TRENDING
Despite significant advancements in
Internet availability and use across
Africa, there is still much to be
done to ensure equal access across
the continent. Research ICT Africa
investigated the current barriers
remaining in four African countries.
Mozilla-backed
research reveals main
barriers to Internet
access in Africa
C estimates that only about 25% of
the population of Africa has access to
the Internet. Results of the research
included the following findings:
Knowing that affordability is one of
the primary barriers to Internet access
and particular optimal use, the main
objective of the focus groups was to
obtain qualitative information that
reflects the perceptions of female and
male Internet users, new users and
non-Internet users from urban and
rural locations about how people use
the Internet. A 2016 International
Telecommunications Union report • In all the countries, across
demographics, access to subsidised
data did not result significantly in new
users going online.
• Use of subsidised data is just one
of many strategies employed by
users to manage costs in these four
African countries.
• Uptake of zero-rating varied across
the four countries. Awareness was low
and scepticism of free services was
high in Nigeria, whereas in Rwanda,
bundles with unlimited WhatsApp
and Facebook were very popular. In
Kenya and South Africa, the zero-rated
services were welcomed for their cost-
reducing nature.
ompelling Mozilla-backed
research, carried out by Research
ICT Africa, finds that significant
barriers to Internet access remains in
four African countries – Rwanda, Kenya,
Nigeria and South Africa. The research
aims to understand, from a comparative
perspective, how the citizens use the
Internet when data is subsidised and
when it is not.
16
INTELLIGENTCIO
• There was substantial interest and
uptake in Equal Rating-compliant,
partially subsidised data bundles that
provide access to the entire Internet,
not just some parts of it (e.g. Cell C’s
offering of 250MB between 1am and
7am for R6 in South Africa or an MTN
bundle in Rwanda for Rwf 800 that
provides 24 hours unlimited data).
• Poor network quality and coverage
limited the consumption of subsidised
data since some respondents,
especially in rural areas of Kenya,
Rwanda and South Africa, reported
that telcos with those offerings did
not have coverage in their area.
Indeed, many of these users only
have access via the most expensive
operator in that country.
• Women face additional barriers to
Internet use, including concern of
being exposed to inappropriate
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