YouTube has a new feature, being launched this week across four countries in Africa, that will allow users to get on with their lives while waiting for a video clip to finish streaming over a congested network. This was announced at AfricaCom 2015, the largest tech event in Africa which kicked off yesterday and which has drawn 10 000 attendees and 350 speakers.Heather Rivera, YouTube’s Director and Global Head of Product Partnerships, said: “Instead of waiting while content being streamed is buffering, you will be able to take it offline and watch it within 48 hours.”She it would “save both time and data.”Viewers will be able to click on the new offline icon, and choose between three different resolutions - low, regular, or high definition.“Without the rebuffering, the users' experience will be changed completely,” she said.The feature has previously been launched elsewhere across the globe such as in India, Indonesia, and the Phillipines, and will be particularly useful in Africa.Tech analyst Russell Southwood who chaired the session, said: “Data in Africa is now a similar price to that of data in the USA or UK, but because income is much lower, it represents a much higher cost to the user. Also, the network quality in Africa is not as high quality.”According to online expert Brett St Clair, there are currently 50-60 million daily active users of Youtube in Sub-Saharan Africa.Rivera says Youtube's role in Africa goes far beyond watching videos for entertainment.“With 54 countries, and 1000 languages, video is of huge importance. Many other platforms are text-heavy and are mainly in English. Video makes it more accessible and is certainly not just for entertainment but for education and documenting too,” she said.In a recorded interview presented at AfricaCom, Julius Yego, a gold medallist javelin thrower from Kenya, said: “I was passionate about javelin from a young age but there was nobody to coach me,” he says, “so I watched Youtube videos for techniques and I became my own coach. The answers are there!” he says.The feature is being rolled out in Africa but not all at once. The first four countries to get it are South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana...