Reading this on a computer? Then you (probably) don’t live in Africa

The continent has some of the lowest fixed-broadband subscription rates in the world, with most people’s first encounter with the world wide web coming via their mobile phones.

Around 70% of mobile users browse the internet on their devices, and Africa’s mobile broadband growth is increasing at a rate of more than 40% — twice the global average.

This is largely due to the weak land-line infrastructure on the continent, which makes connecting through a desktop computer difficult. Low-cost or second-hand feature phones are also much cheaper to buy, which has made them ubiquitous across the continent, and it is estimated that by 2016 Africa will have a billion mobile phones. Feature devices also stay charged for longer — a crucial requirement in a part of the world where the supply of power is irregular and unreliable.

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CNN