Alcatel-Lucent VP calls for collaboration to achieve Data Revolution in Africa

The Vice President of Alcatel-Lucent Africa, Daniel Jaeger, has reiterated the need for ecosystems in African countries to work together to address challenges in the way of ICT development in Africa. According to him, no single person or entity can overcome these stumbling blocks alone. “Clearly regulators have a role to play, governments and or multi-national institutions or financing institutions for the funding/financing of networks
, and of course the industry as such,” he said. Responding to questions in an exclusive interview with Biztechafrica on Alcatel-Lucent's view of what a data revolution could mean for Africa, Jaeger indicated that the meaning of data revolution and its impact go way beyond watching more data-rich (video, music etc.) content, or having faster networks, or getting all that for cheaper, although he admitted that these are important benefits, at the first glance. “But I believe it will go much beyond this, essentially changing the lives of people. Given the fact that many people (not just in Africa, of course) live outside the big cities, and therefore have limited access to (for example) health services or education services, the networks being built and the data revolution are a way to give these people access to these essential services. This of course doesn’t happen overnight, and it needs also the applications and services to be developed. This may take a bit more time, but I am convinced this will change people’s lives,” he added. The Vice President of Alcatel Lucent Africa further attributed lack of capital to build networks, the non availability of spectrum (in particular the one best suited for data services) and lack of applications and services that will give the user the “real value”, for which the network is the basis as some major challenges that are currently impeding the achievement of a data revolution in Africa. Asked as to when Alcatel Lucent envisages Africa-wide 4G or above connectivity, Jaeger is of the view that as with all technology evolution, it will go automatically in steps and some will move faster than others. 4G has started to roll out in many places (though rather limited to the big centres in many countries), Wifi is spreading quickly too, while many other regions are still relying on 3G or some even 2G, he pointed out.   Share the News Get Daily Newsletter

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