New framework prioritises faster migration to 4G and 5G, coordinated energy and connectivity investment and more sustainable ways to connect rural communities
By Godson Umejiego, Bureau Chief, The Americas, and Sonia Meetes, Cyber Era NG Special Correspondent, Switzerland
The GSMA and the Partnership for Digital Access in Africa (PDAA) have unveiled a new roadmap to accelerate meaningful digital participation across Africa and support the ambition of connecting one billion people to the internet by 2030, Cyber Era NG learns.
We gather that the roadmap was formally presented at an event at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York on September 21, bringing together stakeholders to discuss the collective action needed to accelerate meaningful digital participation across Africa.
Launched during the United Nations General Assembly, Advancing Digital Connectivity in Africa: Charting Africa’s Path to 1 Billion Connected People by 2030 sets out priority actions for governments, industry, development partners and investors to move beyond expanding network coverage and enable more people to use the internet regularly, safely and productively.
The roadmap builds on the GSMA’s State of Mobile Internet Connectivity Report 2026, published earlier this month, which found that 3.1 billion people globally live within mobile broadband coverage but do not use mobile internet. In Africa alone, analysis underpinning the new roadmap puts this usage gap at around 906 million people – almost 60 per cent of the continent’s population. By comparison, 122 million people, or 8 per cent of the population, still live beyond the reach of a mobile broadband network.
Developed by GSMA Intelligence for PDAA, the roadmap draws on analysis of 11 diverse African markets – the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda. It identifies three priorities for accelerating meaningful digital participation:
● Accelerating migration from 2G and 3G to smartphone-based participation,
converting more than 600 million legacy mobile connections into meaningful internet
use on 4G and 5G networks.
● Integrating energy and connectivity investment, recognising reliable electricity as
essential to network economics, device use and participation in the digital economy.
● Reducing the cost of reaching rural and underserved communities through shared infrastructure, innovative technologies, outcome-based public funding and anchor demand from schools, healthcare facilities and other public institutions.
The roadmap finds that progress across these priorities must be reinforced by access to affordable, quality smartphones; practical digital skills; safe and trusted services; locally relevant content; digital public infrastructure; and policies that promote investment and inclusion.
It also recognises that there is no single pathway to closing Africa’s connectivity gap. While some markets must continue expanding rural coverage and reliable electricity access, others need to prioritise smartphone affordability, digital skills, online safety or access to relevant services that give people a compelling reason to connect.
Halving the mobile internet usage gap across the 11 markets assessed could bring approximately 245 million additional people online.
Co-Chair of PDAA, former President of Liberia and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Hon. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said: “The goal is ambitious, but it is achievable. If we bring together connectivity, electrification, affordable devices and digital skills – and if we match Africa’s many promising programmes with the power of genuine public-private partnership – we can ensure that the continent’s digital transformation leaves no community behind.”
GSMA Chief Regulatory Officer and President of GSMA Foundation John Giusti said: “Africa has already built much of the network foundation for its digital future. The urgent task now is to close the usage gap by making smartphones and services affordable, equipping people with practical skills, building trust and ensuring connectivity delivers visible value in people’s daily lives.
This roadmap shows how governments, industry and development partners can align investment and accountability around the outcomes that matter. Reaching one billion meaningfully connected Africans will require coordinated action across infrastructure, energy, devices, skills and digital services.”
CEO of the Partnership for Digital Access in Africa (PDAA), Ibrahima Guimba-Saïdou
said: “Africa cannot build its digital future on connectivity alone. A network can reach a community, but meaningful participation depends on the conditions around it: reliable energy, affordable devices, digital skills and services people have a reason to use. This roadmap gives us a practical framework for bringing those conditions together and turning access into opportunity at scale.
From ambition to coordinated delivery
The roadmap calls for stakeholders to replace standalone interventions with a coordinated delivery model that connects policy, infrastructure, energy, devices, skills, safety and relevant digital services.
PDAA will serve as a platform to bring together public- and private-sector stakeholders, align investment pipelines, reduce duplication, share risk and help proven solutions scale across markets.
It also urges governments, industry and development partners to measure progress through meaningful digital participation and socioeconomic outcomes – including active internet use, access to public services, learning, healthcare, financial inclusion and productivity – rather than infrastructure deployment alone.
