CAIRO: Growth of Internet use in Africa has gone beyond that of the global average in the last decade, reaching 2000 percent growth, compared to 480 percent growth globally. The significant growth represents the increased capacity of IT infrastructure on the continent in the last few years, including improved fiber-optic connectivity, and increased accessibility to computers and mobile phones. Internet penetration on the continent remains lower than that of the developed world's, however. South Africa, Ghana and Egypt experienced the most growth, according to ICT leader Birgitta Cederstrom. “With the new undersea cables and terrestrial fiber roll-out, as well as the satellite influx across Africa, we expect to see close to double-digits in terms of growth in the more mature markets over the next two to three years,” she said. Data service prices in Africa are set to drop in the coming year as well. In the next two to three years, the use of data services is expected to grow by 60 percent. Connectivity in Western Africa is also expected to rise. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/cxu0h Tags: Growth, Internet Section: Tech
