Industry leaders converging in Kigali for the continent’s premier connectivity event have revealed that Africa’s mobile sector contributed $220 billion to the regional economy in 2024, representing 7.7 percent of GDP, yet a staggering usage gap of 960 million people persists despite near universal coverage. The Mobile World Congress Kigali 2025, opened October 21 by Rwandan President Paul Kagame for the third consecutive year, spotlights three urgent policy priorities: handset affordability, inclusive artificial intelligence language models, and energy resilience.
The GSMA Mobile Economy Africa 2025 Report launched at the event shows mobile connectivity fueling economic growth across the continent. The ecosystem supported around 8 million jobs in 2024, comprising 5 million direct positions and 3 million indirect roles, while generating $30 billion in public funding. These figures demonstrate the sector’s massive economic footprint extending far beyond telecommunications into education, healthcare, finance, and commerce.
However, the stark contrast between coverage and usage reveals the challenge confronting policymakers. While the coverage gap across Africa sits below 5 percent, meaning nearly everyone lives within reach of mobile broadband networks, 790 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa alone don’t use mobile internet despite having access. This represents the largest usage gap globally, indicating that infrastructure alone cannot bridge the digital divide.
Vivek Badrinath, Director General of the GSMA, acknowledged Africa’s mobile sector ranks among the world’s most dynamic but emphasized persistent barriers including high device costs, energy availability issues, and lack of inclusive AI. By working together, governments, industry, and development partners can make digital inclusion affordable, sustainable, and meaningful for every African, he stated during opening remarks.
The three day conference features packed programming including keynotes, summits, and ministerial dialogues addressing how infrastructure, AI, and regulations must evolve together to make connectivity universal. This year marks the debut of the GSMA Ministerial Programme, providing platforms for shaping policies accelerating regional digital transformation. Ministers and regulators will explore aligning national planning for energy and digital connectivity to unlock productive use of both resources.
Current statistics paint a picture of accelerating adoption alongside enormous untapped potential. Some 416 million people in Africa now use mobile internet, expected to rise to 576 million by 2030, representing 33 percent of the population. Fourth generation adoption will increase from 45 percent to 54 percent, while 5G connections forecast surging from 2 percent to 21 percent by decade’s end. Between 2024 and 2030, operators will invest $77 billion in new networks, with revenues expected to reach $79 billion by 2030.
The mobile sector’s projected contribution to Africa’s economy will reach $270 billion by 2030, though representing a slightly lower 7.4 percent of GDP as economies diversify and expand. This trajectory demonstrates how mobile connectivity increasingly underpins every sector from agriculture through financial services to government administration.
Addressing handset affordability has emerged as the single largest barrier to mobile internet adoption. The GSMA partnered with six of Africa’s largest mobile operators, Airtel, Axian Telecom, Ethio Telecom, MTN, Orange, and Vodacom, to propose industry wide baseline requirements for affordable entry level 4G smartphones. This Handset Affordability Coalition initiative aims to lower smartphone costs and expand digital inclusion across the continent.
Recent success materializing in South Africa provides an encouraging model. The government abolished 9 percent ad valorem luxury taxes on entry level smartphones priced at R2,500, approximately $150, and below. This decisive policy step toward expanding digital inclusion for millions demonstrates what coordinated industry government action can achieve. The GSMA urges other African governments to replicate similar reforms building momentum for digital transformation.
More than 3 billion people globally live within mobile broadband coverage but don’t use the internet, with handset affordability cited as the top challenge according to GSMA’s State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2025 Report. Closing the usage gap in low and middle income countries between 2023 and 2030 could generate $3.5 trillion in additional GDP, illustrating the enormous economic opportunity locked behind affordability barriers.
The conference’s AI Future theme highlights how African led innovation transforms AI into practical solutions across health, education, and finance. Building on this, the GSMA together with Africa’s leading mobile operators and AI ecosystem partners announced continent wide collaboration developing inclusive African AI language models. Partners include Airtel, African Population for Health Research Center, Awarri, Axian Telecom, Cassava Technologies, Ethio Telecom, Masakhane African Languages Hub, Lelapa AI, MTN, Orange, Pawa AI, Qhala, World Sandbox Alliance, and Vodacom.
Under the shared ambition “AI in Africa, by Africa, for Africa,” the initiative will strengthen Africa’s AI ecosystem by addressing gaps in data, compute, talent, and policy. This ensures African languages, cultures, and knowledge receive representation in the global digital future rather than being marginalized by AI systems trained predominantly on Western languages and cultural contexts.
