Digital trends in Africa 2021

1 AFRICAITUP ublicationsInternational Telecommunication UnionAfricaDigital trends in Africa 2021 Digital trends in Africa 2021 Information and communication technology trends and developments in the Africa region 2017-2020 Digital trends in Africa 2021 Information and communication technology trends and developments in the Africa region, 2017-2020 ITU 2021 Some rights reserved. This work is licensed to the public through a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike IGO license (CC BY-NC-SA IGO).

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4 Errors and omissions excepted, the names of proprietary products are distinguished by initial capital reasonable precautions have been taken by ITU to verify the information contained in this publication. However, the published material is being distributed without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The responsibility for the interpretation and use of the material lies with the reader. The opinions, findings and conclusions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of ITU or its (Paper version) 978-92-61-33341-6 (Electronic version) 978-92-61-33351-5 (EPUB version) 978-92-61-33361-4 (Mobi version)AbstractThis report provides an overview of trends and developments in ICT infrastructure, access and use in Africa , which includes 44 Member States and is home to a population of billion people.

5 The report highlights changes in ICT adoption since the last World Telecommunication Development Conference in 2017 (WTDC-17) and during the COVID-19 pandemic, tracks the evolution of regulation, and reviews progress and challenges in implementing the ITU regional initiatives for Africa . Its objective is to serve as a reference for the ITU membership in reviewing progress and identifying ICT development priorities in iiiList of tables and figures v1 Overview

6 12 Digital trends in Africa Mobile market developments .. Fixed broadband market .. Internet access, use, skills and gender .. ICT prices .. Developments in cybersecurity .. ICT infrastructure developments and integrated technologies .. Digital services trends .. COVID-19 impact on Digital development in Africa .

7 333 Regulatory trends in Africa New collaborative regulatory paradigm .. The G5 Benchmark for regulatory excellence .. Maturity of ICT regulatory frameworks in the Africa region .. Economic contribution of broadband, digitization and ICT regulation in Opportunities and challenges of Digital transformation Developments under the regional initiatives for Africa .

8 Regional initiatives: Areas of challenge .. Regional initiatives: Areas of opportunities ..585 Conclusion 62 References 64 Table of ContentsList of tables and figuresFiguresFigure 1: Global ICT indicators per 100 inhabitants/per cent (where available), 2019-2020, and compound annual average growth rate (CAGR) (where available), 2017-2019, 2017-2020.

9 1 Figure 2: Accelerating the impact of COVID-19 on Digital transformation ..2 Figure 3: Key ICT statistics, Africa region, 2017-2020 ..4 Figure 4: Mobile cellular subscriptions, African countries, 2019 and CAGR (%), 2015-2019 ..5 Figure 5: Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, 42 African countries, 2019 ..6 Figure 6: Fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, Africa region, 2019 ..7 Figure 7: International bandwidth in selected African countries in kbit/s per Internet user, 2019 and CAGR (%) for the period 2015-2019.

10 7 Figure 8: Household access, individuals using the Internet, total and by gender, Africa region and the world ..9 Figure 9: Percentage of individuals using the Internet, Africa region, most recent year (2017, 2018 or 2019) ..10 Figure 10: Percentage of population in sub-Saharan Africa with a mobile Internet subscription, covered by a mobile network but not using the Internet, and not covered, 2019; and 2016 and 2019 GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index scores ..10 Figure 11: Proportion of households with Internet access, 2019 and CAGR 2017-2019.