Cloud computing and information and communication technology (ICT) in Africa will grow on the back of mobile broadband access but achieving a return on investment will be challenging,
according to Chinese technology giant Huawei informa- tion technology solution sales chief technol-ogy officer Ron Raffensperger, who spoke to Engineering News at the Huawei Cloud Congress, in Shanghai, China, last month.
He noted that only 13% of people in Africa had access to a fixed line and that mobile broadband was the best option to advance ICT growth on the continent.
Further, he stated that an increasing number of African governments were using public cloud com- puting to enhance the growth of their gross domestic product and grow small busi-nesses.
Cloud computing was also being used in the healthcare and education sectors.
“We are involved in cloud-computing projects in Africa that use the cloud for specific areas, such as healthcare. And we believe that, with mobile networking, we can reach more people. “However, the challenge is where to get the return on investment, as the population density is so low,” Raffensperger said.