Sub-Saharan Africa is the fastest growing region in the world in terms of mobile connections and usage, a GSMA official said on Thursday.

The sub-Saharan Africa region includes 46 countries including six of the largest markets like Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania, says the GSMA.

Anne Bouverot, director general of the GSMA was speaking at the first GSMA Mobile 360 Africa conference in Cape Town, South Africa and said mobile is transforming the lives of people in the region.

According to Bouverot the GSMA expects number of unique mobile subscribers in sub-Saharan Africa to pass the half billion mark by 2020.

She added that this will make sub-Saharan Africa the second largest region in the world for mobile connections replacing Europe and second to Asia Pacific.

At the end of June 2014 there were 329 million unique mobile subscribers in sub-Saharan Africa, equivalent to 38% of the region’s total population.

In terms of the GSMA's definition unique subscribers refer to individual mobile users.

The GSMA also notes that mobile connections in the region stood at 608 million in June 2014, forecast to rise to 975 million by 2020.

“Over last 6 years $45 billion has been invested in building networks in the region alone,” she stated.

This number shows that mobile is very important in the region and a lot has been done to connect people but much still remains to be done, said Bouverot.

“The mobile industry has transformed the lives of millions of people across sub-Saharan Africa, providing not just connectivity but also an essential gateway to a wide range of healthcare, education and financial services,” she stated.