An analysis of Social Media use
in The SADC region - 2014 - 2020

Mobile broadband & social media
usage in SADC region
74

Social media usage is driving mobile Internet Usage75 in the region. The high demand for social media
is directly contributing to internet usage for example in Zimbabwe WhatsApp contributes over 44%
of all mobile internet usage in the country.76 Mobile broad band coverage affects the penetration of
social media in the region. Below is a comparison of mobile broad band in the region compared with
other regions:

Figure 8: Mobile broadband statistics

Source: GSMA77

74 RIA After Access survey data, 2017 in https://researchictafrica.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019_After-Access_Africa-Comparative-report.pdf
75 https://researchictafrica.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019_After-Access_Africa-Comparative-report.pdf
76 https://qz.com/africa/1114551/in-zimbabwe-whatsapp-takes-nearly-half-of-all-internet-traffic/
77 https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/topic/connected-society-topic/mobile-connectivity-index-2018-analysing-the-state-of-mobile-internet-connectivity-across-the-world/

19

https://zimbabwe.misa.org

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