Facebook to add Wi-Fi hotspots to sustain growth in Africa
Facebook has increased the number of its African users to 170-million and plans to expand further by adding Wi-Fi hotspots and laying fibre-optic cables in a bid to spread its reach outside of developed markets.
The figure is 42% higher than when the US social network first opened an African office in 2015, Carolyn Everson, vice-president of global marketing, said in an interview in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The roll out of Wi-Fi in Nigeria and Kenya will be done via partnerships with international wireless carriers such as Emirates Telecommunications Group, known as Etisalat, and closely held Surf, she said.
Facebook also announced the construction of 770km of fibre-optic cables in Uganda alongside Bharti Airtel of India earlier in 2017.
“There is no magic bullet to provide the internet to people on the continent,” Everson said. “We are using everything available to us, including rolling out express Wi-Fi, building fibre and testing our Aquila project,” she said, referring to unmanned solarpowered planes that beam down internet connectivity.
The plans are part of a longterm investment push by Facebook in Africa, the social network’s least developed market with less than 10% of its 1.86-billion users worldwide.
The Menlo Park, Californiabased company is trying to take advantage of a young population, greater connectivity and the increasing availability and affordability of smartphones to access new customers. Other US companies targeting African growth include Google, which said in March it is laying fibreoptic cable and easing access to cheaper Android phones.
‘LOOKING FOR PARTNERS’
“People are sensitive to data prices on the continent. Infrastructure is expensive and that is why we are looking for partners,” Everson said. “We are partnering with telecommunications infrastructure projects, and, as a result, bring down the price of data.”
Its instant-messaging service, WhatsApp, is proving “popular” in Africa, she said, more so than Facebook Messenger.
Facebook’s attempt to connect rural Africans in 2016 was sunk by an exploding SpaceX rocket. Facebook is now using a combination of land-based and satellite technologies to roll out Wi-Fi hotspots and is evaluating options as they become available, Everson said.
FACEBOOK’S ATTEMPT TO CONNECT RURAL AFRICANS IN 2016 WAS SUNK BY AN EXPLODING SPACEX ROCKET