As stated earlier this week, we don’t find the ratio of Facebook to Internet users to be accurate based on what data is available from the ITU. However, the number of Facebook users appears more accurate (but not without its flaws). After all, Facebook’s profile information is essentially a survey in itself. When prompted upon signup, most users provide a country of residence. Of course, addresses aren’t validated so there is no way of knowing exactly who lives where. For example, many Diasporans list their birth nation in their account – herein lies the cloudiness of the Facebook data. Still, empirical evidence suggests most users are honest when listing their geographic location, but there are probably more Facebook users than the data suggests.

Overall:

Facebook adoption in Africa, although rapidly increasing within most nations at the moment, is starting to slow in more developmentally-advanced countries. Even if Facebook user growth rates settle at 25% annually, it could be ten years until Kenya boasts 30% of the population on Facebook. In 17 months, Kenya’s Facebook user rate has gone from 2% to 3%. South Africa’s is near 10% after increasing from 7%. This growth rate of 50% over 17 months for Kenya and South Africa – which we deem “mature” – suggests the challenges large nations face providing affordable Internet and connecting rural areas. Plus, even when Internet access is available, not everyone wants to use Facebook.

Also, relatively high Facebook adoption rates in North Africa and South Africa skew the mean. The median more accurate describes the share of Africa on Facebook.

• 37+ million Facebook users as of December 2011
• 165% median Facebook user growth since July 2010 (114% mean)
• 2.4% median Facebook penetration rate (3.6% mean)
• 36 nations have fewer than 1-in-20 people on Facebook
• 12 nations have fewer than 1-in-100 people on Facebook

Note: No data exists for Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, South Sudan, Sudan, Western Saharan, and Zimbabwe. Reunion and Djibouti lacked data in 2010.

Largest number of Facebook users:

No surprises here – a large population almost always means a large number of Facebook users. Ethiopia is the key exception (as a result of limited online freedom of speech, among other factors).

1. Egypt (9.4mm)
2. South Africa (4.8mm)
3. Nigeria (4.4mm)

The three nations with fewest users are the island nations of Sao Tome and Principe, Mayotte, and Comoros – all with small populations.

Highest Facebook user rates:

Tunisia ranks high in terms of Internet penetration, so it’s no surprise the nation tops the Facebook penetration rate list. Plus, the uprising in 2010-11 attracted hundreds of thousands of new Facebook users. Small island nations inherently have high Facebook adoption rates due to higher population densities (ie. less need to heavily invest to reach remote/rural areas).

1. Tunisia (26%)
2. Reunion (25%)
3. Mauritius (23%)
4. Seychelles (22%)
5. Cape Verde (15%)

Lowest Facebook user rates:

The nations with the lowest Facebook user rates are typically the same that have the lowest Internet penetration rates on the continent. After all, Facebook requires the Internet to function. Growth rates for these nations are strong, however.

1. Niger (0.3%)
2. Burundi (0.3%)
3. Eritrea (0.3%)
4. Chad (0.4%)
5. Guinea (0.4%)

Highest growth:

Many nations in this group have gone from a couple thousand Facebook users to a few tens of thousands in the past 17 months. Still, despite such high growth, these nations still have relatively few Facebook users – none has more than 2.7% of the population using Facebook. Facebook hardly existed in these nations before 2010, but now has a modest presence, at least per African nations. Interesting is now neighbors Central African Republic and Chad top the list.

1. Central African Republic (4,000%)
2. Chad (2,400%)
3. Somalia (2,100%)
4. Equatorial Guinea (1,800%)
5. Dem. Rep. of Congo (1,400%)

Lowest growth:

Nations with low Facebook user growth can be considered mature in terms of Facebook usage. In other words, these nations had decent infrastructure in 2010 that allowed a large share of those who wanted to use Facebook to do so immediately.

1. Mauritius (34%)
2. Mayotte (40%)
3. Kenya (50%)
4. Seychelles (50%)
5. South Africa (51%)

Movers and shakers:

Compared with other African nations (to add perspective), how did a nation’s Facebook user rate grow over the 17 month period?

