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Mobile-broadband penetration across Africa has reached 4 per cent, according to a report released by the International Telecommunication Union

The report, which focuses on internet usage and trends in 2011, revealed that the penetration of mobile broadband across the continent was well ahead of fixed-broadband usage, which stands at less than 1 per cent.

While the growth in Africa’s internet and broadband uses has gathered pace in the past few years thanks to improving infrastructure, the arrival of wireless access technologies and lower tariffs, the report noted that countries across the continent were far behind the world’s top broadband economies in Europe, Asia and the Pacific.

The report revealed that the global penetration of mobile-cellular subscriptions has reached 87 per cent, which stands at 79 per cent for the developing world.

The number of homes in developing countries with computers has risen from 20 per cent three years ago to 25 per cent today and internet access has grown from 13 per cent to 20 per cent in the same period.

Globally, mobile-broadband subscriptions have grown 45 per cent annually over the last four years, the report added.

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