Digital Silk Road in Africa

Chinese investment in Africa’s tech infrastructure continues to gain momentum on the continent. “Made in China” technology now serves as the backbone of network infrastructure in several African countries, unbeknownst to millions of users.

“Many African consumers have no idea they are using or talking on Chinese built [Internet, Communications and Technology] infrastructure,” says Iginio Gagliardone, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.

Chinese firms like Huawei, ZTE and China Telecom are behind the core systems of new ICT infrastructure across Africa. And they are providing the next generation of technology. 

Beijing responded to a need

In the last decade, African countries have largely turned to China to help them build and expand their digital infrastructure — with some countries increasingly dependent on Beijing. But that’s just one reason Washington’s warnings are going unheeded.

“The problem is that [the US has] not come with an alternative,” says Eric Olander, the founder of The China Africa Project. “[Washington is] not saying, don’t use Huawei, here’s a billion dollars for you to go and buy an Alcatel or Ericsson or Cisco network.”

African countries received little support from Western governments for technology infrastructure. While the donors spoke about the importance of internet access in development, they were less prepared to provide aid for digital infrastructure, according to Nairobi-based Gagliardone.

“It’s not just China. In Rwanda for example, it was South Korea that really supported the rolling out of 4G internet in the country while the Western donors were saying, ‘we don’t think it’s necessary,'” he says.

Western reluctance to support the ICT sector left an open window for China.

‘Made in China’ tech a concern

The average African could care less about the origin of the infrastructure networks operate on. A gigabyte of data costs an average of 8% of a monthly income in Africa, according to the Alliance for Affordable Internet. That is much higher than in the Americas and Asia. Most Africans just want internet access at lower prices.