When it comes to crypto adoption, internet connectivity plays a crucial role. With the growing popularity of cryptocurrency in Africa, poor internet access may turn out to be a major hindrance to its adoption.
As per reports published by International Telecommunications Union(ITU) with the title ‘The State of Broadband 2018: Broadband Catalyzing Sustainable Development’, it takes around $450 billion to connect the next 1.5 billion people – which are majorly from African countries. Alongside there are other challenges such as meeting infrastructure demands, low education levels, high-cost digital devices. All these sum up to become contributing factors for slowing down crypto adoption in Africa.
Although Africa includes mostly the developing nations, the digital currency disruption has seen wide acceptance in countries like Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe. The bitcoin popularity has paved a way for economic growth in these countries.
From one of the statements from ITU reports states that,
“National governments can truly make a difference in bridging the broadband gap by taking advantage of technologies such as satellite to bring reliable connectivity to unconnected areas and create an effective solution to expand internet reach,”
In the age of the fourth industrial revolution, the African government needs to come up with a plan of providing all required resources. Also, ITU data shows that 52% of the world’s population are still unconnected to the internet with the majority of them from Africa.
The report also highlights the fact that, only 6% of Africans have broadband internet access becoming a blockage for economic growth and development of basic services in the country. But a noteworthy point to mention here is that Rwanda is making good progress in this direction. It is successful in achieving 90% broadband penetration rate across the country.
The statistics clearly demands huge improvement in this sector in order to see a progress in digital currency adoption. It remains to be seen what actions do African government will take for enhancing internet connectivity.
Well, readers what do you think? Will Africa eventually overcome its connectivity issues and become a leader in crypto use? Share your thoughts in the comment below.
