Analysis in brief: Africa’s digital transformation is being pushed by demand from businesses and ordinary citizens, whose needs in the modern electronic world can only be met by internet connectivity. Like all infrastructure, the digital realm begins with policies that guide development, training to develop skilled workforces, and technologies to access this digital space. Throughout Africa, digital policymaking and infrastructure development is being led by some high-profile initiatives.

That Africa’s digital connectivity stood at 34% in 2024 is not due to a lack of interest from Africans. Less than four out of every 10 Africans had internet access at this time, despite it being increasingly vital for communication, education, entertainment, finances and health needs. Policies and investments have not stimulated the growth of digital public infrastructure (DPI) needed for such connectivity. However, governmental policymaking, promoted by the Digital Trade Protocol of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), is largely in place now throughout Africa. Now that all African nations are members of the AfCFTA, digital policymaking is advancing. Guided by such policies, investment is following.

A major driver of such investment is Africa’s growing demand for digital services, which continues to accelerate. In 2025 alone, demand was projected to grow by 18% compared with the previous year. Although digital infrastructure is expanding, it still lags behind this demand, spurring further investment. This can be seen in the rapid spread of telecommunications towers and data storage facilities across the continent, as well as in data delivery systems like off-shore submarine cable systems and orbiting satellites.

There are three significant developments under way in East, North and West Africa that are propelling the expansion of Africa’s DPI.

Morocco aims to be its regional digital hub

On 25 September 2020, Morocco’s government launched Africa’s most ambitious digital initiative: Digital Morocco 2030. This policy lays out how the country will become North Africa’s digital hub by transforming the economy and public services through digital technology and innovation, with the potential to serve all of Africa. Current-day digital technologies will be used, and where gaps are found in this sector, innovative solutions will be pioneered with the aid of government grants and public-private partnerships.

To create the envisioned regional technological hub, venture capital provides an estimated 3 000 start-up companies, who are required to complete the country’s necessary digital ecosystem. These investments will create skilled jobs, benefiting the economy with up to 270 000 new jobs by 2030, should all go according to plan. Morocco wants to rank first on the UN’s E-Government Development Index among African countries by 2030. By that time, government plans for most government services to be accessible online by both Moroccans and citizens from other countries whose governments will hire Moroccan firms to provide e-government services.

The main vision of the Digital Morocco 2030 strategy is to make the Morocco a digital hub to accelerate social and economic development.
Source: Morocco Ministry of Digital Transition and Administration Reform, 2024

The private sector spurs digital growth in Nigeria

Mobile telecommunications provider MTN leads Nigeria’s digital transformation by focusing on human capacity. AI is all the rage throughout the world, but skilled human technicians will build and sustain Africa’s DPI.

In June 2025, the telecoms giant pledged nearly US$2-billion towards the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy’s Three Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme. MTN’s funds have already been used to educate 90 000 Nigerians at information and communications technology (ICT) technical schools and supports 3 500 “young innovators” at the secondary school level. Nigeria’s government is currently working through 1.8-million applications from citizens seeking ICT training through the 3MTT programme.

MTN is also partnering with another tech firm, Dell Technologies, on data-storage capacity building. In July 2025, the two companies opened the US$150-million Dabengwa Data Centre, a facility which offers cloud services to all Western Africa.

Kenya may be a regional ICT hub because of government policy

Kenya’s largest mobile network operator, Safaricom, which surpassed 50-million customers in July 2025 (and counted 10 million customers in neighbouring Ethiopia that month) is using AI as the foundation to make Kenya East Africa’s primary ICT hub. Safaricom has developed a large-volume data storage capacity with concomitant analytic abilities. In June 2025 Safaricom named the initiative the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning initiative, with planned deployment intended “to accelerate innovation with customer experience using Generative AI.” However, this and other private-sector initiatives are not operating in a vacuum but in an atmosphere oxygenised by government ICT policy. In particular, the Kenya National Digital Master Plan 2022–2032 and the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda have proved to be practical instructions for ways investors can expand the country’s DPI capabilities in line with an overall goal of achieving Kenya’s ambition to be an ICT hub. For citizens, the most tangible result in their daily lives is the implementation of a national digital ID now issued to all Kenyans.

As promising as these policies sound on paper, and as encouraging as the initiatives to carry them out also sound, success will be judged by Internet usage amongst Kenyans. Is it increasing, and is it increasing in previously underserved areas? Toward this end, government’s Digital Super Highway is methodically connecting Kenya’s counties one by one. The project is being undertaken by The Ministry of Information, Communications and Digital Economy’s ICT Authority. In July 2025, 135 institutions from public schools and libraries to health facilities were connected to the internet in Kericho and Bomet, with work ongoing for 275 additional sites to boost access to digital services and opportunities. That month in Kericho County, 101 sites were connected and 164 undergoing connectivity. In Bomet County, 34 sites were connected and work was underway on 111 more. This steady, incremental approach is a good template for other countries as they turn ambitious visions for expansive digital public infrastructures into reality.

The broad objective of the Master Plan is to build a robust, secure, affordable, accessible and reliable digital ecosystem which benefits the public and private sector, and improve quality of life.
Source: Kenya Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, 2022-2032

The critical points:

• Africans’ demand for ICT services far outstrips current digital capacities, growing faster than DPI infrastructure expansion, which is beneficial in that it spurs investment for continuous expansion
• Governments recognise digital transformation as key to economic and societal growth, producing DPI policies that are practical blueprints for investment and ICT development
• The AfCFTA’s Digital Trade Protocol provides Africa’s nations with a template for their own digital transformations

Written by In On Africa