The Economist - 04.12.2021

52 MiddleEast&Africa TheEconomistDecember4th 2021

yaandUgandathatdonotyetfacetravelre­

strictions.TamsinCorcoran,themanaging

directorofNewAfricanTerritories,which

takesreservationsfora dozensmallsafari

camps,saidshehadreceivedonlyonecan­

cellationbutshewasseeing“lotsofhesita­

tion”fromotherclients.“Peopleareget­

tinga bitnervous,”shesays.InUgandathe

industryhasrecoveredonlytoabout40%

ofitspre­pandemiclevel,reckonsGloria

Tumwesigye, a tourism consultant in

Kampala,thecapital.

EvenasMsdeJagerandothertouroper­

atorsfacea quietChristmas,SouthAfrica’s

healthworkersaregearingupforanother

December of mayhemas covid’s fourth

wavewashesoverthecountry.Although

thenumberofconfirmedcovidcaseshad

been rising steadily over the past few

weeks in Gauteng, theprovince that is

home to Johannesburg, epidemiologists

hadexpecteda relativelymildpeak.Mod­

ellingsuggestedthatfewerpeoplewould

endupinhospitalthanduringa vicious

thirdwavethatcrestedinJuly.Inpartthis

wasbecauseantibodytestssuggestedthat

inmanypartsofthecountrya whopping

59­69%ofpeoplehadalreadybeeninfect­

ed.Arounda quarterofpeoplehavebeen

fully vaccinated. Omicron is upsetting

thoseestimates,withnewcasesjumping

to8,500a day,fromabout 300 a monthago.

ForsomeSouthAfricansthemostim­

mediateconcern wasnotthe virus, but

booze.Inpreviouslockdownsthegovern­

mentbannedthesaleofalcoholtoprevent

drunksfromoccupyingpreciousbedsin

hospitals.Althoughthisdidindeedreduce

hospital admissions from car accidents

andbeer­fuelledfights,it alsotaughtmany

that lockdowns divide people into two

groups:thequickandthethirsty.Moments

afterthegovernmentannouncedthatPres­

identCyrilRamaphosawouldaddressthe

nation on November 28th, long queues

formedoutsideliquorstores.

Asithappens,hedidnotimposea full

lockdownora boozeban.Insteadheurged

people to get vaccinated.He also com­

plainedaboutthetravelbansimposedon

theregion,arguingthattheyare“notin­

formedbyscience”.Itisdifficulttofault

governmentselsewherefortryingtoslow

thespreadofthenewvariant,afterthey

wereroundlycriticisedforhavingfailedto

actquicklywhencovidfirstemerged.But,

inturn,SouthAfricadeservesmorethan

justpraiseforhavinginformedtheworld

quicklyaboutthenewvariant.

Incentivesmatter.If othercountriesare

tobeencouragedtodothesamewithfu­

turevariants,richcountriesshouldlifttra­

velbansasquicklyasit issafetodoso.And

itmaybeintheinterestsofrichcountries

togofurther,andcompensateSouthAfrica

fortakinganeconomichitthatmaywell

sparetherichworlda greatdealofpain.n

Theunder-jabbed

Shareofpeoplevaccinatedagainstcovid-19

Selectedcountries,2021*,%

Source:OurWorldinData *ToNovember2th

Malawi

Namibia

Mozambique

Eswatini

Zimbabwe

Lesotho

SouthAfrica

Botswana

403020100

Fullyvaccinated Partlyvaccinated

Africantech

Seeding the cloud

I

nthenamanveindustrialparkonthe

edge  of  the  Ugandan  capital,  Kampala,

trucks rumble through the dust, laden with

steel.  Sacks  of  coffee  pile  up  in  ware­

houses.  And  at  Raxio  data  centre,  which

opened this year, a local corner of the inter­

net  is  encased  in  rows  of  gleaming  racks.

Reach out, and you can touch the cloud.

Most  of  Africa’s  data  are  currently

stored  elsewhere,  zipping  down  undersea

cables  that  often  make  landfall  in  the

French  city  of  Marseille.  From  the  conti­

nent’s southern tip it can take 180 millisec­

onds  for  a  message  to  reach  Europe  and

back—long enough to frustrate people try­

ing  to  trade  shares  or  play  games.  But  a

flurry of investment in data centres is now

bringing the internet closer to users, laying

the ground for a digital revolution.

An  upheaval  is  overdue.  Africa  has

more internet users than America, but on­

ly  as  much  data­centre  space  as  Switzer­

land.  Demand  is  soaring  as  more  people

get online. Since 2016 capacity on the con­

tinent  has  doubled  to  around  250  mega­

watts (power usage is a common measure

of capacity), according to Xalam Analytics,

which tracks the industry. Such is the rate

of  growth  that  another  1,200  megawatts

will be needed by 2030.

The  boom  is  partly  driven  by  regula­

tion.  Two  dozen  African  countries  have

passed  data­protection  laws,  or  are  plan­

ning  to  do  so.  They  often  require  certain

data,  such  as  personal  information,  to  be

kept  in  the  country.  Another  boost  comes

from competition, says Jan Hnizdo of Tera­

co,a leadingdatacentreinSouthAfrica,

whereliberalisationofthetelecomsindus­

trycreatedspaceforsuchfirmstoflourish.

Capitalispouringin.Teracoisbuilding

Africa’slargeststand­alonedatacentrein

Johannesburg,withbackingfromforeign

funds.Actis,a private­equityfirm,isput­

ting$250mintotheindustry,startingwith

amajoritystakeinaNigeriancompany,

RackCentre.Americaninvestorsfounded

Raxiowithaneyeonlessfashionablemar­

kets,fromUgandatoMozambique.

These arejust someoftheproviders

thatoffer“co­location”facilities,renting

spacetoanarrayofclients.Theyhopeto

attractthelikesofbanksandphonecom­

panies, whichotherwise have thehead­

acheofrunning theirowncentres. The

dayswhena bankwouldjustputa server

“ina cornerroom”aregone,saysAyotunde

Coker,wholefta jobinfinancetobecome

thebossofRackCentre.

Datacentresneedpower,andlotsofit.

Keepingtheirequipmentcoolconsumes

almost as much energy as running it,

whichiswhycentresareusuallyinchilly

placessuchas Scandinaviaor America’s

Pacificnorth­west.MostofAfricaishot

andhasa lotofpowercuts.“Twoorthree

percent ofunavailabilityis aneternity,”

saysGuyZibi ofXalam. Tokeepservers

running,manycentresusepollutingand

expensivedieselgenerators.

Yet thepotential gainsfromoffering

betterconnectivityandfasterinternetser­

vicesinAfricaoutweighthedifficulties.

MicrosoftandAmazonarebringingtheir

cloud services to the region, and have

openeddatacentresoftheirowninSouth

Africa.Huaweihashelpedbuildoneforthe

governmentofSenegal.GoogleandFace­

bookarebothinvolvedinprojectstolay

newcablesaroundAfrica’scoasts.These

investmentsarea signthattheworld’sbig­

gestcompaniesarestartingtotakeAfrica

seriously—anda reminderthatthedigital

economy,forallitsairypromise,willbe

groundedinfibre,steelandconcrete.n

K AMPALA

Africa’s digital revolution will be

grounded in fibre, steel and concrete

Internet weighting

International bandwidth usage in Africa

By source, terabits per second

Source:OxfordBusinessGroup

18

15

12

9

6

3

2015 1716 1918

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