1. Equatorial Guinea moved from #40 to #22 (-18)
2. Central African Republic from #41 to #24 (-17)
3. Namibia from #21 to #12 (-9)
4. DRC from #42 to #33 (-9)
5. Congo from #35 to #28 (-7)

Slowest growers:

Although all nations showed positive growth in numbers of Facebook users, some nations’ Facebook user rates fell in comparison to others.

1. Uganda went from #23 to #36 (+13)
2. Togo from #26 to #34 (+8)
3. Lesotho from #22 to #30 (+8)
4. Rwanda from #27 to #35 (+8)
5. Malawi from #34 to #42 (+8)

Data:

As most are aware, there is no surefire way to quantify the number of Internet users in countries where household Internet access is low. The reason being multiple users per subscription or access point (often a café with dozens of users). The same challenge goes toward counting mobile subscriptions, since many mobile owners rely on multiple carriers. The ITU puts some effort into estimating the number of Internet users, but the organization’s data lags by two years. Still, it has become standard fare in reports, whitepapers, benchmarks, and infographics. The ITU realizes the best method for data collection is the old-fashioned questionnaire, but what happens when that method is rejected at the local level? Thus is the other challenge we face with finding “good” data.

On top of timeliness, there is no true apples to apples method for comparing Internet penetration rates across nations. Issues arise with how the ITU stats are sourced. The ITU relies upon government websites and operators’ annual reports for nations that do not respond to the annual questionnaire. It’s not reasonable to assume all operators collect data using the same means.

So, is any data better than no data?

Internet World Stats routinely publishes updated Facebook user data at a country level. This data is some of the best available – it’s direct from Facebook itself and can be determined in realt-time. Of course, the set is limited to users who report a location, and at that, their actual location. Still, one would imagine that the Facebook user data under-reports the number of real Facebook users in a given nation since many users do not provide more than just a name and photo. However, we find the opposite if we are to merge current Facebook and ITU data.

In October 2010, we observed the discrepancy, noting how “Botswana and Sierra Leone have surprisingly high Facebook usage rates that are in the vicinity of South Africa’s 60%.” Over one year later, Botswana and Sierra Leone have Facebook usage rates of over 120% – meaning that there are more Facebook users than Internet users. This is logically impossible. In fact, if we are to hold the IWS data at face value, Botswana, Central African Republic, DRC, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Libya, Mauritania, Mauritius, Namibia, Sierra Leone all have more Facebook users than ITU data suggests. The ITU should at least update a subset of data to reflect third-party sources such as Facebook. Even if it means sacrificing traditional methodology, another set of data could be updated throughout the year with the caveat that it is sourced using mathematically risky methods.

National Regulator vs. ITU

Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) recently cited an 11% Internet penetration rate, with 5 million Internet users in the country. At the same time, the ITU quotes fewer than 700,000 Internet users in Tanzania as of June 2010. Even in booming East Africa, Internet adoption rates haven’t hit 700% in the past year-and-a-half as suggested here. Either the ITU’s questionnaire in 2010 produced extremely conservative findings or Tanzania’s regulator needs to re-evaluate its subscriber data. The ITU must have conferred with TCRA when they last gathered data, but the discrepancy suggests otherwise.

ITU Internet numbers are rightfully authoritative and grab the attention of the public, but they should be used with care. Instead, consider citing local data when possible. It’s more targeted, more pertinent, and usually more interesting. Regional habits vary and may not be applicable for the nation at-large. What’s true for Nairobi is not true for Mombasa, let alone rural Kenya. National data would most likely combine all of the data into one bucket, thus hiding subtle trends.

On the bright-side, regional surveys and national regulators often provide relatively accurate data (be sure to read their methodologies first). And it’s more granular than simply the number of Internet users. And it’s current. Unfortunately, such data is difficult to find since the resources needed to conduct a survey are scare. For now, rough estimates will suffice for creating policy, attracting investment, and charting growth, but the time will come when precise data is necessary. After all, stakeholders with the most accurate pulse on ICT growth will have a leg up on the competition.

