In touch with the world, thanks to a little box

Connectivity intensified

In Africa, China has intensified connectivity with the vast majority of the countries over the past eight years boosted by the BRI, with a number of flagship joint projects carried out in the continent, including railways, bridges, ports and electricity infrastructure. In addition to infrastructure development, cultural and people-to-people exchanges between China and African countries have also intensified, covering areas including student exchanges, language teaching, arts, health and agricultural assistance from China, and television such as the StarTimes project.

"Although installing satellite TV may not seem as significant a project as building bridges and roads, it can change the lives of many people, especially those in remote areas in Africa, in a more direct way," says Zhang Junqi, former chief executive officer for the StarTimes project in Kenya and Nigeria.

"Once becoming connected with TV, villagers, including children, can also get a glimpse of the outside world, have access to information and different cultures, so they get to know what the world is like, which can greatly affect their lives."

In some East African countries, including Kenya, only satellite signals have been available for TV since 2015, but usually residents can only receive a few free TV programs, Zhang says. Some satellite TV operators in Africa charge a lot for paid TV programs, which has limited satellite TV subscriptions in Kenya largely to cities, which are generally more affluent than rural areas.

In contrast, for about $5 a month a household, villagers in Kenya can receive 50 channels, including Chinese and international ones, provided by StarTimes, Zhang says.

The project was completed in Kenya in a little more than a year, in June 2018, covering 800 villages, with 20 households connected with satellite TV in each village.

Waweru's subscription costs $4.50 a month, but subscribers can pay $9 a month or $13.60 a month to receive many more channels, he says.

Waweru finds the $4.50 a little expensive in these difficult times, he says, and wishes he could watch English Premier League soccer and that there were more cartoons for his children.

Nevertheless, he says: "I am grateful that many low-income earners like me can get informed, educated and entertained due to satellite TV."

In addition to free satellite TV equipment such as dishes and digital set-top boxes provided to each household, each of the selected villages in Kenya and Nigeria was provided with two projectors powered by solar panels and two digital TV sets, Zhang says.

"These projectors were installed in places where people can gather, such as schools and entertainment centers, so people who do not have TV can also watch programs. Students can also study with the help of TV programs in class."

Grid electricity is unavailable in many villages in Africa, he says, but the projectors use electricity generated by inbuilt solar battery.

Installing satellite TV that would be available to 800 villages across Kenya in a year was a difficult task, and 100 StarTimes maintenance engineers stationed in the country spent nearly two months training nearly 2,000 local technicians how to install the equipment, Zhang says.

"I was kept busy and under great pressure when in charge of carrying out the intergovernmental project between China and Kenya back then, especially when I was working under a different environment and culture from when I was in China.

"I had to organize meetings, keep communicating with officials at various levels, coordinate between different parties and visit construction sites in villages personally."

All that hard work has amply paid off, he says.