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It’s urgent to close the connectivity gap in Sub-Saharan Africa

8 September 2022

«The Covid-19 pandemic and social distancing measures put in place to curb the spread have brought to light the value of connectivity for social and economic wellbeing. The pandemic highlights the importance of a robust and inclusive digital economy, underpinned by universal access to fast and reliable broadband services and a broad range of digital content and services» notes the latest report from GSMA Intelligence, “The Mobile Economy – Sub-Saharan Africa 2020”.

Access to mobile internet has always been critical, especially to mobile-first markets, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, providing several positive outcomes as well as societal and economic benefits. Connection and communication with friends and family, information through a variety of sources and of course, financial inclusion through several mobile solutions are just a few benefits that the remote population of the region could enjoy through mobile services. But now, with the added challenge of the pandemic, the issue of accessibility has been brought to the fore as the present global climate has shown that digital connectedness can be a lifeline for people in such unprecedented times.

Especially for Sub-Saharan Africa, Covid-19 showed why the whole mobile industry must continue to invest and do more to improve access to and understanding of the internet for every citizen.

Let’s take a look at some numbers. Despite the progress that the region has done to the adoption of mobile internet the vast majority of the population remains offline. According to GSMA, at the end of 2019, 272 million people across Sub-Saharan Africa were connected to the mobile internet, an increase of 34 million on 2018. On the other hand, nearly 800 million people are unable to access the internet, meaning they do not enjoy the benefits of connectivity and they are excluded from the budding digital economy in the region.

Lack of broadband connectivity in the region is not just about the high cost of smartphones or data, relative to average income levels. Of course, they remain a barrier, although there are several mobile solutions (such as those from Channel VAS) providing funding to purchase a smartphone. However, it seems that the most significant barrier to mobile internet adoption are the limited digital skills among rural and less literate populations. In fact, a recent study showed that among those who are aware of mobile internet, a lack of literacy and digital skills was the biggest perceived barrier to adoption across regions, with 34{2b3fe3109f87c6f1c896babd3a2485fbf135a42141067a7771ef7eb1664b998e} of people highlighting this as the reason for not coming online.

Closing this digital divide is essential to delivering transformational social and economic opportunities to underserved communities. Adoption of a scaled approach and wider collaboration are some of the critical ones to grow an understanding of mobile internet and ultimately result in usage.