While several African nations have state-controlled telcos, some private operators have extended their presence across the continent. Notably, none operates in all countries on the continent.
MTN Group and Orange are present in 17 countries, with MTN having a stronger presence in Southern Africa than Orange. Francophone West Africa and North Africa are Orange's primary markets.
The cost of accessing the Internet isn't the same everywhere. In Switzerland, 1GB of mobile data costs $7.29, the most expensive globally, while Nigeria stands at just $0.38, which is 15 times less than the cost in the United States ($6.00). Meanwhile, Israel offers the cheapest deal at only $0.02 per GB. There is a more moderate global average at $2.59.
Samsung consistently led the global smartphone shipments market through the first three quarters of 2024, maintaining the highest market share in each quarter.
Apple and Xiaomi followed closely, while other brands, including Oppo, Vivo, and Transsion, were among the top brands. The top three smartphone brands (Samsung, Apple, and Xiaomi) dominate the market, collectively capturing nearly half of the global share in the first three quarters of 2024.
In 2017, MTN Uganda recorded a 58% increase in profit with only a 9% revenue increase. On average, the telco had an 18.2% yearly increase in profit between 2016 and 2023, while revenue growth was at 9.2% yearly.
In 2022, only 11.3% of Burundi's population was using the Internet. As of 2023, the East African nation had an adult population of over 7 million and less than 3,000 fixed broadband subscriptions and 8.65 million mobile lines. Burundi's fixed broadband subscriptions grew from only 160 in 2009 to 2,790 in 2023, peaking at 4,230 in 2020 before a decline.
With an average growth rate of 10.51%, the number of active Internet subscribers in Zimbabwe increased from 3.95 million in 2012 to 11.24 million in 2023. In contrast, the number of new mobile subscribers increased by just 2.36 million over 12 years.
In the same time, the population and active mobile subscribers of the southern African nation grew at average rates of 2.10% and 1.82%, respectively.
Tanzania's Internet subscriptions surged from 9.31 million in 2013 to 39.3 million as of June 2024, reflecting an average annual growth of 2.72 million. Apart from slower growth in 2018 and 2020, with 148,000 and 284,000 new subscriptions, respectively, the East African nation has consistently expanded its digital reach.
Notably, mobile wireless subscriptions accounted for a staggering 99.75% of all Internet subscriptions in Tanzania.
Safaricom has maintained the largest share of telecom subscribers in the Kenya over the years. From 2008 to 2024, it has expanded its subscriber base from 10.2 million to 44.7 million, reflecting an average annual growth of 2.2 million subscribers. This consistent growth underscores Safaricom's strong market position and effective business strategy in Kenya's telecom sector.
