GSMA and PDAA Launch Roadmap to Connect 1 Billion Africans to the Internet by 2030

The GSMA and the Partnership for Digital Access in Africa (PDAA) launched 'Advancing Digital Connectivity in Africa: Charting Africa's Path to 1 Billion Connected People by 2030' on September 21, 2026 during the UN General Assembly in New York. The roadmap finds Africa's mobile internet usage gap — people with coverage who still don't go online — at roughly 906 million, about 60% of the continent's population, while 122 million people (8%) still lack any mobile broadband coverage. Drawing on analysis of 11 markets (DRC, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda), it identifies migrating 600+ million legacy 2G/3G connections to 4G/5G smartphones as the top priority, alongside affordable devices, energy access and digital skills, estimating that halving the usage gap across those markets could bring 245 million more people online. PDAA Co-Chair and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf called the goal 'ambitious, but achievable' if connectivity, electrification, devices and skills are addressed together; GSMA Chief Regulatory Officer John Giusti said meaningful participation now depends more on energy, devices and useful services than on network reach alone.