Zimbabwe is among Africa’s fastest growing mobile markets

Zimbabwe is among Africa’s fastest growing mobile markets
Gareth van Zyl
By Gareth van Zyl, Editor, ITWeb Africa
, 05 May 2014
...

Zimbabwe is outpacing the rest of Africa in mobile phone growth as adoption of handsets in the country has risen from 26% of households in 2008 to 80% in 2013, says research firm Gallup.

...

This means that Zimbabwe’s mobile phone adoption growth has averaged 9% per year, a feat that has only been equalled by West African nation Burkina Faso according to the research.

Other findings of the research include that nearly two-thirds (65%) of households in 23 countries in sub-Saharan Africa had at least one mobile phone in 2013, with median growth of 27% since 2008 and median annual growth of 5%.

Gallup’s research results are based on face-to-face interviews with approximately 1,000 adults in each country, aged 15 and older. The research was also conducted throughout 2013.

But Gallup explains that mobile phone adoption in Africa is not evenly distributed among urban and rural areas.

Recommended

“In 2013, 80% of urban households had at least one mobile phone, compared with 63% of rural households that have at least one mobile phone,” says Gallup in a statement.

“This is a change from six years ago when 63% of urban households had at least one mobile and 43% of rural households did,” explains the research firm.

However, the research firm goes on to add that Africa’s poorest 20% of the population report having at least one phone in their household.

“Growth has been biggest among sub-Saharan Africans in the second-lowest income group, increasing 28 percentage points since 2008,” says Gallup.

Share

Read more