The development of the internet & technology and its emergence worldwide have brought several advantages to humanity. It has allowed people to substantially improve the quality of their lives, earn a living through the internet, and also allowed people to know things that they didn't know before.
Africa is one of those continents that has a huge number of internet users, with the number ranging to be about 525 million users according to a report from 2020. This figure is significantly greater than those in Latin America & the Caribbean and the Middle East.
Despite having so many internet users, African countries generally lag behind many countries in terms of internet speeds. Let's have a look at the Top 10 African Countries In Terms of Internet Speeds:
1. Madagascar
At the top of the list, we have Madagascar, the country with the fastest internet speeds in Africa with an average internet speed of 32.07 Mbps. This places the country at the top of Africa and 33rd Globally, which is a bit surprising as it is ahead of developed countries like the UK and Australia.
The improvement in the internet speeds is because of the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System that is supplying the country with fiber broadband speeds.
Madagascar has had the fastest internet in the continent since 2018 and has been topping the charts since.
2. Cape Verde
At number two, we have Cape Verde that has the second-fastest internet speeds in Africa with an average internet speed of around 27.53 Mbps that puts the islands at 136th place globally.
In the past few years, improvements in the field of the internet have been made. In early 2017, only 19% of the people in the country owned a cellular phone out of which only 70% of them had access to the internet but with the efforts of government and ISPS like Vizocom in the country, the internet access, and speeds have improved greatly.
3. Seychelles
The Republic of Seychelles comes at number three which is an archipelagic island country in the Indian Ocean at the eastern edge of the Somali Sea.
The country has an average internet speed of 26.76 Mbps which makes it the third-fastest in Africa and because it is one of the top tourist destinations in Africa, there is no surprise that the internet in this country is of great quality.
4. Ghana
Ghana had been in the list of top 10 rankings for the past few years but in 2019, it was absent but due to the healthy competition going on between the internet service providers in the country, the country is back again in the top 10 rankings. Currently, Ghana is ranked number 4 with an average internet speed of 23.98 Mbps.
ISPs in the country such as MTN, Tigo, Airtel, and Surfline are always competing for the top spot in the country by providing the best services possible to win the title of Ghana's fastest internet service provider.
AirtelTigo has been trying its best to promote the internet in the country with the introduction of MiFi devices through which high speed 4G internet can be accessed by multiple devices at once and the settings of the network and MiFi can be managed through the default gateway address of the device i.e 192.168.0.1 , 192.168.1.2, or 192.168.1.1 .
5. South Africa
South Africa is number 5th on the list and has an average speed of 23.17 Mbps. The country was in the top 3 for the past few years but it fell down a few ranks after the services were improved in other countries.
South Africa is responsible for about 60% of the internet traffic generated on the African Continent.
6. Gabon
For many people, this might come as a surprise but Gabon is in the list of the top 10 with an average internet speed of 21.89 Mbps. In just a few years, Gabon has made spectacular strides in the field of the internet and the World Bank continues to support Gabon in this area through the e-Gabon project that is designed to promote modernization of the national health information system.
7. Liberia
Liberia is number 7 on the list with an average internet speed of 21.34 Mbps. In 2012, the access to the internet in Liberia was lowest and the country was using satellite connectivity for all its telecommunications needs, however, that is not the case now and the country is dishing out top speeds to its citizens.
8. Togo
Togo is currently ranked #8 in Africa, with an average internet speed of 20.14 Mbps. The government recently revealed its plans to achieve maximum internet coverage in the country and these results show that the government has started taking action on its words.
9. Mauritius
Mauritius has made significant improvements to the availability of the internet in the country over the past few years and has increased the broadband speeds available in-country up to twice the speed. Mauritius is now providing an average speed of 19.24 Mbps to the consumers in the country that ranks it #9 on the list.
10. Senegal
Senegal comes #10 on the list with an average internet speed of 18.65 Mbps. In recent years, the economic growth in the country has improved steadily and this has also resulted in consistent growth in the telecom market which results in the internet and broadband availability and services getting better in the country.
