Spotlight on School Connectivity | TelecomDrive.com
Giga is a partnership between UNICEF and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) – is it playing a significant role in terms of driving school connectivity in Africa. As a connectivity initiative – Giga is mapping school connectivity gaps and making it easier–and more affordable–for governments to get schools online. Giga is aiming to help connect 500,000 schools in Africa by 2030.
In order to achieve this objective Giga is scaling up partnerships, launching new procurement efforts, and supporting financially sustainable models where schools can even help fund their own connectivity by sharing internet access with nearby communities.
Jaime Archundia, Giga Procurement and Market Development Lead speaks with Zia Askari from TelecomDrive.com about the state of school connectivity in Africa and how Giga is working towards improving the situation.
How do you see the state of school connectivity in Africa? How can it be improved, and what’s Giga’s role?
Right now, most schools across Africa—especially in rural areas—don’t have internet access. And that’s a big deal, because it limits not only what students can learn, but also the digital skills they need to participate in today’s economy.
Substantial resources are now allocated to finance digital projects across the continent. For instance, the World Bank Group has allocated a total of $9 billion across 37 countries for digitalization projects since 2019. However, resource allocation alone is insufficient. Effective implementation and procurement are critical to ensure the allocated resources lead directly to tangible connectivity outcomes for schools and young people.
This is precisely where Giga, a partnership between UNICEF and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), plays a significant role. We map school connectivity gaps, model what’s needed, and make it easier–and more affordable–for governments to get schools online.
The key UNICEF contribution is our procurement experience–and we have a lot of that from other sectors. In 2023, UNICEF procured more than $5 billion worth of goods for children, including vaccines and humanitarian food supplies. At that scale, we can negotiate much better prices from suppliers.
Our team focuses on supporting governments to establish robust procurement mechanisms that translate these considerable financial investments into sustainable, affordable, and high-quality connectivity services. In Rwanda, for example, we helped the government to bring down the costs of internet for schools from $20 to $9 per Mbps.
What are Giga’s main priorities right now?
We’ve been working for the past five years to gather the vital insights and information that will allow us to go to scale. Central to these efforts is mapping digital inequalities globally using our open-source Giga Maps platform. This platform shows school locations and connectivity status, providing governments with clear insights for targeted public investment and enabling telecommunications companies and private sector actors to effectively plan infrastructure investments.
Pilot projects around the world have also been part of that, structuring contracts, supporting tenders, and finding long-term sustainable solutions like connecting schools to the government’s fibre backbone in Kenya, delivering solar power to off grid schools in Zimbabwe, or implementing community bandwidth sharing in places like Uzbekistan or Honduras. These pilots have shown us what can be done and how to do it, including average price drops of 30 to 60 percent.
We’re also working to mobilize more funding for school connectivity, whether it’s through donors, development banks, or private investment.
Critically, we are also establishing a bulk procurement model in collaboration with Smart Africa and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) to aggregate demand across multiple African countries for connectivity to schools and medical facilities. We will launch a global Request for Proposals (RFP) later this year, aiming to establish long-term agreements with service providers. By leveraging economies of scale and aggregated demand, this model seeks to ensure that African countries secure connectivity services at significantly improved terms and reduced costs.
Where is Giga working right now?
Giga is active in 41 countries. In Africa, we’ve seen real momentum in places like Kenya, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Benin, South Africa, Guinea, Lesotho, Malawi, among others. Zimbabwe is a good example—we’ve helped solarize more than 150 schools, so they can be connected even in off-grid areas.
We’re also active in Central Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Countries like Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Honduras are using Giga’s tools and models to rethink how they connect their schools.
What are the main challenges in connecting schools?
Infrastructure is a big one—many schools don’t have electricity, so we need off-grid solutions like solar.
Cost is another. It’s expensive to connect schools one at a time, especially if they are in remote places, but when countries bundle demand and negotiate at scale, costs come down significantly-we’ve seen reductions of up to 60 percent.
Policy and regulation can help accelerate deployments. That’s why our colleagues at the ITU work closely with ministries to streamline licensing and regulatory frameworks to help connect more schools at scale.
Finally, the data is often incomplete. Without knowing which schools are connected, it’s hard to plan. That’s why mapping is so central to what we do.
Why does school connectivity matter beyond just internet access?
Because it’s a gateway to everything else—digital learning, critical thinking, job skills. When a school is connected, students can access online resources, take part in coding workshops, or connect with peers around the world.
For girls in particular, it can help keep them in school and give them tools to shape their own futures.
Connected schools also become community hubs, especially in places with few other digital access points. And during crises like the pandemic, schools with connectivity were able to keep students learning. That kind of resilience matters.
What’s next for Giga?
We’re aiming to help connect 500,000 schools in Africa by 2030.
To do that, we’re scaling up partnerships, launching new procurement efforts, and supporting financially sustainable models where schools can even help fund their own connectivity by sharing internet access with nearby communities.
The upcoming global RFP will be a big step forward—opening the door for more providers to join this effort.
Because in the end, it’s not just about infrastructure. It’s about giving every child a fair shot at learning, growing, and being part of the digital world.
This interview is published in the July 2025 issue of Disruptive Telecoms
