US And EU Come Second To Africa When It Comes To Mobile Usage

The number of mobile subscriptions is now over 650 million in Africa. This makes the European Union and the United States stand second to Africa. A massive boom has been seen in the telecommunication industry. According to a report by the World Bank, since 2000, telecommunication has seen a 40-fold growth, from a possible 16.5 million.

In a report in eTransform Africa, the World Bank also thanked the new cables which helped to increase internet bandwidth 20-fold.

Jamal Saghir, World Bank Director for Sustainable Development in the Africa Region, stated that the development and establishment landscape in the region has been greatly transformed because of the Internet and cellphones. This is paving the way for new dynamism in some very key sectors of Africa. Now the challenge is to scale up the pace of these innovations. Along with that, the success stories should be spread for more economic and social impact over the following decade across the continent.

The report states how every field, from agriculture and finance services to the economy, is being greatly influenced by information and communication technology (ICT). For instance, villages in Malawi use GPS devices to keep track of any irregularities in order to prevent any sort of deforestation from occurring. In the same way, in Mali, telemedicine is helping communities in rural areas get access to proper healthcare.

A number of tech hubs have also grown in Africa with the rise of ICT.