Recently, the Global Impact Study, a five-year study researching how libraries, telecentres, and cybercafes make a difference, released its first working paper. The study, spearheaded by the Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA) at the University of Washington Information School surveyed “public venue ICT users” from Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Ghana, and the Philippines on how they use information communication technology. One-thousand users per country were interviewed at approximately 250 public access locations scattered across a diverse geographical area.

Highlights of the working paper as they relate to Ghanaian public Internet users are noted below:

Age:

• 66% of users were under the age of 25
• 35% of users were between 20 and 24 years of age
• Only 1% of users were age 50+

Gender:

• 25% of users were female (75% male)
• 33% of female users were between 12 and 15 years of age

Education:

• The majority (82%) of users had at least a secondary level of education
• 51% of users were currently students
• 32% of users were currently employed

Income:

• 52% of users reported a family income of less than 100 cedis
• 27% of users reported a family income of greater than 300 cedies

Access:

• 26% of users have Internet access at home
• 97% of users have mobile phone access
• 47% of users use a public venue because there is “no other option for internet access”
• 6% of users use the public venue to get help from other users or staff

Distance:

• 62% of public access venues were within 1km from the user’s residence
• 6% of users traveled farther than 5km to reach the venue
• 78% of users first used the internet at a public access venue

Frequency:

• 41% of users use the venue nearly every day
• 88% of users use the venue at least once a week
• 49% of users have used a computer for over 5 years
• Only 8% of users are new to using a computer in the past year

Misc:

• Only 1% of users reported having a disability

Source: Sciadas, G., with Lyons, H., Rothschild, C., & Sey, A. (2012). Public access to ICTs: Sculpting the profile of users. Seattle: Technology & Social Change Group, University of Washington Information School.

Loosely speaking, the more urban an African nation, the greater the share of Internet users.

There is a large grouping of African nations with 35-40% urban populations and fewer than ten Internet users per 100 inhabitants. The median comes out to 39% urban with 6% Internet penetration rate. In general, urban-heavy African countries have a higher share of Internet users than rural neighbors.  Still, plenty of urban-inclined countries have a lower share of Internet users than mostly-rural countries. After all, many non-geographical factors contribute to whether Internet adoption runs high in particular nation. An urban nation with misguided ICT intentions can have the same level of Internet usage as a rural nation committed to infrastructure development.

• Far right: Gabon is more than 85% urban, only has the Internet user rate of a national that is 30% urban.
• Far left: Burundi has the smallest share of urban inhabitants at 11%. At the same time, very few members of the population are Internet users.
• Top: Morocco has the highest number of Internet users per 100 inhabitants in Africa, but the 14tth most urban.
• Second from left: Uganda is the second least urban nation (13%), but with 12.5% Internet penetration ranks at the level of an African nation that is 60% urban.

An even stronger correlation between Internet users and urban areas can be seen globally (R² is three times greater). Also, not surprisingly, the average number of Internet users per 100 inhabitants and the share of urban dwellers are both higher than in Africa.

The correlation is more pronounced on a global scale. (R2 = 0.40)

A couple of caveats:

• Urban population estimates are defined as the “de facto population living in areas classified as urban according to the criteria used by each area or country as of 1 July (2010)”
• Internet users are “…either directly provided to the ITU by the country concerned or the ITU does the necessary research to obtain the data. For countries where Internet user surveys are not available, and where countries do not provide their own estimate, the ITU calculates estimates based on average multipliers for the number of Internet users per subscriber.”

Fixed telephone lines

• No surprises here – essentially no one in Africa (less than 2%) regularly uses a fixed telephone line. There has been negative growth in this area since 2009. That is, Africans are choosing mobile phones instead of demanding traditional landlines.

Mobile cellular subscriptions

• 2011 marks the year where, according to what data is available, more than half of the African population has a mobile subscription. Of course, we must remember that an individual may have multiple subscriptions, so this statistic alone doesn’t say too much. However, the trend is more legitimate, and shows 17-19% annual growth since 2008.

