The Africa Report — July-August 2017

It will also lay thousands of kilo-
metres of fibre-optic cable and
form partnerships with telecoms
companiestohelpdrivedownthe
cost of entry-level smartphones,
Google executives say.
Mckendunderscorestheimpor-
tance of advertising in the com-
pany’s strategy on the continent:
“Our biggest source of revenue is
largely advertising,” he says. “If
yourunasearchforcarinsurance
in South Africa, we will try and
assessyourintentbylookingat
the actual term that you used. If
youare alogged-inuserwe might
look at the searches that you’ve
conductedpreviouslyandwewill
useallofthosesignalstodeliveran
appropriateresult,whetherit’san
adorwhetherit’sanorganicresult
[anon-paid-forresultthatappears
because of its relevance to search
terms].That’sexactlythesameway
thatGoogleworkseverywhereelse
in the world.”

MOBILE FIRST
The company sees huge oppor-
tunities to ride the waves made
by Africa’s mobile revolution. “If
you look at our next billion user
initiative,whichislargelyfocused
on Asia and India, I think one of
the most interesting things for us
to think about is how we’re going
to address an entirely new swathe
of users who are mobile first [...]
and how do we address the use
case [how systems connect actor
to goal] for that kind of user in
emerging markets,” says Mckend.
“And those emerging markets
are largely Africa, Asia, India, to
some extent Brazil, some South
America,” he adds.

An estimated 90% of Africa’s

internet users are on mobile,

according to Google. But just

12% of Africans have access to a

smartphone, compared to 57%

of Americans, according to the

company. That makes driving

down the cost of smartphones

crucial to the company’s strategy

to grow the number of users on

the continent.

Google’s recent battles with

tax authorities in Europe will be

causeforconcernformanyAfrican

governments.IntheUK,politicians

have called for the company to

payits“fairshare”ofcorporatetax

after it was sharply criticised for

paying just $47m in taxes on sales

of $7.7bn. A Google spokesman

said:“Asaninternationalbusiness,

wepaythemajorityofourtaxesin

our home country, as well as all

the taxes due in the UK.”

Analysts say governments in

emergingmarketswillbewatching

this saga closely. “African coun-

tries are starting to scrutinise the

financial operations of major

players with much greater inten-

sity, particularly in telecom and

connectivitysectors,”saysresearch

analystJonTullett.“Ihaven’tseen

anyactiondirectedagainstGoogle

yet, but the company is certainly

watching the movementsofregu-

latory bodies very closely.”

TRADING PRIVACY FOR JOBS

Another sticking point for many

is the issue of online privacy.

Google insists that user data is

anonymised and kept safe from

prying eyes, but a series of recent

high-profile data breaches have

thrownonlinesecurityandprivacy

into the spotlight.

“Privacy is obviously a huge

issue with any ad-based busi-

ness, [...] the idea that Google is

keeping track of all your activities

across its different services and

building a profile on you which is

then used to sell you advertising,”

saysDawson,theanalyst.“There’s

obviously a lot of concern about

that in certain quarters – at least

certainly in Europe, [where] they

tend to be more concerned about

privacythingsthanhereintheUS.”

But governments also want

ICT sector jobs, and some are

teaming up with Google to carry

out training programmes. “We

are partnering with Google in

creating awareness about online

jobs,” says Haron Kertich, an ICT

officeratKenya’sministryofpublic

service, youth and gender affairs.

Thegovernmentistryingtoboost

the number of workers in the on-

line sector to 1 million, up from

its current level of 40,000.

Back outside the community

centre in Kajiado, Mwangi, the

student, says he appreciates the

trainingthatGooglehasgivenhim.

Butheseesthroughtheirstrategy.

“For them, it’s business,” he says.

“It’sallabouthavingmoreusers.”

Egypt

Ghana

Uganda

Algeria

Morocco

Nigeria Ethiopia

South

Africa

Kenya

93.5

20.2 34.8

15.1

7.9

13

28.6

37.7

10.9

11.5

Sudan

Top 10 African

countries by

internet users

as of 31 March 2017

(millions)

SOURCE: INTERNET WORLD STATS

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