Welcome,

Connect Africa is an innovative ICT (Information Communication Technology) initiative that combines entrepreneurship and social enterprise to bring communication, business and public services to rural communities across Africa.

Using a network of public phones working in tandem with a fleet of service vehicles that routinely visit installations in deep rural communities, Connect Africa will provide an infrastructure and logistics network to facilitate the delivery of multiple services to deep rural communities across Africa.

After 2 years of research and field trials funded internally and with a grant from the Southern Africa Trust, Connect Africa successfully completed a 6 month pilot project in South Africa’s Limpopo Province in 2007. This pilot was carried out in partnership with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) with the support of key sponsors that included Vodacom, HP, Iveco, Microsoft, VW, Iridium, Graffiti, 4x4 Megaworld and Galaxy Media. Work continues with provincial and local government to roll-out a rural service network across the Limpopo Province with a view to having a national rural service network in place by 2012.

In April 2008 Connect Africa began conducting a trial of satellite connected public pay-phones, supported by the Iridium Satellite Network, in deep rural Zambia - in and around the Zambian Wildlife Authority’s Kafue National Park Game Management Areas.

The success of these trials resulted in the deployment of an extended pilot project in early 2009. Funded once again by the Southern Africa Trust, and with the support and approval of the Zambian Communications Authority, Connect Africa deployed six public pay-phones in and around ZAWA’s Kafue Game Management Area in March 2009. This trial incorporates an additional satellite network supported by Thuraya’s regional distributor Fort Info Technology.

All activity across the trial network will be monitored and analysed for three months at which time a project report with recommendations for a national network of rural pay-phones will be submitted to the Zambian Communications Authority for review. The rural pay-phone network will provide the framework for a multi-purpose service delivery network to deliver routine government, agriculture, health, education, and business services to deep rural communities.

It is proposed that the Zambian service network will serve as a model for an African rural service network covering 10 countries by 2015.

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We have added a Gallery and Video section which highlights some of our recent activities in Zambia. Our videos beautifully sum up who Connect Africa is and what we do for the rural communities in South Africa and Zambia.

click on the links below for a visual journey into Connect Africa...