Africa risks falling further behind in the global digital economy unless it strengthens internet infrastructure, builds local technology ownership and shifts from being a consumer to a creator of digital tools, internet pioneer Dr. Nii Narku Quaynor warned at the African Summit 2025, themed “Building a New United Africa.”
Dr. Quaynor said the continent’s digital revolution, which began in the 1970s, has delivered progress but remains fragile and uneven, leaving Africa vulnerable as the world enters a new phase driven by artificial intelligence.
He said Africa currently has internet penetration of about 40 %, well below global levels, while key indicators such as speed, latency and resilience lag behind other regions. According to 2025 data cited in his address, Africa’s average internet download speed stands at 8.3 megabits per second, compared with a global average of 21.2 megabits, while network latency is nearly double the global figure.
“These gaps matter,” Dr. Quaynor said, arguing that access bandwidth is a moving target and that quality, reliability and speed are now as critical as basic connectivity.
Dr. Quaynor traced Africa’s digital journey from early enterprise computing in universities and banks in the 1970s, through the personal computer boom of the 1980s, to the arrival of full internet protocol connectivity in the 1990s. This year marks 30 years of full internet connectivity on the continent, a milestone he said calls for reflection rather than celebration.
Despite progress, Africa continues to rely heavily on foreign-owned mobile internet infrastructure and hosts less than 1 % of the world’s data centres. He noted that 43 % of Africans still lack access to electricity, a major constraint as computing power and AI systems demand high energy consumption.
Structural weaknesses persist across the internet ecosystem. Africa has low adoption of newer internet standards such as IPv6 and key security technologies, while locally cached content accounts for only about 36 % of access to major websites. Domain name usage also remains weak, with just 4.4 domain names per 1,000 people, compared with a global average of 45.
Quaynor raised concerns about Africa’s limited ownership of digital platforms and services, noting that no African company ranks among the world’s top eCommerce or financial technology platforms. He noted that even pan-African media and startups increasingly rely on foreign ownership and overseas investment, effectively exporting future value creation.
“Our young people spend close to seven hours a day on social networks and messaging,” he said. “We must ask what they are doing with that time and how to redirect it towards productive digital creation.”
He, however, acknowledged areas of progress, including the spread of internet exchange points, regional connectivity hubs and country-level domain registries. Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya now host multiple data centres and exchange points, while undersea cables surround the continent, largely controlled by global operators.
The challenge, Dr. Quaynor said, is whether Africa will remain a transit point for global traffic or secure ownership and strategic participation in its digital infrastructure.
On artificial intelligence, he said Africa faces a critical choice. While AI offers opportunities to solve African problems, the current global AI boom risks turning the continent into a captive market for dominant international providers.
Dr. Quaynor urged African governments and institutions to prioritise AI applications rooted in African data and contexts, including local languages, culture, history and indigenous knowledge systems, stressing the importance of securing African data, supporting open-source AI models and avoiding excessive dependence on foreign platforms that could drive long-term capital flight.
“Africa must not become only a user of AI,” he said. “We must learn to build, adapt and evolve our own tools.”
Dr. Quaynor warned that high power costs, limited high-performance computing capacity and shortages of specialised skills could deepen a new AI-driven digital divide if left unaddressed.
Dr. Quaynor concluded by calling for deliberate policy choices on whether to focus solely on basic inclusion or to simultaneously close gaps in advanced digital services. While pragmatic outsourcing and overseas hosting may offer short-term gains, he said they undermine local infrastructure development and technical capacity.
“The digital revolution is ongoing,” he said. “The question is whether Africa will shape it, or simply adapt to it.”
