As per GSMA intelligence research, taxation and duty fees add 10 to 30 per cent to smartphone costs, depending on the country.

It ranks behind South Africa with an index score of 0.45. South Africa scored 0.5.

Google committed $1 billion in 2022 to driving Africa's digital transformation, including undersea cables for faster internet connections.

Internet observatory Netblocks said the distruption in East Africa was linked to failures affecting the SEACOM and EASSy subsea cable systems.

Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea, and Niger are among those grappling with major co...