We can’t lose sight of digital divide while chasing digital dreams
• There has been a push to get more people online, but more needs to be done
SOME OF OUR MOST TRANSFORMATIVE IDEAS COME FROM NEED — OF WHICH WE HAVE PLENTY
This being my last column of the year, I’ve taken the opportunity to zoom out from the day-today news cycle just a little.
Rest assured, X is still a trash-fire (welcoming back divisive conspiracy theorists and alienating regular users); artificial intelligence (AI) continues to challenge regulators and threaten/boost employees (depending on which article you read today); crypto remains in its 2023 glow-up era; and Big Tech darlings such as Google and Meta are still in trouble with nearly every public authority out there.
But while the Musks, Altmans and Gateses of the world divvy up market share at the forefront of emerging tech, I was reminded this week that tech has a tail end too, and some of the world are just barely able to grab it.
But enough with the mixed metaphors, I’m talking about internet access. This was a core topic in technology media when I started my career — how were we going to get Africa’s youth online? Or, how were we going to migrate small business to digital and e-commerce? — and it is very much an issue today.
RECENCY BIAS
This is undoubtedly recency bias, but it sometimes feels like Covid-19 did more to address those concerns (read: force the issue) than well-meaning civil society projects. But as we round out 2023 it is important to note that the target population for these concerns has shrunk, not disappeared.
Digital divides can be found in gender, in economic status, between countries, between urban and rural settlements, and between the young and old — and they are more stratified than before, encompassing the access divide (who is online), the use divide (digital skill), and quality of experience (whether we are hampered by skill or shoddy provision).
All around the world, for decades, there has been a big push to get people online, for connection, education and frankly the big ol’ bump to the economy that directly correlates with improving internet access. Everywhere has its unique difficulties in this pursuit. I’m writing this column today from the UK, where an extended family member was telling me about his volunteering as informal tech support for the elderly.
“What a difference it makes in their lives,” he said, “that they can connect to loved ones, or shop online.” My friend here wants to get discarded iPads out of junk drawers and into people’s hands, to help overcome their fear of or discomfort with tech so that they can enjoy its many benefits.
According to a September 2023 Technology Tracker report by the UK’s communications regulator Ofcom, just 7% of British households do not have internet access at home. In that gap you’ll largely find people on the lower end of the socioeconomic bands and those 65 years and older, which despite the gulf between us and our former coloniser rings true at home.
Comparatively, SA’s internet penetration sits at about 75%, or a little more than 80% of the population if we’re talking mobile internet. Cobbling together various reports (so this is illustrative rather than precise), we have about 2.4-million households with a broadband connection, and 1.5-million on fibre internet services.
The vast majority of our internet denizens are connected purely by mobile (rather than fibre and broadband), when the budget allows for one to indulge in expensive prepaid mobile data. But our poor and elderly tend to be the most excluded. We just have a lot more in the former pool.
In both countries though, the focus is slowly shifting to the relative quality and speed of connections available: is it conducive to live streaming, to online learning, remote interviews for work, and to video conferencing on several devices in a single home at once?
In November, as part of the Africa Tech festival in Cape Town, Taiwanese chip designer
MediaTek was in town. In addition to media meet-andgreets it showcased some of the best local innovations powered by its technology. It was an evening of good news stories, of course, but the one that really grabbed my attention was that of Riot Network, which is taking the concept of collective buying and applying it to internet access in some of our considerably underserved areas.
STOKVEL
It is far from the only internet provider operating in SA’s townships — there are projects from Vumatel, Sky Internet, TooMuchWifi and more — but its solution is built on a very African idea, as well as smart global tech such as MediaTek’s Filogic 830 wireless networking system-on-a-chip.
Taking an economic justice idea such as the stokvel and applying it to internet provision means a group of low-income households are now able to get fast, last-mile broadband akin to that enjoyed by rich suburbanites, at a shared monthly price.
It’s a commercial endeavour in pilot mode, but the signs look good: by keeping prices around R90 a month consumers can and do keep up their commitments. Riot’s CROWDNet nodes design means these users can also be small businesses, offering access to others in their communities.
Riot’s story was a great reminder that innovation doesn’t just happen in Silicon Valley, but that some of our most transformative ideas come from need — of which we have plenty. Whether it’s tapping into the e-waste of a wealthy nation to bring its neglected and minorities online, or stokvel-thinking to connect full nodes, home-grown solutions are just as heroic as the internet-of-things and datadriven healthcare.
Just as the digital divide is not merely about tech but also financial restrictions, selfdriving cars and general AI aren’t the only digital dreams worth pursuing.
I hope some of those inventions get well-deserved headlines in 2024. I resolve to write about some of them.