According to the latest statistics as as 30 June 2010 by IWS the number of Internet users globally is almost hitting the 2 billion level! To be exact, there were 1,966,514,816 Internet users, representing 28.7% penetration rate of the world’s estimated 6,845,609,960 human beings.
Africa had 110,931,700 Internet users, a 5.6% penetration rate of its estimated 1,013,779,050 total population as at 2010. But worth noting, was the fact that when compared to 2000, when there were only 4,514,400 Internet users, the Internet usage uptake can be described as a phenomenal 2,357.3 % growth rate over the last decade!
But this will likely change even further with the liberalization of the ICT sector especially in a continent where states have always preferred to exert control on the information flow among its citizenry. And as the democratic space widens and African states open up to the global knowledge society, it is hoped that the cost of accessing the Internet bandwidth will come down, allowing for healthy inter-sectoral competition has witnessed in recent weeks in Kenya. Here, the price wars between the major mobile phone service providers such as Safaricom, Zain (now Bhatel), Yu and Orange has seen voice calling rates as low as zero at off-peak to Ksh.1 (USD 0.012) per minute; and broadband access charges at Ksh. 3 (USd 0.036) per MB using 3G platforms. Safaricom is now even testing on the 4G that promises faster access rates and supporting even more applications over the wire than was previously envisaged.
