ECCAS’S INFRASTRUCTURE: A REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE _Note:_ ICT = information and communication technology.

**Table 4.1. Benchmarking ICT infrastructure across regions**

||ECOWAS|CEMAC|COMESA|EAC|SADC|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Broadband subscribers (per 100 inhabitants)|0.03|**0.01**|0.04|0.02|0.36|
|International Internet bandwidth (per capita)|16|**11**|9|11|19|
|Internet subscribers (per 100 inhabitants)|0.24|**0.06**|0.09|0.05|0.53|
|Main telephone lines outside largest city (per 100 inhabitants)|0.39|**0.20**|0.53|0.24|1.89|
|Mobile telephone subscribers (per 100 inhabitants)|25|**22**|12|21|31|
|Prepaid mobile price basket (US$ per month)|14.04|**15.11**|9.09|12.18|11.32|
|Price of a three-minute call to the United States (US$ per 3 minutes)|0.83|**5.68**|2.20|1.37|1.50|
|Price of the 20-hour Internet basket (US$ per month)|79.98|**67.97**|50.91|95.70|75.60|
|Price of fixed-telephone price basket (US$ per month)|9.35|**12.59**|6.85|13.33|13.27|

_Source:_ Ampah and others 2009. _Note:_ ECOWAS = Economic Community of West African States; CEMAC = Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa; COMESA = Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa; EAC = East African Community; SADC = Southern African Development Community; ICT = information and communication technology.

ICT access and prices at the regional level mask significant variations across countries (table 4.2). Gabon is clearly the best performer in terms of access to ICT services. Excluding Gabon, there are two groups of countries. The first group—Burundi, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, and São Tomé and Príncipe—has mobile coverage of over 60 percent, mobile subscribers of 25 subscribers per 100 inhabitants or over, and Internet bandwidth of over 200 megabits per second (Mbps). In this group, global system of mobile communications (GSM) coverage reaches four out of five people. Burundi and the Republic of Congo, however, stand out for their rather low international bandwidth. Despite relatively low levels of access to ICT services, Cameroon and Angola are among a handful of African countries that added the highest number of Internet users between 2000 and 2008 (around half a million each) (ITU 2009). The second group—Angola, Chad, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Equatorial Guinea—have mobile coverage of between 30 and 60 percent and rather low Internet bandwidth, with the exception of Angola. It should be noted that even though the absolute level of mobile connections is low in Chad, it is among the top 10 countries in Africa for mobile growth between 2003 and 2008 (ITU 2009).

Fixed telephone penetration in the region is extremely low. Average penetration is well below 1 landline subscriber per 100 inhabitants. Only 4 countries have a landline penetration of over 1; São Tomé and Príncipe enjoys the highest rate, at just over 5 per 100.

Pricing structures vary across countries but do not parallel the same country groupings as for access. Gabon enjoys relatively good access to ICT services but also faces very high prices for these services. The price of a prepaid monthly basket varies from $2.00 in Burundi to $21.40 in Gabon. The price of a 20-hour Internet basket range from $28 in Burundi to $148 in the Central African Republic.

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