Africa To Enjoy Free Internet Service In Five Years

A Data and Research Journalist, Mr Kwabena Adu Koranteng, has predicted that Africa will soon enjoy a free and fast internet service as the world advances into higher technological stratum.

According to Mr Koranteng, the global brains behind technology are thinking of making access to internet free to Africa to attract millions of Africans who have no passion and interest for accessing the internet due to the high charges.

Making internet free in Africa will help service deliverers that are the managers and operators in the United States to access adequate information from Africa. Africa seems not to be providing enough information to the global world to help in finding solutions to its myriad problems.

Internet provision in Africa has been regarded as very expensive and slow forcing many people to doubt its penetration across the entire continent but the perception will soon change when it becomes free, Mr Koranteng stated.

However, he said the dangerous aspect of it will be that when the people on the continent commit themselves to the total use of the Internet, it will be to the advantage of the neo colonial masters who have the available technology and the capacity to store all the data from Africa and use them against Africans whenever possible.
That he said will give them the urge over Africans which will lead to Africans being manipulated, suppressed and abused since Information is poised to become the most valuable asset in the World in the coming years.
He said this will be another strategy to recognize Africa which is always vulnerable due to its ability to invest in research and development.

Some technological analysts have objected to the move aimed at making internet access free with the view that such a move will give the Internet operators much information to suppress and oppress the people of Africa who are also bedeviled with problems of war, Diseases and poverty.

Already Facebook is in talks with a London-based satellite technology firm about a ground-breaking bid to prove free internet access in large parts of Africa.

The project, under the social network's Internet.org initiative, is part of founder Mark Zuckerberg's plan to put the developing world online.

It has been reported the deal with satellite operator Avanti is expected to be announced soon.
Mr Zuckerberg turned to the company after plans to bring the Internet to Africa with mobile operators, including Vodafone, were rejected.

A commercial deal with Avanti would mean Facebook could cover swathes of Africa at a relatively low cost, reported The Telegraph.

The company already owns two broadband satellites positioned over the continent and plans to increase coverage by launching a further three in the next few years.

Facebook's Internet.org is aimed to 'bring the Internet to the two thirds of the world's population that doesn't have it'.Its mission statement says: 'No one should have to choose between access to the Internet and food or medicine.

'Internet.org partners will join forces to develop technology that decreases the cost of delivering data to people worldwide, and helps expand Internet access in underserved communities.'

Internet.org believes if developing economies had the same levels of internet access as in the first world, global productivity would be boosted by 25% and 160million people would be lifted out of poverty.

In an interview with CNN, Mr Zuckerberg said he wanted 'to put the whole world online'.He said: 'I mean, here, we use things like Facebook to share news and catch up with out friends, but there, they're going to use it to decide what kind of government they want, get access to healthcare for the first time ever, connect with family hundreds of miles away that they haven't seen for decades.

'Getting access to the Internet is a really big deal'.Recently, Mr Zuckerberg showed his concern for the plight of Africans by provided a tool on his social network allowing users to donate to organizations working to fight Ebola. He also provided internet connectivity in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to help medical and aid workers track cases and co-ordinate their response.