{"id":11183,"date":"2023-10-12T17:28:50","date_gmt":"2023-10-12T16:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/connectivity-for-good\/external-affairs\/gsma_resources\/energy-challenges-ssa"},"modified":"2025-11-26T11:13:38","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T11:13:38","slug":"energy-challenges-ssa","status":"publish","type":"gsma_theme_resources","link":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/connectivity-for-good\/external-affairs\/gsma_resources\/energy-challenges-ssa\/","title":{"rendered":"Energy Challenges for Mobile Networks in Sub-Saharan Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p>Mobile networks need dependable and affordable energy to connect people and businesses across Sub-Saharan Africa. Reliable mobile connectivity is increasingly fundamental to many sectors and services, including other critical infrastructure and services. Mobile connectivity is especially critical given Africa\u2019s very low fixed broadband penetration of less than 1%. Disruptions in energy and connectivity have widespread impacts on people and the economy. This paper analyses the challenges the region faces as well as the opportunities posed by a clean energy transition.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Addressing the energy challenges and progressing the transition will require action from a range of key stakeholders. The paper looks at policies and investment decisions that will expand utility-scale renewables and extend electricity networks.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>It also highlights recent progress and successful examples by highlighting how deeper public-private engagement can accelerate clean energy access across Sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\r\n<span class=\"shortcode_button_wrapper\"><a class=\"shortcode_button gsmacolor_red size_medium\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/connectivity-for-good\/external-affairs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Energy-Challenges-for-Mobile-Operators-in-SSA-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Download English report<\/a><\/span>\r\n<p>\r\n\r\n<\/p>\n<span class=\"shortcode_button_wrapper\"><a class=\"shortcode_button gsmacolor_red size_medium\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/connectivity-for-good\/external-affairs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Energy-Challenges-for-Mobile-Operators-in-SSA-French.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Download French report<\/a><\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mobile networks need dependable and affordable energy to connect people and businesses across Sub-Saharan Africa. Reliable mobile connectivity is increasingly fundamental to many sectors and services, including other critical infrastructure and services. Mobile connectivity is especially critical given Africa\u2019s very low fixed broadband penetration of less than 1%. Disruptions in energy and connectivity have widespread [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"image":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/connectivity-for-good\/external-affairs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Energy-Challenges-for-Mobile-Operators-in-SSA.png","json":{"gsma_resources_type":"Document","gsma_resources_thumb":"[10068]","gsma_resources_file":"[10077]","gsma_resources_multi":null,"gsma_resources_wgr":null,"gsma_resources_video":"","gsma_resources_image":"[]","gsma_resources_url":"","gsma_resources_date":"","gsma_resources_button":"Download"}},"tags":[],"resource_categories":[3187,3567,3565],"algolia_discover_type":[3514],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.3 (Yoast SEO v23.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Energy Challenges for Mobile Networks in Sub-Saharan Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mobile networks in Sub-Saharan Africa need reliable and affordable energy to connect people and businesses.\" \/>\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\/solutions-and-impact\/connectivity-for-good\/external-affairs\/gsma_resources\/energy-challenges-ssa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Energy Challenges for Mobile Networks in Sub-Saharan Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mobile networks in Sub-Saharan Africa need reliable and affordable energy to connect people and businesses.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/solutions-and-impact\/connectivity-for-good\/external-affairs\/gsma_resources\/energy-challenges-ssa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"External Affairs\" \/>\n<meta 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