{"id":16223,"date":"2019-07-16T08:01:42","date_gmt":"2019-07-16T07:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/?p=16223"},"modified":"2025-10-28T15:02:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T15:02:43","slug":"youth-population-to-drive-strong-subscriber-growth-across-sub-saharan-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/press-release\/youth-population-to-drive-strong-subscriber-growth-across-sub-saharan-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Youth Population to Drive Strong Subscriber Growth Across Sub-Saharan Africa, Finds New GSMA Study"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><em>Sub-Saharan Africa\u2019s Mobile Economy Valued at More Than $150 Billion in 2018<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Kigali, Rwanda<\/strong>: Sub-Saharan Africa will remain the world\u2019s fastest-growing mobile region over the coming years as millions of young African consumers become mobile users for the first time, according to a new GSMA study. It reveals that more than 160 million new unique mobile subscribers<sup>1<\/sup> will be added across the region by 2025, bringing the total to 623 million, representing around half of the region\u2019s population, up from 456 million (44 per cent) in 2018. Subscriber additions will be concentrated in high-growth markets such as Nigeria and Ethiopia, the report says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA new generation of youthful \u2018digital natives\u2019 across Sub-Saharan Africa are set to fuel customer growth and drive adoption of new mobile services that are empowering lives and transforming businesses,\u201d said Akinwale Goodluck, Head of Sub-Saharan Africa, GSMA. \u201cWith mobile technology at the heart of Sub-Saharan Africa\u2019s digital journey, it is essential for policymakers in the region to implement policies and best practices that ensure sustainable growth in the mobile industry, and enable the transition to next-generation mobile networks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The study calculates that the mobile ecosystem across Sub-Saharan Africa generated almost $150 billion in economic value last year \u2013 equivalent to 8.6 per cent of the region\u2019s GDP. It is forecast to generate almost $185 billion (9.1 per cent of GDP) by 2023.<\/p>\n<p>The 2019 Sub-Saharan Africa edition of the GSMA\u2019s Mobile Economy report series is being published at the \u2018Mobile 360 \u2013 Africa\u2019 event being held this week in Kigali, Rwanda. The new report also reveals that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Around 239 million people, equivalent to 23 per cent of the region\u2019s population, use the mobile internet on a regular basis.<\/li>\n<li>Smartphones accounted for 39 per cent of mobile connections<sup>2<\/sup> in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2018, forecast to increase to two thirds of connections by 2025.<\/li>\n<li>3G will overtake 2G to become the leading mobile technology in Sub-Saharan Africa this year.<\/li>\n<li>4G will account for almost one in four connections by 2025. However, 4G uptake is being dampened in some markets by the high cost of 4G devices and delays in assigning 4G spectrum.<\/li>\n<li>The region\u2019s mobile operators are increasing investment in their networks and are expected to spend $60 billion (capex) on network infrastructure and services between 2018 and 2025 \u2013 almost a fifth of this total being invested in new 5G networks.<\/li>\n<li>Sub-Saharan Africa\u2019s mobile ecosystem supports around 3.5 million jobs, directly and indirectly, and last year contributed almost $15.6 billion to the funding of the public sector through consumer and operator taxes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The new report <em>\u2018The Mobile Economy, Sub-Saharan Africa 2019\u2019<\/em> is authored by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsmaintelligence.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GSMA Intelligence<\/a>, the research arm of the GSMA. To access the full report and related infographics, please visit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/connectivity-for-good\/mobile-economy\/africa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/connectivity-for-good\/mobile-economy\/sub-saharan-africa\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">-ENDS-<\/p>\n<p><strong>About the GSMA<\/strong><br \/>\nThe GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting more than 750 operators and nearly 400 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces the industry-leading MWC events held annually in Barcelona, Los Angeles and Shanghai, as well as the Mobile 360 Series of regional conferences.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gsma\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@GSMA<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Media Contacts: <\/strong><br \/>\nDavid Ntwampe Maila<br \/>\n+ 27\u00a072 015 4702<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:dmaila@webershandwick.com\">dmaila@webershandwick.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Beau Bass<br \/>\n+44 79 7662 4962<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:beau.bass@webershandwick.com\">beau.bass@webershandwick.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>GSMA Press Office<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:pressoffice@gsma.com\">pressoffice@gsma.