Mobile Statistics
Mobile phones are the most pervasive tool in Africa and Malawi is of no exception. There are approximately 5 143 911
mobile phone subscribers in Malawi as of the year 2014.
Mobile telephony and the internet statistics in Malawi

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

M o b i l e 2 374 513
subscribers

3 037 469

3 878 260

4 646 989

5 143 911

F i x e d 11 133
subscribers

160 108

173 481

227 295

123 083

M o b i l e 23.1
penetration

28.7

33.2

33.6

38.3

F i x e d 1.2
penetration

1.3

1.36

1.5

1.5

I n t e r n e t 305 000
subscribers

450 000

630 000

870 000

934 000

I n t e r n e t 2.26%
penetration

3.33%

4.5%

5.7%

6.7 %

Internet coverage can be illustrated on Fig 2.3 below:

Internet service providers in Malawi
• Sky band ISP has approximately 65% internet coverage within 15km
radius of District centers.
• Airtel has approximately 98% land coverage.
• TNM has approximately 93% of land coverage.
• MTL has approximately 70% land coverage.
• Less than 20% of the land is covered by ACESS.

Challenges
• Inadequate ICT Infrastructure, power and high investment costs for
ICT infrastructure.
• Outdated ICT laws and proposition of bills that may infringe on
freedom of expression and limit access to information.
• Lack of local, relevant Internet content and e-services.
High Mobile Tariff Charges- Malawi is among the countries with
some of the highest mobile phone tariffs in Africa ahead of
Zimbabwe and Zambia

Network neutrality vs. Internet.org
• Internet and applications should be accessible to all, regardless of the
source, without favoring or blocking any particular content or
websites. Citizen consumers should be left to do what they want
with the amount of internet they can afford.

INTERNET GOVERNANCE MULTISTAKEHOLDER
CONFERENCE REPORT 2015

030

www.misazim.com

@misazimbabwe

MISA Zimbabwe

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