A new report from Twinpine has given a good insight into the rapid growth of Africas mobile network, revealing that mobile penetration is resulting in high internet usage across West Africa
The African mobile advertising network partnered with Kenya-based iHub Research to analyse mobile usage across Nigeria, Ghana and the Ivory Coast and released a report titled, West Africa: The Case of Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire.
“Poor fixed line infrastructure in Africa has acted as a barrier to internet adoption for the majority of people, and is the reason for limited broadband adoption across the continent,” said Elo Umeh, CEO Twinpine and co-chair of the Mobile Marketing Association, West Africa.
“However the exponential growth of the mobile market in Africa is playing a critical role in closing the digital divide by giving the African population widespread access to a rich variety of affordable mobile technologies.
“As the research shows, mobile internet is set to quickly become the primary method of going online.”
Mobile subscriptions in Nigeria, Ghana and the Ivory Coast have soared between 2007 and 2011, bringing them to a total of more than 130mn for the three countries.
The report identified that Nigeria's mobile internet usage is at 26 per cent, with fixed internet usage only slightly more popular at 28 per cent.
“This research highlights a very important point – that now is the time for international brands and publishers to tap into the African mobile boom to maximise the revenue potential of mobile advertising," said Umeh.
"Already Nigeria, Ghana and the Ivory Coast are achieving high monthly advertising impressions – Nigeria is especially strong with 3 billion impressions a month.”
