Mobile phone usage and using the Internet all have definable
carbon emissions and the ownership of mobile phones and especially smart
phones is continuing to rapidly rise, and this is also the case in Africa according
to a recent article in the Times Higher Education Supplement.
The economy of Africa has grown by 5% per year for the past
10 years and is predicated to continue to grow faster than any other continent over
the next 5 years. The growth of mobile phone
ownership in Africa has soared as a consequence from 25 million in 2001 to 650
million in 2011. Ownership rates are
close to the global average with 86% of the planet’s population having a mobile
phone connection. The highest ownership
rates in Africa are the Cote D’Ivoire at 93%, Senegal 90%, South Africa 90%, Egypt 90%,
Ghana 88%, Cameroon 86%, Nigeria 82%, Tanzania 80%, Uganda 79% and Kenya 71%. In sub-Saharan Africa there are 40 mobile
connections for each land line connection.
However, Internet penetration is poor and expensive with average current
penetration only 15.6% compared to 83.6% in the UK, although this varies widely
falling to just 1.2% in Somalia. The full article can be accessed here.
