Praekelt Foundation, located in Johannesburg, builds open source, scalable mobile technologies and solutions to improve the health and well-being of people living in poverty. Their programs have reached over 50 million people across 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Recently, Praekelt released a short video overview of the mobile technology landscape in Africa, complete with statistics and facts. Design by The New Black and animation by Blatch complements the data very nicely. Overall, the presentation is effective at delivering pertinent statistics that accurately describe the momentum behind mobile, most notably the mobile payment system:

• 1 billion people live in Africa
• In 2002 there were 49 million cells in Africa. Now there are 500 million
• At this rate all Africans will own a phone by 2020
• In SA and Gabon there are more active SIM cards than there are people. (Ghana and Kenya will see this stat soon)
• 110 million people in Africa access the Internet through computers = 2,357% growth in the last 10 years
• Over 50% of people use their phone to surf the Web
• 95% of mobile users in Africa are prepaid subscribers
• 10,000 people register with M-Pesa every day
• Almost 11% of Kenya’s GDP goes through M-Pesa (via multiple operators)