Africa: The Digital Infrastructure Imperative in African Markets

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Over the past two decades, Chinese companies have come to dominate the telecom infrastructure landscape in emerging markets. Around 50 percent of Africa's 3G networks and 70 percent of its 4G networks are built by Huawei. The Clean Network initiative was the central Trump administration policy aimed at curbing the expansion of Chinese technology infrastructure but has only found success in getting European countries to agree to use non-Chinese infrastructure in expanding telecom networks. Countries such as the United Kingdom (UK), Czech Republic, and Poland, as well as telecom companies such as Orange and Telstra, notably signed on to the initiative. While there is an expectation of more diplomacy in US-China relations under the Biden administration, the recently established Pentagon task force on China indicates that this administration is just as concerned about the spread of Chinese influence as the last. Although the Trump administration's policies successfully curbed Chinese expansion in Western countries, they did not address the growing presence of Chinese technology infrastructure on the African continent. In African markets, a lack of local champions and infrastructure financing and construction capacity constraints have created a dependence on Chinese-financed projects.

According to the China Global Investment Tracker, Chinese technology investments and contracts in sub-Saharan Africa totaled $7.19 billion between 2005 and 2020. Huawei and ZTE have established more than forty 3G networks in more than thirty African countries and built national fiber-optic communications networks and e-government platforms for more than twenty African countries. To counteract the influence of China through Chinese telecom companies, the United States cannot use the same tactics that have been successful in the developed world. Instead, US policy should provide an alternative to Chinese technology by promoting new direct-to-consumer satellite solutions and supporting US tech firms that are already investing in African markets. The United States can also invest in tech solutions, such as improved routing protocols, that stand to build device trust and avoid the binary choice between US and Chinese tech. Through these policies, the United States can slow and possibly erode the gains that companies like Huawei have made on the continent by promoting innovative US technologies and providing resources to help unleash the second wave of the internet revolution in African countries.

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