US social media giant Facebook says its connectivity investments could grow Africa’s economy by $57bn in the next five years, with SA benefiting $14.1bn . Analysys Mason found that Facebook’s investments in infrastructure and connectivity will deliver more than $57bn in economic benefits from 2020 to 2024 in Sub-Saharan Africa.
As US technology companies are often very tight-lipped about their level of investment in Africa, this study gives a welcome insight about the size and scope of Facebook’s operations on the continent. It makes sense. While addressing the need to provide more internet access for the continent, Facebook is likely laying the foundation for next frontier of users. With more than 2-billion users across its platforms, which include Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram, it can’t add the next billion users if they don’t have access to the internet.
Facebook has invested in the 2Africa cable system, which, it says, is one of the largest sub-sea cable projects in the world, which will circle the African continent, landing in 16 African countries. “It will triple the capacity currently provided by all the sub-sea cables serving Africa, further supporting growth of 4G, 5G and broadband access for hundreds of millions of people,” Facebook said.
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