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Despite growing mobile internet coverage on the continent of 1.3 billion people, just 25% of adults in sub-Saharan Africa have access to it, mostly on account of the higher cost compared to the average low per capita income of the region
Internet-enabled phones have transformed many lives also in Africa, particularly in the most impoverished sub-Saharan Africa. Transformation is more evident in segments like money transfer, supply chains, and education. Yet, there are gaps between countries and regions within the countries, indicating a persisting digital divide.
Despite growing mobile internet coverage on the continent of 1.3 billion people, just 25% of adults in sub-Saharan Africa have access to it, mostly on account of the higher cost compared to the average low per capita income of the region. For instance, the cost of the cheapest model of a smartphone constitutes almost 95% of the monthly average income of a working person. At that cost, a smartphone is inaccessible to the person., although there can be exceptions wherein there are instances of persons having two or more smartphones. On average, over 20% of the population of most of the West African countries have 20% poorest population.
Interestingly, many people are learning how to navigate the smartphone for ordinary uses like money transactions and other sundry purposes like using Google to access information on mundane things like distance between places, weather forecasts, and the like. They are also keen to learn how to install Apps that can guide them to quality information for specific purposes.
To promote sales of smartphones, some companies and traders are offering soft schemes like deferred payments in installments. Some agencies have sprung up to teach impoverished people how to use smartphones. One such agency is Uniti Networks in Ghana. They hold training sessions. Many of the people who benefit from Uniti Networks, run by the lobby group of GSMA, lack formal education and don’t speak English. According to them, the mobile internet has enabled the sub-Saharan region to leapfrog certain infrastructure and service gaps by providing access to mobile money where formal banks have failed. Less than 50% of the population has access to a bank account, according to the World Bank.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/?s=mobile+money+transaction
https://trendsnafrica.com/zambia-clocked-300-growth-in-mobile-money-transactions/
https://trendsnafrica.com/mobile-money-transactions-in-tanzania-hit-sh140-9-trillion-mark-in-2022/
GSMA says mobile money contributed USD 170 billion, 8.1%, to sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP in 2022. In Ghana, in particular, Uniti Networks is very active. It is training people how to use GSMA technology for maximising sales in diverse business avenues including catering, accessing agri -based apps etc.
