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20 African Countries Ranked For Affordability Of Internet

20 African Countries Ranked For Affordability Of Internet

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Internet penetration rates have increased dramatically in recent years, but the pace of change seems to be slowing, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Affordable Internet, or A4AI.

The public-private organization did a study of Internet affordability, looking at the state of broadband policy across 51 developing and emerging economies.

The cost of fixed broadband remains about 40 percent of an average citizen’s monthly income in the 51 countries covered in this study, while the price for an entry-level mobile broadband package is more than 10 percent of monthly incomes.

Out of 30 developing economies ranked for affordability, 20 are in Africa including seven of the 10 most affordable developing countries for Internet. The rankings were announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

Countries were ranked according to effective broadband structures, enhanced competition, spectrum allocation, and infrastructure sharing models.

We’ve listed the 20 African countries ranked on the Internet affordability report, according to the Alliance for Affordable Internet. Each country on the list below is accompanied by its ranking, and its overall composite affordability score.

The Alliance for Affordable Internet is a member-based broadband technology sector coalition with more than 70 members including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo and Ericsson. Its primary goal is to help reach the U.N. Broadband Commission’s target of entry-level broadband services priced at less than 5 percent of average monthly.

In the 51 countries surveyed around the world, there are about 2 billion people earning less than $2 a day ($60 per month), according to World Bank data.

Sources: BizTechAfricaa4ai.org

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No. 28 Sierra Leone

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 13.21

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Thinkstock

No. 27 Ethiopia

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score:  13.45

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No. 26 Malawi

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 19.13

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No. 25 Burkina Faso

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 20.46

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www.thinkstock.com

No. 24 Zimbabwe

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 24.68

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commons.wikimedia.org

No. 22 Cameroon

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 25.59

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Thinkstock

No. 21 Mozambique

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 30.43

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No. 20 Benin

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 30.94

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No. 19 Mali

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 31.36

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mapsofworld.com

No. 18 Senegal

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 32.10

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No. 16 Zambia

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 36.42

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rotoart.com

No. 14. Egypt

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 38.13

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mapsofworld.com

No. 11 Tanzania

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 40.75

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zhenge.tripod.com

No. 9 Ghana

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 41.51

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No. 6 Gambia

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 43.43

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mapsofworld.com

No. 5 Kenya

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 43.95

Kenya has one of the fastest growing ICT markets in Africa, and the use of mobile services to access the Internet and complete financial transactions has grown significantly in recent years. Kenya’s mobile broadband prices have been falling in recent years. Two-thirds of Kenya’s 22 million Internet users have access to broadband wireless Internet, according to Alliance for Affordable Internet.

mapsofworld.com
mapsofworld.com

No. 4 Uganda

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 48.00

Uganda has seen improvement in Internet access in recent years due to reduced international bandwidth prices, increased competition in the telecom sector, and availability of wireless and mobile technologies such as LTE, WiMAX, EV-DO and HSPA throughout the country.

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No. 3 Morocco

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 50.83

Morocco — ranked No. 3 for developing countries — has the top score among all developing countries in the infrastructure sub-index. Ongoing reforms in the communications sector and growing investment in fiber optic national backbone networks have had a dramatic impact on prices, according to Alliance for Affordable Internet.

mapsofworld.com
mapsofworld.com

No. 2 Nigeria

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 51.24

Nigeria ranks No. 2 on the Affordability Index’s ranking of developing economies — scoring higher than other African developing economies like Kenya, Morocco and Uganda, and higher even than some emerging economies, including South Africa and Tunisia, according to A4AI. The Nigeria infrastructure has improved a lot over the last decade, with multiple players, including MTN, Phase 3, Glo 1, Suburban Telecom and Multilink building fiber networks crisscrossing the country. The Nigerian Communication Commission, the country’s regulator, plans to award seven licenses to regional infrastructure companies to extend broadband infrastructure nationally. The first two of these were awarded in early 2015 to IHS Communications and MainOne to provide services in North Central states and Lagos. The government is also working to improve infrastructure sharing among these operators, which traditionally built overlapping fiber networks.

mapsofworld.com
mapsofworld.com

No. 1 Rwanda

Affordability Index Overall Composite Score: 51.64

Rwanda ranks No. 1 on the Affordability Index, reflecting the success of its progressive policies, which have been designed to leverage the ICT sector as an engine for economic and social development, according to A4AI.

The SMART Rwanda ICT Master Plan has five phases of five years each. Phase III (2011-2015) saw the government rollout of a national high-speed fiber optic backbone shared with the private sector.

The Rwandan government also plans to expand ICT infrastructure to rural and under-served areas where fiber cannot reach. It is expected that this will lead to 95 percent of the population being within range of a high-speed mobile broadband network. However, many worry their deployment model may deter competition.