Africa can close its mobile internet usage gap if policymakers and companies collaborate to expand broadband and electricity infrastructure, make phones more affordable, and improve digital skills, a new report argued.
It showed that 900 million Africans — about 60% of the population — live in areas where mobile internet access is available, but don’t use it.
Usage gaps in Niger, Rwanda, and Uganda are among the highest in the continent, but halving the gaps in Ethiopia, Nigeria, and DR Congo alone will bring 170 million more Africans online, according to Partnership for Digital Access in Africa, a non-profit aimed at driving up internet connectivity, and global telecom association GSMA. The report found sequencing solutions were key: While extending rural coverage should be the priority in some countries, investing in network facilities “may deliver only modest adoption gains where service providers and users lack reliable electricity to power infrastructure or charge devices,” the report said.