Energy resilience represents the third critical priority identified by conference organizers. The GSMA Mobile Economy Africa 2025 Report highlights that more than 80 percent of the world’s unelectrified population live in Africa, making energy access a foundational barrier to digital transformation. Without reliable power, communities cannot fully benefit from mobile connectivity, digital services, or broadband expansion regardless of network infrastructure quality.
The ministerial programme convenes government officials and regulators exploring how aligning national planning for energy and digital connectivity can unlock productive use of both sectors simultaneously. This integrated approach recognizes that digital services require power while simultaneously creating demand driving energy infrastructure investments that benefit broader populations beyond telecommunications users.
Angela Wamola, Head of Africa for GSMA, emphasized the clear message emerging from Kigali. Africa possesses the talent and ambition, but reforms on affordability, AI, and energy prove essential to drive inclusive growth ensuring everyone benefits from the digital economy rather than deepening existing inequalities.
The opening keynote, “Africa’s Future First: Determining the Path to a Digital Future,” featured policymakers, tech pioneers, and operators sharing visions of how infrastructure, AI, and regulations must evolve in tandem. Speakers from the UN’s International Telecommunication Union, Rwanda’s Ministry of ICT and Innovation, and senior executives from major operators including Airtel Africa, MTN Group, Orange, Huawei, and ZTE participated in discussions shaping continental digital strategy.
This year’s expanded programme includes dedicated summits covering pressing challenges and opportunities. A two day Fintech Summit showcases how mobile powered fintech solutions transform financial systems, enhance inclusion, and foster economic resilience. The inaugural 5G Summit explores how fifth generation networks can accelerate development, while MWC Kigali’s first ever Security Summit addresses cyber threats accompanying digital expansion.
The Future of Education and Work in Africa summit, co-located with MWC Kigali for the first time, provides a dedicated platform uniting AI pioneers, policymakers, and innovators shaping scalable and ethical AI solutions for education and workforce transformation. This reflects growing recognition that digital transformation must encompass human capital development alongside infrastructure deployment.
Mobile for Development programming continues playing prominent roles, convening mobile operator members, tech innovators, development community representatives, and governments discussing digital technology’s role reducing inequality. The Development Theatre hosts insightful keynotes and panels on topics including digital inclusion, socioeconomic benefits of mobile money, and building smarter futures for African cities.
The conference co-locates with Smart Africa and the Africa HealthTech Summit, creating synergies across digital health innovation, pan African cooperation, and telecommunications development. Smart Africa hosts committees co-chaired by ITU and African Union Commission, convening public sector organizations and private sector players focused on accelerating socioeconomic development continentally.
Rwanda’s selection as host location carries symbolic significance. The country has emerged as Africa’s technology hub, investing heavily in digital infrastructure, skills development, and creating enabling regulatory environments attracting technology companies and startups. President Kagame’s consistent personal engagement with MWC Kigali, formally opening the event three consecutive years, demonstrates national commitment positioning Rwanda as the continent’s digital gateway.
For Ghana and other African nations, the policy frameworks and partnerships emerging from MWC Kigali directly impact national digital strategies. Mobile operators present across the continent implement similar business models and face comparable regulatory challenges. Coordinated approaches to handset affordability, AI development, and energy connectivity integration developed through platforms like MWC Kigali can accelerate progress more effectively than fragmented national initiatives.
The conference’s emphasis on African led AI development proves particularly relevant. Without deliberate intervention ensuring African languages and cultural contexts shape AI training data and model development, the continent risks digital colonization where technologies developed elsewhere fail to serve African needs effectively while potentially reinforcing existing biases and inequalities.
Ghana’s mobile penetration rates, though higher than many African countries, still exhibit usage gaps where coverage exists but adoption lags. Lessons about handset affordability policies, energy infrastructure coordination, and inclusive technology development shared at MWC Kigali provide actionable intelligence for policymakers seeking to close these gaps domestically.
The $77 billion investment commitment from operators through 2030 represents substantial capital deployment that will reshape African telecommunications infrastructure. However, these investments require supportive regulatory frameworks, reasonable taxation policies, and spectrum allocation strategies enabling operators to achieve returns justifying capital expenditure while maintaining affordable consumer pricing.
As the three day conference progresses through October 23, participants will develop specific action plans translating ambitious visions into implementable policies and programs. Whether rhetoric about closing usage gaps and achieving inclusive digital transformation converts into measurable progress will depend on sustained political commitment, adequate resource mobilization, and coordination among stakeholders who often pursue competing agendas.
The persistent 960 million person usage gap despite near universal coverage stands as testimony that building networks alone proves insufficient. Affordability, digital literacy, relevant content, energy access, and supportive regulatory environments must align simultaneously for digital inclusion to become reality rather than aspiration.
Source: newsghana.com.gh
