Mobile telephony access and usage in Africa

The study provides tools to identify policy intervention that can improve ICT take-up and usage. As well, it defines universal service obligations based on income and monthly usage costs. Data from nationally representative household surveys conducted in 17 African countries is used to analyse mobile phone adoption and usage. Income and education vastly enhance mobile adoption but gender, age and membership of social networks have little impact. Key policy interventions would be: regulatory measures to decrease access and usage costs, building rural electricity infrastructure, and policies to increase ICT skills of pupils and teachers