Abstract
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.
Table of Contents
Ovum view
- Broadband development is lagging
- Current statistics
Key broadband characteristics of African countries
- Affordability
- Broadband coverage
- Intercontinental upload capacity
- Regulatory environment
- Copper theft
Broadband situation by country
- South Africa
- Morocco
- Ethiopia
Table of figures
- Figure 1. Africa: fixed line and mobile penetration
- Figure 2. Broadband penetration (2007)
- Table 1. Key indicators for African countries (2007)
- Figure 3. GNI per capita in 2006 (Atlas method)
- Figure 4. Income distribution in African countries (date: depending on
date of survey)
- Figure 5. Annual broadband prices in African countries ($)
- Figure 6. Africa: maximum and minimum broadband speed by country
- Figure 7. Proportion of population in rural areas (%)
- Table 2. Africa: 3G licences
- Table 3. South Africa: top-level broadband data (000s)
- Table 4. South Africa: broadband subscribers (000s)
- Table 5. Morocco: top-level broadband data
- Table 6. Morocco: broadband subscribers (000s)
- Table 7. Ethiopia: top-level broadband data (000s)
- Table 8. Ethiopia: broadband player subscribers (000s)
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