Mobile phone penetration is on the rise and rise in Africa, with many countries well above the global average of 60% of the total population. Essentially, a lack of fibre optic infrastructure with an average Internet penetration of as little as 11.5% means mobile networks have greater traction. For the majority of the continent, mobile is actually the only option for connectivity.

Industry estimates say Africa has around 500 million mobile users and subscribers, up from 246 million (an increase of 49.2%) from 2008. As early as 2002, there were only 49 million handsets in the continent. With the development of various undersea cables boosting capacity – more and more affordable mobile packages are predicted in a continent where people on average survives on between $2 - $5 a day.

Image credit: marlonparker.co.za

The biggest mobile markets at the moment in terms of penetration and available customer bases are:

South Africa:

• Pop. 50 million – 5.02% of the total African population
• +/- 42 million mobile phones in use.
• 84% penetration of total country population
• Ranked #1 in terms of mobile Internet use in Africa

Nigeria:

• Pop. 167 million – 16.79% of the total African population
• +/- 90 million mobile phones in use
• 53% penetration of total country population
• Ranked #2 in terms of mobile Internet use in Africa

Kenya:

• Pop. 41 million – 4.12% of the total African population
• +/-20 million mobile phones in use
• 48% penetration of total country population
• Ranked #3 in terms of mobile Internet use in Africa

Egypt

• Pop. 81 million – 8.1% of the total African population
• +/- 71 million mobile phones in use.
• 87% penetration of total country population
• Ranked #4 in terms of mobile Internet use in Africa

Ghana:

• Pop. 24 million – 2.41% of the total African population
• +/ - 17 million mobile phones in use
• 70% penetration of total country population
• Ranked #5 in terms of mobile Internet use in Africa

Algeria, South Africa, Gabon, Tunisia, Mauritius, Botswana, Morocco, Egypt and Mauritania are all well above the world average of 60% population penetration demonstrating the mobile opportunity in countries where fixed line infrastructure are often non-existent.

The Major Providers

Five mobile providers have shown the highest level of investment in the continent, four of these five are international organisations from outside of Africa.

• MTN (South African)
• Bharti Airtel (India)
• France Telecom / Orange (France)
• Vodaphone (UK)
• Millicom (Luxembourg)

More Stats

• Current growth rates of mobile penetration means by 2020, every single person in Africa should own a mobile phone.

• 95% of mobile users in Africa are on prepaid.

• Over 50% of African Internet users access the net via their mobile devices.

• The number of active SIM cards in South Africa and Gabon outweighs the total population.
  • In Africa the top five mobile activities for mobile-only users are:
  • downloading games
  • downloading music
  • social networking
  • search
  • email

• The first handsets available in Africa cost around $3,995 . Today, some go for as little as $15.

Find out more here.