internet connections will have a great impact on millions of people who rely on the internet for work, education, finding a job or even staying in touch with family and friends.
Aside from solving the challenges related to reliability, speed and cost, 3air also needs to tackle the challenge of education. Educating local companies about the importance of internet and how it will help them do business is one of our key objectives.
it's to expect that 3air's investment in the DRC will help improve the quality of life of many Congolese citizens. 3air hopes that it can contribute to the development of society in the DRC through investments in infrastructure and services.
If you’re interested to learn more, I recommend this article on how K3 Last Mile works. You can also look at 3air's financial predications for the DRC market here.
3air is a decentralized telecom platform connecting people of Africa with broadband. Please visit 3air.io for more information.
(content reposted by a project enthousiast from 3air.io with permission of 3air.io)
