MOBILE USERS : AFRICA VS ASIA

Asia and Africa are seen as the two fastest growing mobile markets, but it has been highlighted that neither of them have historically been big app users. Most of the traffic seen on mobile devices in both regions is still spent on web pages, unlike for example in the US where more than 80 percent of mobile traffic is accounted for by apps. This may be quite surprising to some as Asia is home to the two largest mobile markets worldwide in China and India.

Phone ownership is continuing to increase though in Africa, in particular in some countries such as Nigeria and South Africa, which is now on a par with the USA, however mobile penetration rates across Central Africa remains below 50 percent across most of the region.

The reason that both the Asian and African markets don’t see a lot of app traffic can be attributed to the fact that the majority of the inhabitants are actually still using low end handsets, which are not really designed for using apps. The growth in internet users in Africa though is partly believed to be due to smartphones becoming more affordable each year and making the internet easier to access.

The slow internet speeds in many areas in both regions could also be a contributing factor. In Asia though the last few years has seen a big shift towards higher speed mobile technology and mobile broadband is becoming the dominant technology and the Southeast Asian region is set to become a leader in mobile internet by the end of 2018.

Due to these factors it is likely that in both the African and Asians markets mobile app usage will grow. This will ultimately lead to the growth of services that lend well to the internet and mobile screens. Testimony to this is the increasing popularity of SBObet, which is one of the many online gaming sites that has seen a huge uptake in traffic via their mobile phone app.

In Asia there are some popular low cost mobile devices such as the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 and the Samsung Galaxy J1 and J2. There is some presence of Sony handsets throughout Asia, particularly in Japan, their biggest marketplace; but the prevalent handsets and Androids, in particular is the Samsung Galaxy range.

In Africa local manufacturers such as Infinix and Tecno are providers of more handsets than anyone else. This is most likely down to more local availability and more affordable pricing for users. Android devices are also reasonably popular within Africa, and with the exception of South Africa, Apple devices are not really found.

Both Asia and Africa have seen a massive increase in the amounts of mobile users, however the rise seen in Africa has been more extreme, as it was only in 2006 that Africa had only 129 million mobile subscribers in total and that amount is now more than 1 billion.

 Source: https://www.sabreakingnews.co.za/2018/06/22/how-does-africa-compare-to-asia-when-it-comes-to-mobile-users/

RENEWABLE ENERGY GIVES POWER AND JOBS TO CLANWILLIAM

The Western Cape town of Clanwilliam’s first retail shopping centre to be opened on Thursday is an example of how renewable energy is aiding economic development in small towns with limited access to the national grid, an energy company executive said on Wednesday.

SOLA Future Energy installed a solar photovoltaic system providing the additional power for the Cedar Mill Mall that state-owned power utility Eskom could not supply.

Eskom indicated that it was able to supply only 250 kVA of continuous power due to constraints on the grid, while the mall’s developers, Noble Property, needed at least 500 kVA to get the project off the ground.

“The solution was to utilise the substantial roof space on the mall to install 2580 solar panels with a capacity of 851kW,” SOLA Future Energy CEO Dominic Wills said.

Thanks to the solar PV and an additional battery system, electricity can also be supplied to the mall independent of the central grid, making the centre resilient to power outages that often plague small, remote municipalities.

“In addition to providing power to the grid and off-grid, the exciting potential of solar PV technology is that it can provide solutions that supplement the grid. This technology is deployable in rural settings, where electricity connections are often limited,” said Wills.

The new shopping centre is expected to create 300 permanent jobs.

 Source: https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/1964927/renewable-energy-brings-power-and-jobs-to-clanwilliam-officials/

THE CITY OF LONDON WILL BE POWERED BY 100% RENEWABLE ENERGY STARTING IN OCT...

The City of London has announced that they will be sourcing 100% of their energy needs from renewable sources by October 2018.

According to a statement released by the “Square Mile’s” ruling body, the city plans on implementing the shift by installing solar panels on all government-owned buildings; investing in off-site renewable energy projects; and buying clean energy from the grid.

The solar installations will reportedly stretch across social housing in 6 London boroughs, 11,000 acres of green space, and several markets and academies.

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“This is a big step for the City Corporation and it demonstrates our commitment to making us a more socially and environmentally responsible business,” said Catherine McGuinness, Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s Policy and Resources Committee.

“By generating our own electricity and investing in renewables, we are doing our bit to help meet international and national energy targets.”

Source: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/the-city-of-london-will-be-powered-by-100-renewable-energy-starting-in-october/