Huawei Advocates for Inclusive Connectivity at Connected Africa Summit
Nairobi, April 30, 2024 – Huawei Kenya is advocating for inclusive connectivity to accelerate national digital transformation
Speaking at the Connected Africa Summit 2024 held in Nairobi last week, Vice President of Huawei Sub-Sahara Africa Mr. Wan Wei highlighted the importance of building network & cloud infrastructure to drive economic growth, social progress, and sustainable development across the continent.
He also presented a proposal for ubiquitous intelligent connectivity networks combined with cloud-based data driven innovation to enable inclusive intelligent service.
“Beyond mere connectivity, such infrastructure holds the key to enhancing social welfare, fostering innovation, promoting economic competitiveness, facilitating regional integration, and ultimately advancing the sustainable development agenda in Africa. It is not just a means to an end, but an end in itself, capable of enriching the lives and well-being of all people,” Mr. Wei said.
Mr. Wei provided insights on policy and technical measures to build low-cost rural mobile networks and speed up fibre-optic networks to ensure high-speed broadband for all people, all homes, all businesses, and all institutions. He highlighted the regulatory interventions that can help, such as lower cost wayleaves, tax incentives for investment, infrastructure sharing between power and telecoms infrastructure and lower taxes for affordable devices.
“Through our collective actions and shared commitment, we aim to lay a solid foundation for Africa’s digital future, positioning our continent at the forefront of the global digital revolution. Let us work together diligently and purposefully to build a digital ecosystem that not only empowers our economies but also uplifts our societies and enhances the quality of life for all citizens across Africa. Through the strategic development of Network and Cloud infrastructure, we pave the way for a brighter and more prosperous digital future for our continent,” he said.
Huawei’s exhibition at the Summit included sharing insights on how to speed up the roll-out of fibre-optic networks and lower the build-out costs though technology innovations such as Quick-ODN as well as regulatory interventions, such as the new Building Code that is being reformed to “ensure all new buildings are fibre-optic-ready” as His Excellency President Ruto highlighted in his opening remarks at the Summit. This includes common ducting outside and inside buildings that telecoms companies can use to quickly and easily run their cables into, manholes and easy-access points for engineers to use to connect fibre and run it into properties as well as maintain it, and the provision of equipment rooms or spaces in buildings.
