Bringing Internet to Africa’s Remote Communities
In low-resource countries, digital inclusion and the clean technology to enable it have never been more critical, as communication, socialization, education, employment, healthcare, and civic participation are conducted increasingly on the internet. This is especially true for African countries. According to World Bank and International Telecommunication Union research, only 36 percent of the African population has access to broadband internet, and only 35 percent of men and 24 percent of women use the internet.1,2
Mouser Electronics recently spoke with Catherine Kyalo, a Kenya native currently serving as a liaison officer at the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), about Africa’s digital inclusion challenges, the role of clean technologies in this effort, and solutions to bring the benefits of digital access and clean technologies to disadvantaged communities.
Mouser Electronics: How did you find yourself engaged in the digital inclusion movement?
Catherine Kyalo: I’ve always worked around technology, specifically around networks, but every time I visited my mother, who lives in a remote area with limited bandwidth, I had to go off-grid. I couldn’t even write an email. I couldn’t do anything. You never comprehend the gravity of a lack of internet access until you’re in a place for several days unable to read your emails or engage online. I began to wonder how I could help these communities and contribute meaningfully to this effort.
When I learned about APC’s community networks program in Kenya [the Local Networks initiative, or LocNet], which allows communities to own their communication infrastructure, I was intrigued and decided to join.
What does digital inclusion look like in Kenya and Africa at large?
It centers on ensuring equitable access to information and communication technologies for all people, regardless of geographical disposition, socioeconomic status, or cultural disposition. It involves an ecosystem of dependencies, from activities to programs to policies. For example, digital literacy has to go hand in hand with access to digital devices, and affordable internet access depends on the existence of enabling policies. So digital inclusion is not a one-man job—it’s a multi-stakeholder process.
A community network is a communication infrastructure built, managed, and operated by a local community to meet its own connectivity needs. It is an access model often established in areas where commercial internet service providers (ISPs) are either non-existent, unaffordable, or unreliable; these are mostly low-income and rural areas. They focus on providing low-cost or free internet access.
At a usage level, because a lack of digital devices limits internet access, including smartphones, LocNet supports its partner organizations to promote digital access through community hotspots and community digital centers with digital devices [e.g., computers, tablets]. These centers are usually run by a community coordinator who directs digital literacy programs and ensures inclusivity.
In your experience, what are the biggest barriers to digital inclusion in Africa?
On the government side of things, especially here in Kenya, telecom licensing policies are created at the national level. Unfortunately, people from communities outside the capital often cannot join these conversations because of the travel involved or their inability to participate virtually. As a result, these policies usually do not reflect the needs of the digitally excluded people.
In addition, in Kenya and the rest of Africa, governments charge exorbitant licensing fees, which are unaffordable to small-scale providers, and efforts to extend access to rural areas are further hindered by right-of-way costs imposed by local governments. To make an economic return, telecom operators focus their infrastructure and services on areas where users have high purchasing power, not to the local communities where people can afford only 1GB per month.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) account for most of the efforts to increase internet access in African communities. They establish community digital centers, provide computers, and launch digital literacy programs. Still, they often fail to understand each community’s unique needs, how the equipment will be maintained and who will maintain it, or how to address the different social or cultural requirements. For instance, in Kenya, women gathering in the same places as men is not considered culturally appropriate. If men are using the digital literacy center or hotspots, then where will women go for digital access?
So, as well-meaning and appreciated as NGO efforts are, their impacts are often short-lived because they fail to address these critical factors.
How does digital inclusion promote the use of clean technologies in these communities?
Many of the rural communities we serve face economic challenges. Clean technologies like solar power have been widely adopted to support the deployment of communications infrastructure in these areas. Solar energy is not only environmentally sustainable but also harnesses an abundant, free natural resource—the sun—making it a practical and cost-effective solution in the long run. Additionally, we promote using low-power, energy-efficient digital devices to maximize resource efficiency.
Beyond infrastructure, digital inclusion plays a crucial role in expanding access to information about clean technologies, such as solar panels, wind energy, and energy-efficient practices. It empowers communities with technical knowledge to deploy and maintain these solutions effectively.
However, despite its long-term benefits, solar-powered infrastructure remains expensive upfront, creating a significant barrier to adoption in economically disadvantaged areas. This highlights the importance of digital inclusion as a catalyst for civic participation—enabling communities to engage in policy advocacy for more affordable and accessible solar technologies. By ensuring that rural populations have a voice in shaping policies, digital inclusion helps drive systemic change, making clean energy solutions more attainable for those who need them most.
How can countries and communities promote clean technologies and digital inclusion more effectively and sustainably?
These efforts can be sustainable and useful to a community only when they are built off a sound understanding of the community’s needs and resources. Literacy rates, gender dynamics, the presence of dedicated community champions to keep the initiative going, and more all factor into a community’s digital inclusion. Where an NGO is involved, an intermediary must dig into the community’s unique needs and effectively convey those to the NGO.
The good news is that digital inclusion is growing in Africa.
Thanks to the work of APC, the International Telecommunication Union, and others, governments are starting to take notice, and we are having more conversations on how to support and sustain community networks, including better licensing frameworks.
Since 2017, the number of community network initiatives in Africa has increased from only about 30 to over 60 initiatives as of 2024. And people are using these resources to improve their economic standing. One woman in a very remote South African community was able to learn French online and qualify for a better job. In another community, students can take their matriculation exams to enter university from the community digital center, which previously would have been impossible for them. These examples represent the essence of what we are hoping to bring to these communities.