Regional Brief: Africa

Africa – home to 1.04 billion people – remains the least connected to the Internet among all regions in the world today. Only 23.4 percent of households are Internet users, compared to 59 percent in Asia, and 85.4 percent in continental Europe. Internet usage rates range from more than 60 per cent in the region's more developed countries, to less than 10 per cent in the region's least developed countries. Bridging the digital divide in Africa is thus a key priority, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic – digital infrastructure can provide businesses, governments, and people a critical lifeline, and build the foundations of a resilient and robust economic recovery.

This regional brief provides a snapshot of projects seeking to improve broadband adoption in the Africa region. Based on our projects database containing 1090 projects in 152 countries and 119 in-depth case studies from 50 countries, the regional brief provides key insight into the regional distribution of the such initiatives, who deploys them, their funding sources, and their business models. The full findings of the brief can be found here.