Fixed broadband, in Africa anyway, is always going to have very limited reach. Mobile voice overtook fixed years ago, and mobile broadband is now taking over fixed, even in more developed African countries like South Africa that have sizeable fixed line networks. These are the findings of a recent research study on broadband in Africa. The Future of Broadband in Africa research paper was researched and written by Research ICT Africa (RIA) staffers Dr Christoph Stork and Enrico Calandro, with Ranmalee Gamage, of LIRNEasia, an Asian regional ICT policy think tank.

The paper uses data from household surveys conducted in 12 African countries by RIA in 2012, and shows that fixed line is declining as a whole. Penetration decreased in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania compared to 2007/2008 data. It improved marginally in Cameroon, Uganda and Rwanda and improved notably in only one country last year, Botswana, and then only to reach 15 percent overall. Internet use on an individual level has more than doubled in the last four years, according to Dr Stork, who presented the paper at the CPRsouth8/CPRafrica 2013 conference held in India in September.

Stork notes that the real digital divide in Africa is among those with and without electricity. In the countries included in this research, more than half of households have electricity, with Ghana and South Africa having the majority of households connected, and Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Uganda having less than 20 percent of households connected to the grid, according to the paper.