The African Telecommunications Union specializing in the promotion and development of ICTs on the continent signed a memorandum of understanding with Ericsson on 15 June 2020 in Nairobi, Kenya to accelerate the implementation of broadband connectivity across the continent.

According to John Omo (pictured), ATU Secretary-General, the “collaboration with Ericsson is geared towards connecting, innovating, and transforming the continent into a knowledge economy.” Mr. Omo said the continent's economies must become more competitive, agile, open, and innovative to harness ICT innovations to transform African nations into smart economies.

Fadi Pharaon, president of Ericsson Middle East and Africa, explained that this collaboration “will focus on spectrum management strategies. Leveraging our global experience working on spectrum management, we aim to share global best practices that will ensure efficient use of scarce resources and allocation of new spectrum. This will yield societal benefits that will enable a more connected and knowledge-based society in Africa.”

In its “The Mobile Economy 2020” report, GSMA estimates that smartphone penetration on the continent will increase from 45% in 2018 to 65% in 2025. 2G technology, which accounted for 46% of the mobile network in 2019, will drop to 12% in 2025 in favor of 3G (46% in 2019), which will become the most widely used network technology (58% in 2025). 4G technology, which accounted for 10% of the mobile network in 2019, will increase to 27% in five years. The 5G already present on the African telecom market will only represent 3% of the mobile network in 2025.