Introduction
Privatization of internet services in the early 90s was key to the third industrial revolution which attributed to a boom in many, if not all, sectors of the global economy. Somalia got it is first internet connection in the late 90s and early 2000s. However, the real mass rollout of internet adoption didn’t start until after 2015. Ever since the internet penetration rate has been growing at a high-speed rate.
Despite this growth, like many African countries, Somalia has a very limited digital infrastructure such as the internet backbone, and broadband services among other critical tech infrastructure. For example, due to insecurity, there is no internet backbone between main cities, thus limiting the ability to provide high-speed internet to people living in different states especially those in the South and Central Somalia. The Fiber Optic cables for example. They are the main internet backbone carries upon which digital services are built on. The more a country installs Fiber Optic capacity, the more internet penetration and the cheaper it gets. Somalia is notoriously expensive when it comes to laying down to fibre optic cable, especially in rural and suburban areas due to numerous factors including, but not limited to, security threats, professional labour shortage and limited financial options.
On the other hand, and against all odds, Somalia has ranked number one in Africa in terms of Mobile Internet costs and number seven in the world. This phenomenal achievement has been largely attributed to the liberal private-led nature of Somali markets and economy. There are currently seven telecom companies operating to a population of 15 million people. This means that the competition is stiff and markets are very efficient with limited or no entry and exit buries.
Progress being made
Leveraging Digital technologies and its services is growing at high speed in Somalia, from connectivity to financial inclusion. A decade ago, Hormuud Telecom – the largest telecom operator and Mobile Money provider in Somalia launched EVC Plus to simplify the business transactions and money transfers to its mobile subscribers and small business. The EVC subscribers have grown and received a dominant trust from the wider community. A few years ago, the company launched ECV API to support e-commerce vendors, Social Commerce dwellers as well as delivery service providers to do business online. This accelerated the growth and emergence of digital business in Somalia which has been struggling to tackle financial transactions. Customers can now easily pay for the products and services of any online business with EVC API by using the EVC. EVC Plus API is among the many innovative services launched by Hormuud over the years of operation across the country. Mobile connectivity, Mobile Money and Internet connections are key digital infrastructures to facilitate the create jobs and the flourish of small businesses which contributes to the economic growth in Somalia.
Yasin Hassan, Communication Manager, Hormuud Telecom
