04 September 2020

Madagascar has the fastest internet in Africa, according to new research, with its improved average speed of 32.07Mbps placing it 33rd globally and ahead of developed countries like the UK and Australia.

The improvement is due to the underwater Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System that supplies the island’s urban centres with fibre broadband speeds, according to Cable.co.uk.

 Madagascar also had Africa’s fastest internet in 2018, when it took the title from east African nation, Kenya.

Fellow Indian Island nation the Seychelles, with a population of 98,347 people at mid-year, according to UN data, came third with an internet speed of 26.76Mbps. As one of the most sought after tourists’ destinations in Africa, the country has invested massively in internet connectivity.

Most resorts, hotels, and guesthouses in Seychelles have free WiFi. Internet cafés are also available on the three main islands of Mahé, Praslin, and La Digue to give internet access to locals.

Surprisingly, after improving from third to second in 2019, South Africa fell down the ranks to fifth in 2020 after services in other African countries were developed. It has an average download speed of 23.17Mbps - and the time it takes to download a typical 5GB high-definition movie is one hour and 21 minutes.

Nearby Mauritius has made significant improvements over the past year, doubling the average broadband speeds available in the country.

In 2018, the country responsible for Africa’s current ninth-fastest internet speeds was only ranked 139th globally with speeds of 2.39Mbps.

Mauritius is now much improved in the world ranking thanks to infrastructure improvements providing increased speeds of around 19.24Mbps.

Cape Verde in second place, along with Ghana, Gabon, Liberia, Togo and Senegal made up the top 10.

Countries like Uganda, Rwanda, Namibia, Tunisia, Morocco and Kenya, all of which appeared in the 2019 ranking, were knocked off in the 2020 ranking.