Ten untapped African mobile markets

Ten untapped African mobile markets

Africa may be the second fastest growing mobile market in the world after Asia, but there could still be lots of room for growth.

Despite countries such as South Africa having among the continent’s highest mobile penetration rates of over 120%, there are a number of African nations that have not yet even achieved 50% mobile penetration rates.

Bordered by Sudan in the West and Ethiopia in the South, Eritrea has the lowest mobile device uptake in Africa with only 5% penetration in that country, according to the GSMA.

The list below indicates markets with the lowest mobile penetration at the end of 2012, according to GSMA Intelligence figures.

CountryMobile Penetration RatePopulation
Eritrea5%5.7 million
South Sudan22%10.8 million
Ethiopia24%87.4 million
Djibouti25%931,339
Burundi28%8.8 million
Democratic Republic of Congo28%70.5 million
Madagascar29%22.3 million
Comoros29%783,128
Malawi31%16.1 million
Niger32%16.9 million
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