CSquared 2019
FibeRising Africa By enabling ISPs and MNOs to better serve their customers, CSquared is helping to drive the fibre revolution across several of Africa’s most prominent urban centres Writer: Tom Wadlow | Project Manager: Vivek Valmik “Working in an organisation that is committed to investing and developing broadband infrastructure in Africa is quite honestly a dream come true for me. I have worked in the ICT sector across the continent for almost 21 years and I know firsthand the real connectivity challenges facing the region. So, the opportunity to be part of a unique set of people and investors that are committed to changing the status quo was obviously a thrilling proposition.” For Lanre Kolade, joining CSquared as its Chief Executive Officer in 2018 was something of a no-brainer. A problem solver by nature and passionate believer that broadband access will enable Africa to fast-track economic development, Kolade is especially driven by the potential of technology to upskill populations and drive GDPs upwards, what he calls ‘FibeRising Africa’. Central to this is boosting connectivity. “Across the continent, submarine capacity is increasing but overall usage of these cables is still low since metro networks are not very pervasive,” Kolade observes. “Hence, access to connectivity across the continent is limited, expensive and inefficiently deployed with various technologies still in use. Intra Africa connectivity is an even bigger challenge, and we need to bridge the gaps by increasing cross border links between the countries.” The CEO points to the World Bank’s Africa Digital Moonshot 2030 report as evidence of the need to accelerate broadband installations, while also citing that 31.6 percent of African’s have access to the internet (as of June 2018). This number drops…
