At Connected Africa Summit, Ben Roberts from our team moderated a powerful discussion on one of the continent’s biggest connectivity challenges: Is the last kilometre political? Why Intra-African connectivity keeps failing at the border?

His panelists included Agnes Limo, MBS, CEO at Vilcom Networks Limited, Mercie M. the Regional Sales Manager at Nia Fibre, Adam Medella, CEO at Developing Capital Corp., Chad and Tim Kelly, the Lead ICT Policy Specialist at World Bank Group: Invest in People.

From customs delays and regulatory gaps to missed opportunities in border towns, better cross-border alignment is critical to making connectivity work.

This is something we’ve seen firsthand in our work on broadband “missing links” in Central Africa, where mapping infrastructure gaps, demand, and policy barriers highlighted just how much coordination and market alignment matter for unlocking regional connectivity.

A grounded discussion on what needs to change to move from infrastructure to real impact.