Information Society Statistical Profiles 2009 – Africa

The second report of a series of regional statistical profiles on the information society prepared for the World Telecommunication Development Conference in 2010. In the past five years, Africa became the region with the highest mobile growth rate and has taken the lead in shifting from fixed to mobile telephony with 246 million mobile subscriptions by 2009. Mobile penetration rose from 5% in 2003 to 30% in 2008. Africa has also seen the largest growth in Internet users than any other region. However, very few African countries have ICT levels that match global averages and the region faces challenges in ICT development, such as the absence of market liberalization and limited availability of infrastructure like Internet bandwidth. ICT services are also unaffordable for income levels. This report uses analyzes the ICT development of Africa using the ITU ICT Development Index (IDI) and the ICT Price Basket. It also highlights key policy issues in the African region and provides policy recommendations for mobile growth.