On June 8, 2017, Ndubuisi Ekekwe made a video and wrote:
“In today’s videocast, I make a case that Africa will enter the era of affordable broadband internet in 2022. That will be the year we will begin a new dawn of immersive connectivity where you can eat and surf all you can. Industry players will take off the Internet meter and then focus on service, experience and quality.
“From satellite broadband vendors to the MNCs with balloons and drones, the sector will become very competitive and service will drive growth. This has happened in the past – every decade, Africa experiences a major industrial transformation. We saw that in banking and voice telephony. 2020s, starting at 2022, will be the decade of immersive connectivity.”
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As SpaceX Starlink arrives, that call is coming to pass! June 2017 seems to be a long time ago. I went to my village in Dec 2019 and the internet was bad. I was not happy. Luckily MTN came to the rescue, and broadband worked just fine while I was home. And before I left Ovim, three families offered free sites for masts. Imagine what broadband would do to Oriendu Market in Ovim. Imagine what it would do in your own village and community. This is the age of acceleration of value; a moment for optimism.
Watch that video again.
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Sectors like entertainment, education, healthcare and commerce will benefit massively, they will all be transformed beyond recognition. How about integrating live video feature into ecommerce, where you can even haggle prices as in realtime, open market style? A lot of things will come up, including those never thought of.
Education sector will not be the same again, because disadvantaged communities and poor schools can have access to finest tutors and resource persons; you will no longer need to attend let’s say Covenant University before you can have access to its own quality of education. You can also have access to best medical practitioners, without needing to visit them, broadband will make it possible.
Cheap and accessible broadband can transform Nigeria faster than constant power supply, you can take this statement to the bank. Empower humans, then watch how they churn out incredible solutions to societal challenges.
Give us cheap broadband at scale, and we will be creating billion dollar companies on weekly basis, the multiplier effects are immeasurable.
We have to be intentional about these, the much talked about economic opportunities have their base firmly rooted on access to broadband, let’s make it happen!