Africa Struggling to Distribute 5G Networks Across the Continent

Despite the fact that tech firm Rain already has 5G technology and is ready to use it, the newest development in telecommunications struggles to take off because of patchy network coverage, shortage of electricity and fiber optic cables.

The technology is set to take the entire mobile network to the next level, being almost 100 times faster than its previous counterparts, 4G. 5G means that people will no longer be limited as to what they can do on their phones compared to what they can access through their laptops. The Internet will be fast enough and strong enough to basically complete any task. 5G technology is slowly rolling out here and there. Some places in the U.S, the U.K and now Norway as well have introduced this technology to their citizens. 

Some activities that the users are most excited to access are the live streams and live games. 4G is quite limited when it comes to these sorts of online activities but with 5G people can access these games or stream. For those who love online gaming, this is a perfect development since it's no longer necessary to be connected to a wifi network. If you are in Norway, you can access the popular free spins for Norwegian players only through your 5G as most of the online slots are quite heavy in terms of the traffic consumption and the wi-fi is rarely enough.

5G around the world

Meanwhile, the tensions around Huawei and the 5g continue, now between the U.S and the U.K. While U.K is slowly rolling out the technology, the country was considering including Huawei products as well, but after the pressure from the U.S, the U.K is now reconsidering.

When it comes to 5G in Africa, Rain, based in Cape Town, is the main provider of 5G and is Africa’s first commercial 5G network. Rain wants to provide the whole continent with the access to fast internet but so far it has proven to be a bit difficult Despite the fact that the company claims to have the best service on the market with the fasted internet, various people and companies have now come out to say that the Rain’s service is patchy and unreliable.

The company itself is focused on improving and claims that every week they work on expanding its network and increasing its coverage area. The main reason why the Internet uptake has been slow on the African continent is that there has always been a lack of access to electricity and technology in general. What Rain is trying to do is to redefine the status of the continent, to introduce a technology that might not be perfect, but still, it belongs to Africa and is suited for Africa. Rain is working constantly to work on the patchiness issue, to establish stronger connections and to give access to this technology to a whole new range of people.

Rain takes pride in being independent and working towards developing programs and technologies that are best suited for Africa instead of being a direct copy of a technology developed somewhere else.

Africa as the tech innovator

Actually Rain has ambitious and to drive to become a technological leader of the world and considering Africa’s success with financial technologies it seems quite possible. When Africa first started to pop up as a new fintech capital there was a slot of confusion around the topic because in most people’s eyes this is not the place where the technological innovations come from. But Africa managed to prove otherwise and now it is working towards becoming a leader in this field as well.

Africa has been evolving at an impressive speed when it comes to technology. African developers are in tune with the needs of contemporary customers so far they’ve done an impressive job of creating technology and promoting innovation to elevate the day-to-day experiences of people.

5G technology has become a topic when it comes to international relations, but Africa seems to be doing a good job of having a balanced approach, listening to the customers and creating products that are designed specifically for the African setup.

Despite some challenges with coverage and access, which are a part of the development process Rain has been very successful at keeping its vision clean and delivering the service to as many people as possible. Rain is determined to continue on improving its products and expanding the coverage area. They see the potential in this technology and the need for this sort of technology in Africa. It definitely has the potential to become a worldwide leader in this field after it overcomes some of the aforementioned challenges and distributes its products across the entire continent. For now, the coverage is focused on Johannesburg, while the technology is not fully developed and all the issues aren't taken care of. This year we will likely see huge progress in this direction across the continent and by the end of it may be the whole continent will have access to 5G technology.