Sthembiso Dlamini, Chief Solutions Architect at Quadrupleplay. (Image: Supplied)
There can be little doubt that Africa requires economic growth, social development and an overall improvement in quality of life. Rural connectivity is key here, as it enables access to essential services, opportunities and resources that are often otherwise unavailable in remote areas, thereby empowering individuals and communities.
Rural connectivity provides the foundation of better access to information, allowing communities to transform and evolve. This, in turn, boosts education and reduces poverty by enabling the youth to upskill themselves, increasing their employability and improving their lives.
According to Sthembiso Dlamini, Chief Solutions Architect at Quadrupleplay, rural connectivity refers to the challenge of extending telecommunications infrastructure, especially broadband internet, to sparsely populated areas.
Speaking at the recent Southern African Telecommunications Association (SATA) Conference, sponsored by OpenServe and held at the Sandton Convention Centre, he noted that the ‘last mile’ represents the final segment of the network.
It is the one that physically connects individual homes or businesses to the broader internet backbone, he explains, and tends to face significant hurdles due to geographical factors, infrastructure limitations and high costs in rural areas.
“Quadrupleplay is an organisation skilled at deploying a range of last mile technologies, allowing us to be a major driver of rural economic inclusion. We build community-owned networks – usually consisting of tailored 4G/5G WiFi or fibre networks – in conjunction with local service providers,” he explains.
“What we do is to identify those communities that are suitable and then work closely with local government to determine the best service provider to align with. We then offer them our expertise to help build the network and implement the infrastructure required to connect to the world wide web. Naturally, we also provide backup to the local provider in cases where a problem arises, to ensure a rapid resolution thereof.”
Dlamini adds that this talks to the challenge of how services are sustained and maintained in rural areas. He suggests that labour is key to keeping these technologies operational, and labour is the one thing that is plentiful in these regions.
“Of course, formerly unemployed people brought in to provide such labour do need to have the necessary skills, which means another part of our role is to train them to take care of the infrastructure. Our goal is to empower local ownership and bridge the skills gap with effective training. We can then leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and remote monitoring to ensure they are able to do their jobs effectively.”
“Another challenge is that rural areas with sparse populations may require different options or technologies to those used in urban areas that are more densely populated.”
In towns, indicates Dlamini, there are numerous technology options – from 2G all the way to 5G technologies – but in rural regions, it is imperative to reduce the cost of the power consumption that all four of these solutions require to operate effectively. So the challenge is whether we do away with, at the very least, 2G and 3G offerings when building infrastructure in rural areas, along with the decisions around choosing either one, or a number of vendors.
“The true nature of any technology lies in how it responds to the end users’ attempts to connect to the internet – how your device connects and interacts is the true measure of how well connected you are. For us, it is about working closely with OpenServe in SA, as with their experience, they do most of the heavy lifting, ultimately making connectivity like magic for the end-users.
“The work we do with OpenServe and the local service providers is critical, as we are driven by the knowledge that rural connectivity is not merely a technical challenge – it is also a social and economic imperative. In the end, our aim is not to simply connect, but rather to play a vital role in transforming the nation,” states Dlamini.
