Africa’s ICT Infrastructure: Its Present and Prospects

Africa faces a significant ICT infrastructure deficit that hinders its development, requiring an estimated $3 billion annual additional investment. While the private sector has led deployment, challenges remain regarding rural access, high costs, and limited policy capacity. The document advocates for incentivising local providers, upgrading regulatory frameworks, and expanding the technical skills base to fully realise the benefits of digital transformation.

• Africa's ICT penetration and quality lag behind global averages, with only 26.3% of the population using the Internet in 2018, compared to a global average of 51.4%.
• There is a significant funding gap for ICT infrastructure on the continent; while annual commitments averaged $4 billion between 2016 and 2018, an additional $3 billion per year is needed to address the deficit.
• The private sector is the primary driver of ICT investment, contributing $4.8 billion of the $7.1 billion committed in 2018, though incentives for rural deployment remain limited.
• Internet affordability is a major barrier, with only 10 of 45 tracked African countries meeting the standard of 1 GB of data costing 2% or less of average monthly income; the continental average cost is 7.1%.
• China has become a significant player in African ICT through the Digital Silk Road initiative, with Huawei providing platforms for services like M-Pesa and investing in startups such as Palmpay and Lori Systems.
• Rwanda is cited as a successful example of state-led ICT investment, having funded a backbone fibre network and established a Wholesale Open Access Network 4G LTE system via a partnership with Korea Telecom.
• To improve ICT outcomes, African nations must enhance their policy capacity to ensure predictable conditions for the private sector, control interconnection fees to prevent market dominance, and expand the technical skills base for maintenance and innovation.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2020). Africa’s ICT Infrastructure: Its Present and Prospects. https://saiia.org.za/research/africas-ict-infrastructure-its-present-and-prospects/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Africa’s ICT Infrastructure: Its Present and Prospects. 2020. https://saiia.org.za/research/africas-ict-infrastructure-its-present-and-prospects/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Africa’s ICT Infrastructure: Its Present and Prospects |date=26 June 2020 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/africas-ict-infrastructure-its-present-and-prospects/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2020africas, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Africa’s ICT Infrastructure: Its Present and Prospects}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2020}, month = jun, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/africas-ict-infrastructure-its-present-and-prospects/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }