Like many in the United States, many African countries are choosing cell phones over landline telephones, according to a new report by Pew Research.
Based on a study of over 7,000 households in seven sub-Saharan Africa countries, Pew reports that cell phone ownership in a number of the countries studied has jumped from about 10 percent in 2002 to over two-thirds last year. Ghana, for example, increased cell phone ownership from a little less than 10 percent to 83 percent.
Cell phone networks in sub-Sahara Africa have allowed most countries to by-pass traditional telephone landlines and go directly to mobile phones.
By comparison, just over 40 percent of U.S. households have cut the landline cord and are classified as wireless-only. U.S. cord-cutters are primarily under the age of 35.
Cell phone ownership in several sub-Saharan countries also now rivals the United States. Nearly 90 percent of South Africans own a cell phone, about the same number as in the U.S. Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are all above the 65 percent ownership mark.
Smartphone ownership also is growing in Africa but is still way below the 61 percent penetration in America. About one-third of South Africans own smartphones and 27 percent of Nigerians have them.
By far the biggest use of cell phones in sub-Sahara Africa is sending text messages. About 80 percent of the people who own cell phones use them for texting, 53 percent take pictures or video and 30 percent use them for making and receiving payments. Getting political news, accessing social networks, getting health information, looking for and applying for a job and getting consumer information also were popular cell phone activities.
Pew says that men are more likely to own a cell phone in six of the seven countries they surveyed. South Africa had an equal number of men and women who owned a mobile phone. Smartphone demographics, though, look a little different. They are owned primarily by younger, more educated, English-speaking Africans.
