Opera Software uncovers exponential growth in Africa’s mobile Web usage in its latest State of the Mobile Web report. Published today at http://www.opera.com/mobile_report/, this September 2008 study focuses on the African continent, where Web browsing on the mobile phone far exceeds traditional desktop-computer surfing.


According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Africa’s mobile industry is expanding at nearly double the global rate. Personal computer penetration remains low across the continent, which results in an increasing number of Africans turning to their mobile phones to get online.

As of September 2008, Egypt has preempted Germany as the world’s tenth largest user of the Opera Mini browser for mobile phones. South Africa remains firmly among the top 10 international users, currently ranked sixth. Overall, Africa experienced a usage surge of 180 percent over the past nine months.

“Month after month we have witnessed our usage numbers in Africa skyrocket,” says Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. “This tells us that change is underway, and more people now have the ability to access the Internet from locations that were previously unthinkable. Opera Mini has a global entourage of 19 million strong. These people accessed 4.5 billion Web pages in September alone. It’s exciting to see a rise in Opera Mini use in countries like Egypt, where accessing sites such as Facebook and Google from their mobile phone can now be a part of Egyptians’ daily lives.”

Labels: Opera Mini

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