NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, July 1, 2019

By Yomi Kazeem

The rapid growth in internet usage despite high cost of access and the expected population boom in Africa—the youngest continent—jointly represent a significant opportunity for some of the world’s largest tech firms who are betting big on facilitating internet infrastructure and, by extension, ensuring hundreds of millions of potential customers get online to use their services.

With internet penetration rates on the continent estimated at an average of 24%, it remains the only continent where over half the total population is without internet access. Yet, that stat represents some significant improvement given internet connections stood at 2.1% in 2005. In fact, Africa recorded the highest growth in internet use globally between 2005 and 2018, resulting in a significant global internet usage milestone.

Photo courtesy of John O’Nolan.