Africa’s ICT infrastructure: Its present and prospects

The document examines Africa's ICT infrastructure, noting that while mobile penetration has grown, the continent still lags globally in internet usage, download speeds, and affordability. It highlights the dominant role of private sector investment and the influence of Chinese technology firms, while recommending targeted policies to expand rural access and improve regulatory capacity.

• Africa faces a significant ICT infrastructure deficit that hinders development, with an estimated annual investment requirement of $3 billion to $7 billion to address the sector's backlog.
• Despite growth in mobile subscriptions, Africa's internet penetration and quality remain low compared to global averages; only 26.3% of Africans were internet users in 2018, and download speeds for both mobile and fixed broadband trail the rest of the world.
• Internet affordability is a critical barrier, with only 10 of 45 tracked African countries meeting the standard where 1 GB of data costs 2% or less of the average monthly income.
• The private sector is the primary driver of ICT financing; in 2018, it contributed $4.8 billion of the $7.1 billion total ICT investments.
• China has become a major player in African ICT through the 'Digital Silk Road' initiative, with Huawei providing platforms for services like M-Pesa and investing in African tech firms such as Palmpay and Lori Systems.
• Rwanda is cited as a successful example of state-led ICT investment, having developed a backbone fibre network and a Wholesale Open Access Network 4G LTE system via a public-private partnership with Korea Telecom (KT).
• To improve future prospects, the document recommends incentivising local-level providers to expand rural access, controlling interconnection fees to prevent market dominance, and upgrading policy capacity for cybersecurity and regulatory predictability.

APA

CORRIGAN, T. (2020). Africa’s ICT infrastructure: Its present and prospects. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Policy-Briefing-197-corrigan.pdf

Chicago

CORRIGAN, TERRENCE. Africa’s ICT infrastructure: Its present and prospects. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2020. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Policy-Briefing-197-corrigan.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=CORRIGAN |first1=TERRENCE |title=Africa’s ICT infrastructure: Its present and prospects |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=June 2020 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Policy-Briefing-197-corrigan.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{corrigan2020africas, author = {CORRIGAN, TERRENCE}, 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/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Policy-Briefing-197-corrigan.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }