Unequal Access to the Internet in Africa
L'accès à Internet en Afrique fait face à une série de défis complexes qui entravent l'inclusion numérique et le développement économique du continent. Ces défis sont à la fois d’ordre économique, infrastructurel et géographique, rendant l’accès à une connectivité stable et abordable difficile pour une grande partie de la population.
Insufficient Infrastructure: A Major Barrier to Connectivity
The main obstacle remains the lack of adequate infrastructure for stable and high-speed connectivity. Although progress has been made in submarine cable deployment and mobile network coverage, many rural and remote regions still lack basic access, particularly to 4G and 5G, and some areas are completely without Internet infrastructure.
According to GSMA, nearly 60% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa still lives without access to the Internet—an alarming statistic for a continent that is increasingly young and oriented toward the digital future. The lack of fiber-optic deployment in many remote areas is a major factor preventing reliable and fast Internet access.
High Internet Costs for Most of the Population
Another major challenge is the high cost of mobile data services. Africa remains one of the most expensive regions in the world for Internet access. According toAgence Ecofin, one gigabyte of data costs on average 3.5% of monthly income in Africa—well above the 2% affordability benchmark recommended internationally. In East and West Africa, this issue is even more pronounced. Countries such as Chad, the Central African Republic, and Malawi have data prices that exceed 10% of average monthly income, making regular Internet access unaffordable for much of the population.
Frequent Outages Undermine Network Reliability
Frequent service outages—caused by submarine cable breaks or degraded infrastructure—also contribute to unreliable and unstable Internet access. In march 2024, the simultaneous rupture of several submarine cables in the Atlantic disrupted connectivity across many West African countries, leading to massive outages.
These incidents highlight Africa’s excessive dependence on international infrastructure and the urgent need to develop regional and local solutions to improve resilience.
Unlocking Africa’s Digital Potential
Ces défis combinés entravent le potentiel de l'Afrique à tirer pleinement parti des avantages du numérique, qu’il s’agisse d’accès à l’éducation, à la santé, aux services financiers, ou même à la gouvernance en ligne. Pour surmonter ces obstacles, il est impératif de réduire les coûts d’accès à Internet, d’investir dans des infrastructures locales adaptées et de renforcer la résilience des réseaux
Duddal
SOS Village d'Enfants Niger
Key Challenges to Internet Access in Africa