

Every time POTRAZ (the telecoms regulator here in Zim) publishes a new set of quarterly results one can’t help but feel like the data in there can be used as a benchmark to compare where Zimbabwe is compared to other African countries.
With this in mind, I compiled a list of statistics that I believe can be used as indicators of just how advanced countries are in terms of internet adoption and where people are using the internet. Taking a look at 3 countries from each region on the continent, I focused on factors such as internet penetration, internet users, average internet speeds when available along with the devices being used to access the internet and progress made over the last decade…
Southern Africa is pretty interesting in that for all of our problems we seem to be ahead most of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa but maybe that’s more of an indicator of how much work needs to be done on the continent as a whole:
Country | Population (estimate) | Number of internet users (million) | Internet Penetration | Internet Users As % of Population (2011) | Mobile Internet Connections | Fixed Internet Connections | Avg/Speed of mobile internet |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
South Africa | 56.72 million | 31.19 million | 54.8% | 20.9% | 28.9 million | 3.09 million | 25.47 mbps |
Zambia | 17.09 million | 7.25 million | 42.4% | 11.5% | 6.92 | 0.33 million | N/A |
Zimbabwe | 16.53 million | 7.1 million | 62.9% | 15.7% | 7 million | 0.17 million | N/A |
Looking at the stats from West Africa is confusing because whilst most of the countries in the region have large populations -which should act as a precursor to lower data costs- the internet penetration rates are still lower than one would expect.
Southern African countries seem to be ahead (in terms of penetration) but this could be a result of the impact of colonialism and the fact that the Southern African countries we looked inherited better infrastructure from colonial rule as compared to most West African states.
Country | Population (estimate) | Number of internet users (million) | Mobile Internet Connections | Current Internet Penetration (%) | Internet Users As % of Population (2011) | Fixed Internet Connections | Avg/Speed of mobile internet |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ghana | 28.83 million | 10.31 million | 9.37 million | 35.7% | 14.1% | 0.94 million | N/A |
Nigeria | 190.9 million | 98.39 million | 90.91 million | 51.5% | 28.4% | 7.48 million | 11.70 mbps |
Uganda | 42.86 million | 19 million | 17.48 million | 44.3% | 13% | 1.52 million | N/A |
East Africa is similar to Southern Africa with the exception of Kenya which has a staggering 90% internet penetration. Rwanda is also one to keep an eye on considering the massive growth of their internet penetration over the last 8 years.
Country | Population (estimate) | Number of internet users (million) | Internet Penetration (%) | Internet Users As % of Population (2011) | Mobile Internet Connections | Fixed Internet Connections | Avg/Speed of mobile internet |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kenya | 49.7 million | 43.33 million | *90% | 28% | 39.86 million | 3.47 million | 15.53 mbps |
Rwanda | 12.2 million | 6.1 million | 50% | 7% | 5.24 million | 0.86 million | N/A |
Tanzania | 57.3 million | 23.14 million | 43% | 12% | 22.28 million | 0.86 million | 9.57 mbps |
Central Africa paints the bleakest of pictures and it seems to be due to a mix of poverty, instability along with the other ills stunting growth in the rest of Africa.
Country | Population (estimate) | Number of internet users | Internet Penetration (%) | Internet Users As % of Population (2011) | Mobile Internet Connections | Fixed Internet Connections | Avg/Speed of mobile internet |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cameroon | 24.05 million | 8.27 million | 34.3% | 5% | *5.79 million | *2.48 million | N/A |
Chad | 14.9 million | 0.779 million | 5% | 1.9% | 719.3k | 59.9k | N/A |
Democratic Republic of Congo | 81.34 million | 5.3 million | 6.5% | 1.2% | 4.7 million | 0.3 million | N/A |
North Africa is the most developed when it comes to internet infrastructure and they have been ahead for a significant number of years now…
Country | Population (estimate) | Number of internet users | Internet Penetration (%) | Internet Users As % of Population | Mobile Internet Connections | Fixed Internet Connections | Avg/Speed of mobile internet |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Egypt | 97.55 million | 49.23 million | 50.4% | 35.6% | 43.62 million | 5.6 million | 16.95 mbps |
Morocco | 37.5 million | 22.57 million | 60.1% | 51% | 20.67 million | 1.9 million | 20.77 mbps |
Tunisia | 11.53 million | 7.90 million | 68.5% | 38.8%% | 7.27 million | 0.63 million | 23.54 mbps |
Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the data presented above and gathered elsewhere:
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