Companies are trying to attract more smartphone users across Africa. But there are risks

📆 19/05/2024 07:23:00
📰 AP

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Internet-enabled phones can play a unique role in sub-Saharan Africa, where infrastructure and public services are among the world’s least developed. But despite growing mobile internet coverage on the continent of 1.3 billion people, just 25% of adults in sub-Saharan Africa currently have access. Expense is the main barrier.

Access to mobile internet is driving development in Africa. Mobile money in Sub-Saharan Africa has increased GDP by $150 billion in the last ten years. But only 25% of Africans currently use mobile internet despite 85% of the continent being covered. One project in Ghana is trying to bridge this digital gap. Anita Akpeere, who uses her mobile phone to run her business, prepares food at her restaurant in Accra, Ghana, Tuesday, April 23, 2024.

Literacy rates that are below the global average, and lack of services in many African languages — some 2,000 are spoken across the continent, according to The African Language Program at Harvard University — are other reasons why a smartphone isn’t a compelling investment for some.

For Cyril Fianyo, a 64-year-old farmer in Ghana’s eastern Volta region, the phone has expanded his activities beyond calls and texts. Using his identity card, he registered with Uniti, putting down a deposit worth 340 Ghanaian Cedis for a smartphone and will pay the remaining 910 Cedis in installments.

Aker, the scholar, noted that the potential impact of mobile phones across Africa is immense but said there is limited evidence that paid health or agriculture apps are benefiting people there. She asserted that the only beneficial impacts are reminders to take medicine or get vaccinated. Dar said Uniti Networks learns from mistakes. In a pilot in northern Ghana designed to help cocoa farmers contribute to their pensions, there was high engagement but farmers didn’t find the app user-friendly and needed extra coaching. After the feedback, the pension provider changed the interface to improve navigation.

Dar said Uniti has rejected lucrative approaches from many companies including gambling firms. “Tech can be used for awful things,” he said.

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