iLab Africa

Over half of the world’s and Africa's population remains offline, with millions of rural households with no access to broadband. This creates a global gap of around $6.7 trillion in the digital economy.

Establishing and expanding affordable digital infrastructures that support ICT, such as mobile cell towers, optical fiber cables, network boosters and repeaters, would assist in bridging the gap caused by digital divide. This is because internet access is impossible without such infrastructures.

The role of these infrastructures is to provide mobile and internet network coverage, especially to people living in rural, remote and areas with challenging terrain. 

This would increase the internet penetration rate in Africa from an estimated 30% to 70% (A percentage increase of 133.33%). Connecting the rest of the world could lift 500 million people out of poverty. 

Funding from the World Bank would assist poor countries and governments to establish these infrastructures.

The specific problem is lack of internet access by people, especially those living in rural, remote and areas with challenging terrain. This is characterized by low levels of development such as poor or non-existent infrastructure. 

Africa is the continent with the highest percentage of people without access to the internet, with only an estimated 30% of its total population with access. Of the 54 African states, only 20 have an internet penetration rate greater than half of its corresponding population.

According to statista.com, Central Africa, Central America and Central Asia also have poor rates of internet penetration of 24.91%, 29.91% and 43.85% respectively. 37% of rural US households have no access to broadband. 

This has a direct correlation with high poverty and unemployment levels in many African countries, especially with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This results to low quality of lives of people and increased social crimes such as theft, prostitution, poaching, drug smuggling, drug and substance abuse, child labor and armed robberies.

Other effects include poor mental health seen through depression, anxiety and suicide.

Technology refers to both hardware and software.

The proposed solution involves the establishment and expansion of affordable hardware infrastructures (digital infrastructures) to create mobile and internet network coverage. 

This involves the establishment of cell towers connected with optical fiber cables for data transmission and internet connectivity. The cell towers enable internet connectivity to mobile devices using cellular data, by transmitting electromagnetic waves to the mobile devices. 

The optical fiber cables are responsible for transmitting data in digital format (in form of light pulses). These light pulses are converted to electric signals by a router. Devices connected to the router are connected to the internet by receiving the electric signals, either wirelessly through Wi-Fi or through a wired connection using an ethernet cable.

For extremely poor countries, cellular repeaters and boosters can be used as an alternative to cell towers, to counter signal attenuation (loss of signal strength with distance). This will increase the network coverage at a cheaper cost.

This enables the networks to be established, maintained and upgraded in a commercially sustainable manner.

The target population is every human being with the ability to understand how to effectively use the internet but is limited due to no network coverage. This ranges from children, adults, the elderly regardless of the race, gender, ethnicity, religious affiliations, social background, economic status or political affiliations.

Such people do not have access to the internet mainly because of their geographical location since their access to the internet is limited by the mobile or internet network coverage in their residence. This can be further caused by low levels of development in their region in terms of infrastructure. 

This solution would help them participate in the digital economy, monetize their skills online by establishing an online market, educate themselves, connect with friends and family through social media, improve their skills, which results in a better quality of life and better standards of living.

Equipping people with the ability to access the internet will help them access and engage in an inclusive digital economy. The ability to access the internet is enabled through the digital infrastructures supporting ICT (cell towers), which are meant to be established in different geographical locations where they are lacking.

Such locations are mainly rural areas, remote areas and areas with challenging terrain. The target is the people living in such areas, as most do not have access to the internet. Use of network repeaters and boosters is meant to provide a cheaper alternative to the cell towers.

The stage of development of this solution is selected as a scale, as it is a proven method that is implemented in many countries with internet access. It is a practical solution that has been implemented already for years.

However, the solution has only been focused to urban areas and areas with high population densities. The governments of many countries have still not applied this solution in many remote and rural areas. As simple as it is, it determines the ability of people to connect to the internet or not.

It is a simple yet very effective method, as it has been tested and it has been in use in the current world for years. The idea relies on the deployment of existing technology in larger scales, in a way that has not been done before. 

Its deployment in larger scales would generate the desired results, hence providing solutions that are aligned with the challenge.

The solution currently serves approximately 30% of Africa's total population, which results to 364,800,000 people.

In one year, this figure can increase up to 486,400,000 people.

In five years, the figure can increase exponentially to up to 851,200,000 people.

Statistics are the main tool used to act as an indicator of the progress towards the impact goals. This will involve comparing the total number of internet users after the implementation of the solution. 

The rate of growth in terms of number of internet users within previous years will be compared with the rate of growth annually in each country where the solution has been implemented.

Individual countries where the solution has been implemented and where it has not, can be compared to determine any significant progress and improvement.

Economically, a state's Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P.), per capita income and the rates of unemployment can be monitored to determine the effects of the solution.

Seven people are in the solution team.

The team is a sub-department of iLab Africa, called the Research Center Division. It has been in operation for over 10 years. It is well-equipped and possesses the technical knowledge necessary to come up with practical and viable solutions.

It is dedicated towards Research and is well-informed about the current situation on the ground in Africa after data collection, analysis and presentation. It seeks to solve societal problems using existing or new technology.

In order to build a diverse, equitable and inclusive leadership team, our solution's leadership team seeks to work with people from different social, economic, ethnic and racial backgrounds. This is done by applying the solution in any country in the world that is willing to implement it.

It also seeks to create equity in the society by granting the same privilege to people living in rural, remote and areas with challenging terrain as those living in urban areas.

It also seeks to involve everyone in the digital economy, by bridging the gap caused by digital divide. This is also aligned with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the UN.

Information Technology is my area of expertise and I am very passionate about solving real-word problems using the knowledge, skills and prowess that I have acquired so far in school and in my career.

The project needs financial support most, as it requires the purchase and establishment of cell towers.

I would like to partner with the MIT faculty and other Solve members to help me refine my solution so that it can be implemented in the real world.

The solution addresses the Digital Inclusion challenge, which can be applied in the U.S. to assist the 37% of the people in rural areas without access to broadband.

The ASA Prize for Equitable Education can be used to advance the solution by providing financial muscle to execute and implement the setup of one cell tower in my hometown (Meru, Kenya).

The solution addresses the Digital Inclusion challenge, which can be applied to assist the refugees living in Diaspora, remote and rural areas in a country.

The Andan Prize for Innovation can assist in the setup of fibre cables in my area of residence.

The solution addresses the Digital Inclusion challenge, which can be applied to promote Digital Equity in different societies across different parts of the world.

The HP Prize for Advancing Digital Equity can greatly assist in the training of illiterate and semi-literate people to effectively use the internet, after the installation of the cell towers.