Broadband overview: Africa

Africa is the least developed broadband region worldwide, with broadband penetration rates mostly under 1%. Latin America - another developing broadband region - has significantly higher rates with around 6%. In total less than 4% of Africans have Internet access.

Much the same as their overall economic situation, African countries are at very different stages in terms of broadband evolution. Countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, South Africa and Botswana have far higher fixed and mobile penetration than countries from the sub-Saharan part, such as Ethiopia, Niger or Zimbabwe. South Africa, Egypt and Algeria are leading the African countries in terms of total number of subscribers. In general, mobile penetration in African countries is much higher than fixed penetration. The biggest issue for African countries for greater broadband take-up is its affordability (as in other developing regions/countries). Our analysis shows that only the minority of the population in African countries can actually afford broadband services.