Active mobile broadband subscriptions

• Mobile broadband continues to show rapid adoption rates of greater than 50% annually. The growth rate of penetration of mobile broadband subscriptions is expected to slow slightly, from 79% last year to 52% through 2011. By the end of the year, more than 30 million African mobile broadband subscriptions will exist – about one subscription for every 26 Africans.

Internet users

• The widely-cited ITU Internet penetration rate is expected to increase from 11.3% in 2010 to 12.8% by the end of 2011. Basically, 13% more of the population has Internet access than did a year ago. The growth rate for this metric is slowly decreasing. Last year, for example, the percentage of Africans who used the Internet grew by 19%. Two years ago that number was a staggering 48%. If these trends continue, not even 20% of SSA will be an Internet user by 2015. Of course, one of the challenges is keeping up with the population growth rate.

Fixed broadband subscriptions

• Again, only the smallest percentage of Africans have a fixed broadband subscription. The roll-out of fixed broadband has been rather slow for much of Africa. Urban areas may offer reasonably-priced broadband, but most of Africa is rural. Additionally, many Africans have no need for fixed broadband when mobile is more practical.

Households with a computer

• The percentage of households with a computer continues to increase at a steady rate of just over 10% annually. Again, many households have no need for a computer when there is mobile access, public access, or access from work or school.

Households with Internet access at home

• Nearly 6% of African households are projected to have Internet access at home by the end of the year. The metric grew by 33% since 2010 in part from increases in mobile broadband subscription and households with a computer. The global average is 34%.

South Africa recently celebrated 20 years of Internet access. Similarly, Seychelles recently reached 15 years of full Internet access. Botswana and Ethiopia will hit 15 years of access on November 28th. Zambia marks its 17th Internet anniversary in a matter of days.

Below is a list of approximate dates of full Internet access for each African country compiled from reports from the detailed Network Startup Resource Center archives. Many have precise dates; others can only be pinned down to a month or year. Either way, please make an effort to honor these important dates when they come up!

Country:	Date:
Tunisia	1991
South Africa	12-Nov-91
Egypt	Oct-93
Algeria	Jan-94
Zambia	22-Nov-94
Zimbabwe	17-Feb-95
Mozambique	May-95
Ghana	21-Aug-95
Senegal	1-Sep-95
Namibia	16-Sep-95
Morocco	21-Sep-95
Kenya	24-Oct-95
Benin	22-Jan-96
Mauritius	26-Jan-96
Swaziland	29-Jan-96
Cote D'Ivoire	1-Feb-96
Madagascar	1-Feb-96
Uganda	Mar-96
Burkina Faso	9-Apr-96
Central African Republic	26-Apr-96
Niger	16-May-96
Mali	17-May-96
Djibouti	17-Jun-96
Tanzania	26-Aug-96
Angola	Sep-96
Dem. Rep. of Congo	9-Oct-96
Seychelles	15-Nov-96
Botswana	28-Nov-96
Ethiopia	28-Nov-96
Lesotho	16-Dec-96
Rwanda	1996
Nigeria	10-Jan-97
Gabon	Mar-97
Cameroon	26-Mar-97
Sudan	25-May-97
Malawi	2-Jul-97
Equatorial Guinea	14-Jul-97
Togo	5-Aug-97
Guinea	Oct-97
Cape Verde	Oct-97
Chad	4-Nov-97
Burundi	1997
Guinea-Bissau	1997
Mauritania	1997
Sierra Leone	24-Apr-98
Comoros	11-Jul-98
Liberia	4-Sep-98
Gambia	8-Oct-98
Somalia	Oct-99
Western Sahara	Oct-99
St.Helena	16-Oct-99
Congo	19-Oct-99
Sao Tome And Principe	31-Jan-00
Libya	22-Mar-00
Eritrea	3-Nov-00
Reunion	2001

As always, the challenge is determining what share of fans of these pages are diasporans. A solid number of nations – most notably Burundi, Cameroon, and Gabon – have seen extraordinary Facebook fan page growth in the past 4 months. Pages for leaders from Angola and Cape Verde were relatively new as of last post, and have growth figures of 2,600% and 4,000%, respectively. Impressively, two leaders – Cameroon and Gabon – now have official pages and the fan counts have grown by 350-400% over 4 months. Updates for October 2011 include:

