Multinational technology corporation Microsoft and global communications company Viasat have partnered to increase access to the Internet for ten-million people worldwide – including five- million across Africa – over the next three years.
The partnership boosts the efforts of Microsoft’s Airband Initiative’s larger goal of delivering Internet access to 250-million people, 100-million of whom are in Africa, by 2025.
The Microsoft Airband Initiative, which was launched in 2017, works through partnerships with local and regional Internet and energy access providers, telecommunication equipment makers and nonprofit, governmental and nongovernmental organisations, to unlock affordable Internet access and develop the relevant digital skills globally.
Viasat, as the first satellite partner to work with the initiative, aims to help expand the initiative’s work in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Guatemala, Mexico and the US, as well as expand the programme into new places in Africa, including Senegal and Angola, to deliver much-needed connections, often for the first time.
Currently, the International Telecommunication Union estimates that 37% – or 2.9-billion people – of the world’s population have never used the Internet.
Nearly one-third of the world’s population lacks online access to education, good medical care, business opportunities and connection with family, besides others.
The partnership will use satellite to reach remote areas that previously have had few, if any, options for conventional connectivity, building on the Airband Initiative’s approach of leveraging every technology available to deliver connectivity based on what is best suited for a particular community.
“Working together, the companies will combine expertise and assets to help enable telehealth, distance learning and education, precision agriculture, clean power and other services to reach new areas through the transformational provision of power and connectivity,” the partners said in a joint announcement.
The companies will collaborate to provide and pilot technologies that include satellites, including geostationary orbit and Low Earth Orbit, and fixed wireless.
“While the African opportunity is immense, one of the challenges facing the continent is infrastructure expansion, which would enable the acceleration of digital transformation and facilitate a connected African continent,” says Microsoft Africa Transformation Office MD Kunle Awosika, noting that critical infrastructure enablers are needed to accelerate digital transformation and the adoption of digital technologies.
The Airband Initiative is vital in helping to accelerate broadband access for rural communities and, by focusing a large portion of this new partnership on Africa, Microsoft and Viasat are working to deliver connectivity and digital literacy for better education, healthcare and economic opportunity in critical markets, he says.
“Connecting the world is an expansive and challenging goal, and we believe it is equally important that it is done in a way that is sustainable, responsible, and inclusive,” adds Viasat CEO and chairprson Mark Dankberg.
Through the initiative, Microsoft has enabled high-speed Internet access for more than 51-million people globally, including over four-million in unserved US rural communities and an additional 47-million in 16 unserved and underserved countries outside the US.