--- title: Almost a Billion People in Africa Live Under a Mobile Signal They Do Not Use description: Almost a billion people in Africa live under a mobile signal they do not use. Handset cost, digital skills and language are the barriers. author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief) updated: 2026-07-26T23:16:40.577Z canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/africa-mobile-internet-usage-gap image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/africa-mobile-internet-usage-gap-45954.webp categories: Social Impact content_type: News region: Middle East & Africa publication: Sovereign Magazine schema_type: Article --- Almost one billion people in Africa are not using mobile internet, 63 per cent of the continent's population, in places where coverage is already available. The figure comes from the GSMA, the industry body for the world's mobile operators, which tracks the continent in its Mobile Economy Africa research. Worldwide, 4.7 billion people, 58 per cent of the population, use mobile internet on their own device, and 96 per cent of the world lives in an area where a mobile internet signal is available. Around 300 million people, 4 per cent of the global population, have no coverage at all. The remaining 3.1 billion, 38 per cent of the world's population, live under a signal they do not use. The GSMA calls that group the Usage Gap. An [independent Afrobarometer survey in 2022](https://www.afrobarometer.org/publication/ad582-digital-divide-who-in-africa-is-connected-and-who-is-not/) found that 84 per cent of African adults personally owned a mobile phone while fewer than half, 45 per cent, had internet access on it. Fieldwork teams for that survey found cell network coverage in 87 per cent of the areas they visited. ## Usage Gap Versus Coverage Gap The Coverage Gap is the population with no mobile internet signal available at all, now about 4 per cent worldwide. The Usage Gap is everyone who has a signal and does not use it, and it is roughly ten times larger. The GSMA uses the term meaningful connectivity for a safe, satisfying, enriching and productive online experience that is affordable in the user's own context. Most people who do use mobile internet go online every day, often for only one or two things, such as checking a news site or a social media feed. Mobile carries 84 per cent of global internet connections and is the primary route online, in many cases the only one, across low- and middle-income countries. ## What A Handset Costs Across low- and middle-income countries an entry-level internet-enabled handset costs 16 per cent of average monthly income. For the poorest fifth of the population it costs 48 per cent. "A device at $30 could make handsets affordable to up to 1.6 billion people who are currently priced out of connecting to available mobile internet coverage," says Vivek Badrinath, Director General of the GSMA. Operators are attacking the price through handset financing schemes, and running digital literacy programmes alongside them. Women in low- and middle-income countries are 14 per cent less likely than men to use mobile internet, and adults in rural areas are 25 per cent less likely than adults in cities. > "A device at $30 could make handsets affordable to up to 1.6 billion people who are currently priced out of connecting to available mobile internet coverage." > — Vivek Badrinath, Director General of the GSMA ## Why Language Is Part Of The Problem Alongside price and skills, the GSMA names a lack of relevant content as a barrier to adoption, and describes the industry as working on what it calls Africa's AI language gap. That is the target of Africa Umoja AI, a pan-African initiative launched by the GSMA and partners to develop artificial intelligence that reflects Africa's languages, cultures and development priorities. The government partners are the digital and communications ministries of Nigeria, Togo, Kenya, Namibia and Benin, working with the African technology and research firms Awarri, Zindi, Pawa AI and Mozisha. It is designed to complement national AI programmes by pooling expertise, datasets and best practice, and it builds on the AI for Good Global Commission, on which ministers from Nigeria, Namibia and Togo sit. "Africa's AI future must reflect Africa's own languages, communities and development priorities. By making AI and digital services available in the languages people speak every day, Africa Umoja will help tackle two of the biggest barriers to internet adoption," says Angela Wamola, Head of Africa at the GSMA. Both came out of the African Telecommunications Union Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Abuja, where ministers and heads of delegation adopted the Abuja Ministerial Declaration on Meaningful Connectivity for Africa. The declaration commits governments to policies on meaningful connectivity, digital inclusion, resilient digital infrastructure, technology-neutral regulation and locally relevant digital services, and to closer work between governments, industry and development partners on the continent's connectivity and usage gaps. The GSMA describes it as a milestone for evidence-based policy, investment and regional collaboration, and used the conference to press policymakers on satellite connectivity, spectrum policy and technology-neutral licensing. ## What The Gap Is Worth Mobile technologies and services contributed $240 billion to Africa's economy in 2025, 7.8 per cent of GDP, and the GSMA forecasts $290 billion by 2030. Globally the body estimates that closing the usage gap would add $3.5 trillion to GDP over the eight years to 2030. The GSMA's connectivity research for the continent is published at [gsma.com](https://www.gsma.com/solutions-and-impact/connectivity-for-good/mobile-economy/africa/). ## FAQ **Q: What is meaningful connectivity?** The GSMA uses it to mean a safe, satisfying, enriching and productive online experience that is affordable in the user's own context. It is a higher bar than simply being counted as a mobile internet user, because most people who are online go online every day for only one or two things, such as a news site or a social media feed. **Q: What is the difference between the usage gap and the coverage gap?** The coverage gap is the population with no mobile internet signal available, about 4 per cent of the world, or 300 million people. The usage gap is the 3.1 billion people who live under an available signal and do not use it, 38 per cent of the world's population and roughly ten times the size of the coverage gap. **Q: What are the main barriers to mobile internet adoption in Africa?** The GSMA names three: the price of a device, limited digital skills, and a lack of relevant content. Across low- and middle-income countries an entry-level internet-enabled handset costs 16 per cent of average monthly income, and 48 per cent for the poorest fifth of the population. The content barrier is why African-language AI has become part of the connectivity agenda.