• Cameroon: Paul Biya’s page is clearly marked as official and even has a welcome landing page
• Chad: Idriss Déby’s page with 5,000 fans has been removed. Top unofficial pages now have 500-600 fans.
• Gabon: Ali Bongo’s page now is very official, complete with landing page.
• Mali: Both two groups for Amadou Touré are about to be archived due to inactivity. An active group of 200 fans now exists.
• Senegal: The page for Abdoulaye Wade, with 4,600 fans in June, no longer exists.
• Sierra Leone: The most popular group for Ernest Bai Koroma is flagged for removal due to inactivity. A new group with 1,300 fans now exists.
• Somalia: Had previously missed page of Sharif Ahmed which has 3,400 fans.
• South Sudan: Have added the new nation to the list. President Salva Kiir Mayardit, although lacking an official page or group, has 750 fans for a community page.
• Togo: Added unofficial page for Faure Gnassingbe (4,400 fans).
• Zimbabwe: The most popular unofficial page for Robert Mugabe has been removed. The second most popular remains.

Growth trends & countries of interest:

• Median fan growth rate: 15% (was 23% from March-June 2011)
• Pages for leaders of Seychelles and Swaziland lost fans over the time period.
• Fan count growth of leader pages with greater than 10,000 fans: Algeria 17%, Nigeria 13%, Ghana 10%, Ivory Coast 9%, Tanzania 8%, Kenya 5%, Morocco 5%, Zimbabwe 3%
• Less than 5% growth in Benin, Comoros, Guinea, Mauritius
• The page for Libya’s Col. Gaddafi grew by another 20%
• Mauritania still only has 4 fans of the community page for Ba Mamadou Mbaré. Guinea-Bissau is not much better with 11 fans for Malam Bacai Sanha
• Central African Republic shows 20% growth after none for 3 months
• 51% growth for Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia – now 1,000 fans
• Solid growth in Southern Africa: 71% Namibia, 69% Zambia, 34% South Africa. Still surprising how few fans the (community) page for Jacob Zuma has
• In order of sheer fan base there is no change in order: Nigeria (653k), Kenya (94k), Morocco (84k), Zimbabwe (65k), Tanzania (32k)

The list as of October 2, 2011:

