By Ade Sun-Basorum, Lohini Moodley, Suraj Moraje and Marie Nielsen

Urban Africans are increasingly sophisticated when it comes to using the Internet, but there is a lot more value out there for telecoms providers to capture. Here’s how.

Urban Africans have embraced the Internet, driven by the need to connect with friends and family and the increasing affordability of Internet-capable phones. One indication that consumers have gone online in a meaningful way is that over half access the Internet at least once a month (see Exhibit 1 in PDF). McKinsey & Company’s Africa Consumer Insights Center  survey of 15,000 individuals from 19 cities in 12 countries across Africa reveals that this embrace of all things Internet comes despite low incomes and limited infrastructure. The survey focused on the largest African cities because they generate disproportionately large amounts of Internet traffic. These cities account for over 80 million consumers (15 percent  of the respective countries’ national populations) and nearly 25 percent of their countries’ national consumption (USD 350 billion).

Of the 25 percent of consumers who access the Internet daily, the majority does so via mobile phones (see Exhibit 2 in PDF). The survey reveals that 54 percent of consumers have either smartphones or other types of Internet-capable mobile handsets, although percentages vary widely from country to country. In Kenya, for example, 95 percent of those surveyed had such devices.

Social networking is the number one online activity, followed by email and music videos. To date, online commercial activities such as shopping, banking and travel have low penetration levels in Africa: Only 10 to 13 percent pursue online shopping, for  example, and even fewer go online to bank or book travel arrangements.

To read the rest of this research, download “Understanding the African digital consumer,” (PDF–414 KB)