By Phephile Motau
Eswatini is among the top five African countries concerning mobile phone ownership, with 94% of the population owning a mobile phone.
This is according to www.ecofinagency.com and is based on a survey conducted by Afrobarometer. The organisation found that in 2021, five African countries had over 94% mobile phone ownership (meaning that almost every resident has a mobile phone), a survey by Afrobarometer reveals.
The said countries are namely Gabon (96%), Morocco (96%), Côte d’Ivoire (94%), Mauritius (94%), and Eswatini (94%). The survey was carried out in 34 African countries and also reveals that 24 countries had between 75% and 93% mobile ownership, while five countries had below 75% ownership.
The countries in the below-75% mobile phone ownership category are Niger (63%), Mozambique (62%), Ethiopia (59%), Malawi (57%), and Angola (57%). Meanwhile, the continental average was 84%.
It was stated that this high average was due to the actions implemented by telecom operators over the years to market affordable phones. Most of the phones they marketed were feature phones, however, not smartphones.
It was reported that compared to the average rate of cell phone ownership on the continent, which is 84% out of 34 countries surveyed, the internet access rate is 45%, according to Afrobarometer. In 2021, in Gabon, while the mobile phone ownership rate was 96%, the internet access rate was 66%.
In Côte d’Ivoire, the internet access rate was 52% against 77% for Mauritius, 75% for Morocco and 55% for Eswatini. Only one citizen out of five had both a mobile phone and access to the internet in Malawi (20%), Niger (20%), and Ethiopia (16%). It was, however, noted that both the internet access rate and mobile phone ownership had likely evolved with the continuous investments made by telecom operators in 2022.