Country	President (or other title)	Facebook Page Type (hyperlinked)	# of Likes	% Change since June 2011 (4 months)
Algeria	Abdelaziz Bouteflika	Official Page	20269	17%
Angola	Jose Dos Santos	Community Page	2191	2673%
Benin	Thomas Yayi Boni	Official Page	6345	4%
Botswana	Seretse Khama Ian Khama	Unofficial Page	6580	14%
Burkina Faso	Blaise Compaoré	Unofficial Page	9392	6%
Burundi	Pierre Nkurunziza	Community Page	315	385%
Cameroon	Biya Paul	Official Page	9696	479%
Cape Verde	Pedro Pires	Community Page	874	4062%
Central African Republic	Francois Bozize Yangouvonda	Personal Profile?	179	20%
Chad	Lt Gen. Idriss Deby	Public Profile 1 | Public Profile 2	609 / 527	-88%
Comoros	Ahmed Abdallah Sambi	Community Page	75	4%
Congo, Republic of	Denis Sassou-Nguesso	Official Page | Private Profile	6603 / 1269	10% / -4%
Congo, Democratic Republic of	Joseph Kabila	Private Profile | Official Page	4177 / 4256	-2% / 24%
Cote d'Ivoire	Alassane Ouattara	Unofficial Page	14845	9%
Djibouti	Ismail Omar Guelleh	Unofficial Page?	4316	5%
Egypt	Mohamed Hussein Tantawi	Community Page	82	64%
Equatorial Guinea	Brig. Gen. (ret) Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo	Community Page	77	71%
Eritrea	Isaias Afeworki	Unofficial Page	7302	5%
Ethiopia	Meles Zenawi (PM)	Community Page	1041	51%
Gabon	Ali Bongo Ondimba	Official Page	6781	354%
The Gambia	Yahya Jammeh	Unofficial Page	5843	8%
Ghana	John Evans Atta-Mills	Unofficial Page	20114	10%
Guinea	Sékouba Konaté	Unofficial Page	3626	4%
Guinea-Bissau	Malam Bacai Sanha	Community Page	11	83%
Kenya	Mwai Kibaki	Unofficial Page	94127	5%
Lesotho	King Letsie III (King)	Unofficial Page	5009	9%
Liberia	Ellen Sirleaf Johnson	Community Page	1106	46%
Libya	Col. Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi	Unofficial Page	7263	22%
Madagascar	Andry Rajoelina	Unofficial Page	1441	11%
Malawi	Bingu wa Mutharika	Group | Community Page	196	59%
Mali	Amadou Toumani Toure	Unofficial Page | Group 1 | Group 2	221	n/a
Mauritania	Ba Mamadou Mbaré	Community Page	4	0%
Mauritius	Sir Anerood Jugnauth	Unofficial Page	797	4%
Morocco	King Mohamed VI (King)	Unofficial Page	84315	5%
Mozambique	Armando Emilio Guebuza	Official Page?	3517	13%
Namibia	Hifikepunye Pohamba	Community Page	597	71%
Niger	Salou Djibo (Head of Military Junta)	Unofficial Page	1310	7%
Nigeria	Dr. Goodluck Jonathan	Official Page	652999	13%
Rwanda	Paul Kagame	Unofficial Page	19034	13%
Sao Tome & Principe	Fradique De Menezes	Community Page	12	33%
Senegal	Abdoulaye Wade	Unofficial Page | Community Page	911/ 587	n/a
Seychelles	James Michel	Public Profile	4834	-1%
Sierra Leone	Ernest Bai Koroma	Community Page | Unofficial Page	1284	n/a
Somalia	Sharif Ahmed	Unofficial Page	3440	n/a
South Africa	Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma	Community Page	3961	34%
Sudan	Omar Hassan al-Bashir	Community Page	139	25%
South Sudan	Salva Kiir Mayardit	Community Page	750	n/a
Swaziland	King Msati III (King)	Community Page	66	-31%
Tanzania	Jakaya Kikwete	Official Page	31954	8%
Togo	Faure Gnassingbe	"Fan Club"	4408	n/a
Tunisia	Fouad Mebazaa	Unofficial Page	39	30%
Uganda	Lt. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni	Unofficial Page / Profile	6462 / 1346	9% / 40%
Zambia	Rupiah Banda	Community Page	416	69%
Zimbabwe	Robert Gabriel Mugabe	Community Page	5383	31%
Zimbabwe	Morgan Tsvangirai (PM)	Official Page	65372	3%

The above table lists all top African heads of state (usually President) and provides a link to the one or two most popular Facebook pages, groups, or profiles for a given leader. The final column shows how many users are interested in the particular leader. Loose definitions of the page-types:

• Official page: A page run by the actual leader.
• Public profile: A presidential account with a public wall and information about the leader.
• Private profile: An seemingly real account without a public wall or information about the leader.
• Unofficial page: A user-created page that serves as the leader.
• Group: A user-created group dedicated to a leader.
• Community page: A placeholder courtesy of Wikipedia for cases when no user-generated page exists.

In addition to the tables of global rankings, however, are pages of analysis and notes. Recent data hails mostly from 2010 with 2008 used as a reference. Below are some of the nuggets we found useful for painting a picture of how African nations are progressing in terms of Internet adoption:

