ICT in North Africa with supportive policies and technological innovations

Published: 28 Apr 2025

Author: Precedence Research

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The partnership collaboration among John Giusti, Chief Regulatory Officer at the GSMA, and Chris Meng, Huawei Northern Africa’s president of the ICT Marketing and Solutions Sales Department, came together to encourage North Africa’s ICT sector and to develop innovations following the effective policies. At WinWin Live Studio, Meng highlighted North Africa’s (incl. the Mediterranean and the Sahara area) ICT development and challenges to date. The region is home to 28 countries with a population of 720 million. North Africa is ahead in Mobile penetration but lacks in digital transformation due to the limitations of infrastructure, especially in rural areas. The favorable policies for the reasonable prices initiative bring forward Giusti’s idea. Giusti is aware of the challenging areas, such as closing coverage gaps, which uphold powerful investment, but an unnecessary consideration is the people covered by mobile broadband networks who barely use them, leading to a usage gap. Giusti requests that the vital government take action to eliminate taxes mainly on entry-level devices. The technological innovation will support low-cost and effective. Meng addressed the major problem of terminal cost. Now, when there is the accessibility to connectivity in rural areas, the high price of handsets is not affordable to many people. The major reason for the challenge is the shortage of well-skilled, knowledgeable professionals in certain regions, and the regulatory environment in a few countries needs to be improved.

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Meng, in his statement, mentioned that if the limitation of mobile network coverage is so prominent, then Africa’s large portion of population might have slow speed or no mobile access. It will be quick to judge the potential of ICT with those people who don’t have access to e-commerce, digital platforms, and online education. Though it will be very expensive to build sites and add connectivity to less privileged regions. Consumers can afford low-priced devices, but they are of no use, as it does not support mobile money applications and video. Which is of no use. Additionally, Huawei is ready to cooperate with terminal partners to invent a 4G cloud phone for Africans, selling it at an affordable price with the availability of YouTube, mobile money apps, and TikTok. The initiative is in process, with the final discussion among partners for progress in development. The company hopes to introduce the 4G cloud phone in the next few months to the region. Currently, Huawei is progressively working on its deployment of energy-efficient network gear and also collaborating with universities, schools, and the Ministry of Education to provide lessons on the ICT domain, highlighting AI courses and engaging with skilled professionals to create a diverse curriculum to introduce it to the African region, supporting talent.

Giusti, explaining the cost reduction of terminals, said, with the elimination of government taxes in unprivileged regions, people will afford the devices and able to connect to the internet. This will lead to one of the greatest opportunities because of the government's policy of closing the coverage and usage gaps. Further, he noted that the involvement of Universal Service Funds (USF) looks after the required infrastructure operators, which will build and provide the necessary capacity across the North Africa region. Additionally, by empowering rural network deployment, he requested the countries to develop environmentally friendly possible to invest. This will allow operators to scale, share infrastructure, and spectrum so they have reasonable prices and can able to provide services to rural and urban regions.