Challenge
Mobile telecommunications is essential to sustained economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. But affordable telecom remains limited in several of Africa’s low income countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where mobile penetration is below 50 percent.
Solution and Impact
$100 million in financing is helping Africell expand affordable mobile voice and data services in The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and upgrade its network equipment to accommodate increased traffic. The World Bank estimates that a 10 percent increase in mobile phone technology coverage in developing countries will increase annual economic growth by 1.2 percent, and that a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration results in a 1.4 percent increase in annual economic growth in low and middle-income countries.