The chart illustrates how many Africans used mobile and fixed line phones between 1994 and 2004.
Overall, there were increases in the proportion of people using the two communication services examined, with a much more significant rise being seen in the figures for mobile phones. Additionally, it is important to note that the year 2001 marked the point where the use of mobile phones surpassed that of fixed line phones.
Looking at the first half of the period, about 1.7% of residents in Africa subscribed to fixed broadband service in 1994, which was far higher than the share of people using mobile phones, at 0.06%. Over the next 7 years, the use of the former service rose gradually to just under 3%, that of the latter also saw a progressive increase in the first four years, before growing significantly to exactly 3%.
Between 2001 and 2004, the proportion of African people using fixed line phones increased by just about 0.2% toward the end of the period, while the figure for mobile phones saw an almost threefold increase over the period. By 2004, 8.8% of people living in Africa used mobile services (8.8% of Africa’s population had used mobile services), which was almost three times the figure for fixed line phones.