Microsoft Corporation and Viasat, a global communications company which provides geostationary orbit and low earth orbit satellites, have combined expertise and assets to provide satellite internet to 10 million people across the globe, including 5 million across Africa by 2025. This is being facilitated through Microsoft’s Airband initiative, as reported by both companies’ official press releases.

Through Airband, Microsoft and its partners have a track record of bridging the digital divide in the developing world by delivering high-speed internet access to more than five million people worldwide.

At the US-Africa Summit in Washington, the president of the United States of America, Joe Biden, said the satellite project would kick start immediately, beginning with Angola, Egypt and Senegal, bringing telehealth, distance learning, precision agriculture, clean power, and other services to these countries. According to the International Telecommunication Union, the UN, roughly one-third of the world’s population or 2.7 billion people, have never used the internet.

Microsoft president Brad Smith mentioned that Africans have high-level skills and expertise and used Microsoft engineers in Nairobi and Lagos as examples of outstanding work. However, the technology leader cited lack of opportunity as a problem in the African continent and the fact that electricity shortage is correlated with impeding access to opportunity.

Furthermore, this partnership builds upon the existing relationship between Viasat and Microsoft Azure Space to deliver advances in satellite connectivity and advance Microsoft’s mission to connect anyone, anywhere on the planet.

To conclude, it was mentioned that Africa has made it easier for global companies to provide low-cost internet solutions because most countries have simplified their licensing procedures and regulation processes. Moreover, the authoritarianism of most governments would not be a factor in facilitating internet access as most countries would rather control the content of the internet rather than the provision of the internet itself.