• The ITU revised the definition of wireless-broadband subscriptions in 2010 and group it into three indicators: satellite broadband, terrestrial fixed wireless-broadband, and terrestrial mobile wireless. Terrestrial mobile wireless subscriptions include (a) standard mobile subscriptions with use of data communications at broadband speeds (i.e. mobile-cellular subscriptions with advertised data speeds of 256 kbit/s or greater and which have been used to set up an Internet data connection) and (b) dedicated mobile data subscriptions at broadband speeds. (9)
• Approximately 63% of the ICT Development Index is based on 6 factors: International Internet bandwidth per Internet user, Percentage of households with a computer, percentage of households with Internet access, Percentage of individuals using the Internet, fixed-broadband Internet subscriptions per inhabitant, and active mobile-broadband subscriptions per inhabitant. (10)
• Kenya has seen a 28% change in IDI value since 2008, making it one of the fastest growing Internet markets. The reason: large cellular subscription growth and an increase in Internet bandwidth capacity (especially from 2009-2010). As of December 2010, Kenya had 10.2 million Internet users, or 26% of the population. (17)
• Morocco has witnessed nearly a 300% increase in international bandwidth since 2008. Internet penetration rates are up nearly 50% in thanks to the adoption of mobile broadband, which has gone from 2.3% to 10% penetration over the past two years. Fixed broadband growth is flat, however, in part due to Maroc Telecom’s monopoly. (18)
• Comoros saw bandwidth increase 1000% after connecting to a submarine cable in 2010. Madagascar now has over 10x the International capacity it did in 2008. (30)
• Mobile broadband subscriptions have doubled globally between 2008-2010. At least 150 nations have 3G mobile broadband networks as of 2010. Algeria, Comoros, Djibouti, Togo, and Zimbabwe did not have 3G as of 2010. (35,42)
• The number of fixed broadband subscriptions decreased in Kenya from 2009 to 2010. Kenya’s Internet penetration rate, as reported by CCK, was 9% in 2008. (37)
• All African nations apart from Angola, Gabon, Mauritius, Nigeria, Seychelles, and South Africa have less than 5% of households connected to the Internet. Only Cape Verde, Mauritius, Seychelles, and South Africa have a broadband penetration rate greater than 1%. (41)
• Djibouti and Mauritania saw little progress in terms of international connectivity. Djibouti is one of the few nations with under 20% mobile penetration. (43)
• Broadband Internet costs 112% of gross national income in developing countries as opposed to 1.5% in developed countries. The monthly cost for Internet in Guinea, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia is >10x the average monthly income. (71)
• Broadband prices dropped by 96% in Burkina Faso, 51% in Malawi, 61% in Ethiopia, 92% in Nigeria, 47% in Swaziland, 90% in Uganda, 81% in Mozambique, 77% in Kenya, but only 8% in Guinea. The African (non-Arab state) average is 55%. (74,76)
• Kenya’s international bandwidth has grown from 829 Mbit/s in 2008 to 202,000 Mbit/s in 2010. (76)
• Broadband definition now is 4 Mbps download, 1 Mbps upload. (86)
• 36% of Ghana’s population is covered by 3G. (87)
• Terrestrial backbone networks’ length grew from 466,000km to 646,000km from July 2009 to Q1 2011. 4.4% of the population lived within 25km of a submarine cable landing point. 31% lived within the same distance of a backbone access point. Senegal has a high percentage, and Gabon soon will too. (100)
• 7% of African nations collect household data on Internet usage habits. (108)
• Internet usage is strongly correlated with income. In Botswana (2008), 2% of people in the bottom 75% of income levels accessed the Internet. 19% of people in the upper 25% income bracket accessed the Internet. (113)
• In Namibia, 81% of Internet users use a social network. 17% of mobile owners access social networks via mobile application. 23% of mobile owners used their phones to access the Internet. However, only 13% of the population actually uses the Internet. Most using it for the first time still do so on a computer or laptop. (125)
• No broadband (fixed or mobile) as of 2010 in: Chad, Comoros, DRC, Guinea, Niger. 1-in-1000 broadband users in Burkina Faso, Swaziland, Togo, Zambia. (154-5)

Also, be sure to read TechZim’s summary of the ITU report’s findings on Zimbabwe. Ghana Business Review wrote an insightful article on how Ghana’s global ICT ranking has changed (actually dropped) since 2008.

Note: Unfortunately, much of the African household survey data is from 2007/2008 when Research ICT Africa conducted extensive research. So, although most of the trends are probably still true, the exact numbers used in the later sections of the report have undoubtedly changed greatly.

