Why do so few people in Sub-Saharan Africa have internet access?
The gap between network coverage and actual internet use is the defining challenge for global internet penetration rates in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mobile broadband networks now cover most of the continent, yet the GSMA found that 63% of Africa's population is covered by mobile broadband but not yet online.5 The World Bank's Atlas of Global Development 2026 notes that in countries like Uganda, only 9% of the population uses the internet despite most people living within reach of 3G or 4G networks.3
Infrastructure is only part of the problem. The cost of smartphones and data plans, low digital literacy, and limited electricity access all keep people offline.3 The World Bank reports that 581 million of the 666 million people worldwide without electricity live in Sub-Saharan Africa, which directly limits who can charge a device or sustain a connection.1 Closing the digital divide between countries at this level requires action on device affordability, skills and social barriers that infrastructure investment alone cannot resolve.5
Is Burundi one of the poorest countries in the world?
The World Bank's country data page for Burundi shows it has received a combined $304.12 million in disbursed IDA credits and $116.12 million in disbursed IDA grants as of May 31, 2022, reflecting its status as one of the world's poorest economies and a long-term recipient of concessional development finance.2 The country's Human Capital Index score places it near the bottom of the global distribution when plotted against GDP per capita.2
The chart data confirm the picture: at 8.6%, Burundi has one of the lowest rates of internet users by country in the world, consistent with the World Bank finding that less than a quarter of people in low-income countries use the internet.3 In rural areas of the poorest countries, only 14% of people use the internet, and limited connectivity constrains access to market prices, agricultural weather data, digital payments and government services.1
Who gains most when a low-income country gets connected to the internet?
When a low-income country gets connected, the gains can reach farmers who receive weather data and market prices, patients who access remote health services, and citizens who use e-government programs.1
The World Bank's Atlas of Global Development 2026 notes that countries lagging in connectivity risk falling further behind in productivity, innovation and human development, implying that early connectors capture compounding advantages.3 However, the World Bank also cautions that access alone is not enough: without supportive policies around competition, skills and strong institutions, digital adoption may fail to generate broad-based gains and can even widen inequality.1 The GSMA reports that in 2025, mobile technologies and services generated $240 billion in economic value across Africa, equivalent to 7.8% of regional GDP, supporting approximately 13 million jobs and contributing $45 billion in public revenues.5
What do experts say about closing the global digital divide?
Experts at the World Bank see closing the digital divide as requiring a broader approach than network rollout alone. The World Bank's Atlas of Global Development 2026 states that closing the gap calls for combining infrastructure with affordable devices, lower data costs and stronger digital skills.3 The GSMA similarly argues that action on device affordability, digital skills and social barriers is needed alongside infrastructure investment.5
The World Bank also highlights a gender dimension: worldwide, 280 million more men than women were using the internet in 2025, and in low-income economies around 30% of men but less than 20% of women are online.1 Researchers at Syracuse University's iSchool note that the digital divide operates at multiple levels, including access, skills and usage, and that policy or regulatory barriers persist when digital access is not treated as essential infrastructure.4 Expanding broadband access worldwide to meaningful levels will likely require governments to address all three layers simultaneously.
Will satellite internet ever close the gap in the poorest countries?
Satellite internet is only a small part of the answer so far.
The GSMA's Mobile Economy Africa 2026 report does not identify satellite as a primary solution to the usage gap, instead pointing to device affordability, digital skills and social barriers as the core obstacles.5 The World Bank notes that fixed broadband depends on costly infrastructure concentrated in denser, higher-income areas, while mobile broadband is cheaper to deploy but offers more variable performance.1 Whether satellite services can scale fast enough and cheaply enough to reach the poorest users remains an open question: the barriers keeping people offline in countries like Burundi and Uganda are rooted in cost and skills as much as in coverage, and no source reviewed here projects that satellite alone will close those gaps.