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>1. A unique mobile subscriber represents an individual that can account for multiple SIM connections.<\/p>\n<p>2. A There were 774 million mobile connections in SS Africa in 2018, excluding cellular IoT, forecast to increase to 1.04 billion by 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sub-Saharan Africa\u2019s Mobile Economy Valued at More Than $150 Billion in 2018 Kigali, Rwanda: Sub-Saharan Africa will remain the world\u2019s fastest-growing mobile region over the coming years as millions of young African consumers become mobile users for the first time, according to a new GSMA study. It reveals that more than 160 million new unique [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"algolia_discover_type":[6627],"class_list":["post-16223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release","algolia_discover_type-article"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.8 (Yoast SEO v27.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Youth Population to Drive Strong Subscriber Growth Across Sub-Saharan Africa, Finds New GSMA Study - Newsroom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/press-release\/youth-population-to-drive-strong-subscriber-growth-across-sub-saharan-africa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Youth Population to Drive Strong Subscriber Growth Across Sub-Saharan Africa, Finds New GSMA Study\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sub-Saharan Africa\u2019s Mobile Economy Valued at More Than $150 Billion in 2018 Kigali, Rwanda: Sub-Saharan Africa will remain the world\u2019s fastest-growing mobile region over the coming years as millions of young African consumers become mobile users for the first time, according to a new GSMA study. It reveals that more than 160 million new unique [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/press-release\/youth-population-to-drive-strong-subscriber-growth-across-sub-saharan-africa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gsma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-16T07:01:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-28T15:02:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/SSA-Mobile-Economy-PR-800X400.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tskinner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GSMA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GSMA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tskinner\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Youth Population to Drive Strong Subscriber Growth Across Sub-Saharan Africa, Finds New GSMA Study - Newsroom","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/press-release\/youth-population-to-drive-strong-subscriber-growth-across-sub-saharan-africa\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Youth Population to Drive Strong Subscriber Growth Across Sub-Saharan Africa, Finds New GSMA Study","og_description":"Sub-Saharan Africa\u2019s Mobile Economy Valued at More Than $150 Billion in 2018 Kigali, Rwanda: Sub-Saharan Africa will remain the world\u2019s fastest-growing mobile region over the coming years as millions of young African consumers become mobile users for the first time, according to a new GSMA study. It reveals that more than 160 million new unique [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/press-release\/youth-population-to-drive-strong-subscriber-growth-across-sub-saharan-africa\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gsma\/","article_published_time":"2019-07-16T07:01:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-28T15:02:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/SSA-Mobile-Economy-PR-800X400.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"tskinner","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GSMA","twitter_site":"@GSMA","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tskinner","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/press-release\/youth-population-to-drive-strong-subscriber-growth-across-sub-saharan-africa\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/press-release\/youth-population-to-drive-strong-subscriber-growth-across-sub-saharan-africa\/"},"author":{"name":"tskinner","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/8a12b576775b95068377069074951765"},"headline":"Youth Population to Drive Strong Subscriber Growth Across Sub-Saharan Africa, Finds New GSMA Study","datePublished":"2019-07-16T07:01:42+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-28T15:02:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/press-release\/youth-population-to-drive-strong-subscriber-growth-across-sub-saharan-africa\/"},"wordCount":598,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/press-release\/youth-population-to-drive-strong-subscriber-growth-across-sub-saharan-africa\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/SSA-Mobile-Economy-PR-800X400.png","articleSection":["Press Release"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/press-release\/youth-population-to-drive-strong-subscriber-growth-across-sub-saharan-africa\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/press-release\/youth-population-to-drive-strong-subscriber-growth-across-sub-saharan-africa\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/press-release\/youth-population-to-drive-strong-subscriber-growth-across-sub-saharan-africa\/","name":"Youth Population to Drive Strong Subscriber Growth Across Sub-Saharan Africa, Finds New GSMA Study - 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