Graphical results of the survey results released by OSIWA, AfriMAP, and OSIMP show how Cameroonians perceive information on the Internet to be more trustworthy than other sources. Click to view.

The results: 36% of Cameroonians have total confidence in information coming from Internet.  On the contrary, only 16% of respondents trust the information disseminated by state media (radio, TV, newspaper). Private media is deemed more trustworthy than state-run media, but Cameroons still question its veracity more often than they doubt the word of the Internet. Within Cameroon, the survey is being used to push for a new law to guarantee the impartiality of state media. Diversification programs that take into account the aspirations of the Cameroonian population are also in the works.

Ostensibly, these results hold true in other nations, especially those with more notorious censorship than Cameroon (ie. Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Zimbabwe) It goes without saying that the Internet is a powerful and effective tool for self-expression. However, the Internet is not a remedy that can easily cure societal ills. Much of the information online is inaccurate, unfounded, and opinionated. The 36% of Cameroonians with full confidence in the truth of information published on the Internet must realize that a lack of censorship does not mean a lack of authorial ignorance.

Source article: Annie Payep. “Internet, le média le plus crédible des camerounais,” Camer.be, 10 Aug 2011 <http://www.camer.be/index1.php?art=15491&rub=11:1>.

Share of African visits to oAfrica.com by country, 12/10-7/11. {Google Analytics}

• 28% of visits came from Africa – up 3%
• 38% of African visits come from the cities of Nairobi, Dakar, Kampala, Accra, and Lagos – up 5%
• Share of visits by region – identical
• 33% of African visits are from South Africa (up 6%), followed by 13% from Kenya (down 4%), and 12% from Senegal (up 6%)
• Still no visitors from Equatorial Guinea, Chad, or Central African Republic

The caveat: the content on this site tends to appeal to a more academic than traditional African audience. Accordingly, the trends for African visits will not necessarily represent the “typical” African web user.

Mobile:

• Most African iPhone/iPad visits were from South Africa. Kenya ranked #2. No surprises here given the tech climates in both nations.
• The highest number of Android visits were from Kenya. This supports the popularity of the platform in East Africa.
• Somewhat surprisingly, there was one iPad visit each from Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Mali. I would love to identify and interview these three individuals!

Operating System:

African-based visits are still extremely likely to come from computers running Windows. However, the share of visits that came from Macintosh OS have increased substantially. Also, positively, the proportion of other operating systems (iPad, mobile) has increased as technology penetrated African markets and became more affordable.

More interesting are trends by region:

• North Africa and West Africa are most likely to use Windows.
• Southern Africa (namely South Africa) has a relatively high share of Macintosh users (more than double other African regions).
• Eastern Africa, has double the share of Mac users compared with Western, Middle, or North Africa, suggesting the region has a relatively advanced tech environment. High shares of Linux and Other OS users support such a notion.
• Linux has a 10% share among visits from Middle Africa (mainly Cameroon, in this case). Either tech knowledge is high, or the same handful of individuals is making repeat visits and skewing the number.

Browser:

Africans tend to be more progressive that the international norm in terms of browser use. Firefox is, by far, the most popular browser. And, Chrome is not far behind Internet Explorer in terms of usage. Impressive is the shift from IE to Chrome or Safari.

Again, trends by region are fascinating:

• Nearly two-thirds of West African visits came via Firefox – well above the global mean for this browser.
• Conversely, only 25% of Southern Africans used Firefox when visiting this site. Instead, among Southern Africans, the browser share was more spread-out (partially due to Safari use on Macintosh computers).
• Eastern Africa leads the regions in terms of Chrome use.
• The absolute lack of ‘other’ browsers in Middle Africa reiterates the absence of mobile broadband.

Language:

Despite the greater share of visits from Senegal, the share of French-language visits has decreased:

Java:

Despite the prevalence of non-IE & non-Android browsers, Java was only enabled 70% of the time:

Source: Google Analytics, July, 2011. Regions as defined by Google Analytics.