Despite Ghana recording one of Africa’s highest internet penetration rates, the cost of mobile data continues to shut out the country’s poorest citizens from meaningful digital participation — a barrier that former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia warned on Saturday could determine whether artificial intelligence lifts Africa or leaves it further behind.
Addressing the LSE Africa Summit 2026 at the London School of Economics in London, Dr. Bawumia used hard data to ground what is often an abstract continental conversation about AI, arguing that the technology’s promise in Africa will rise or fall on the strength of its most basic foundations — connectivity, electricity, and reliable digital infrastructure.
“Before we debate algorithms, we must be disciplined about the foundations that enable adoption at scale: networks, power, and trustworthy data systems,” he told an audience of policymakers, scholars, and innovators.
Ghana’s Numbers Tell Two Stories
On the surface, Ghana’s internet figures are among the most encouraging on the continent. World Bank data cited by Dr. Bawumia puts Ghana’s internet connectivity at 70 percent as of 2023 — well ahead of Rwanda’s 34 percent and trailing only slightly behind South Africa’s 76 percent.
But the former Vice President cautioned against reading that headline figure as a measure of genuine inclusion.
The standard definition of an “internet user,” he noted, covers anyone who accessed the internet within the last three months, from any location or device. That threshold, he argued, is far too low for meaningful policy.
“The critical question is not only ‘who is online,’ but ‘who is online meaningfully’ — with affordable data, adequate speeds, and reliable service,” he said.By that sharper measure, Ghana’s story becomes considerably more complicated.
A Gigabyte That Costs Too Much
According to data from Ghana’s National Communications Authority covering 2024 to 2025, the average price of 1GB of mobile data in the country ranges from approximately 5 cents to 1.5 dollars — equivalent to GH₵6 to GH₵17 — depending on the network provider and the bundle selected.
For middle- and high-income Ghanaians, that cost is manageable. For the millions of low-income households that make up the base of the country’s largely informal economy, it is prohibitive.
Analysts note that income disparities and the dominance of the informal sector mean that for a significant portion of the population, regular mobile data usage remains a luxury rather than a utility. The result is a digital divide that does not show up in the headline connectivity statistics but is deeply felt on the ground.
Continent-wide, the picture is similarly troubling. In 2025, the entry-level cost of 1GB of mobile broadband across Africa averaged approximately 3.5 percent above the UN’s own affordability benchmark — meaning that even by a conservative international standard, African consumers are overpaying for basic connectivity.
Foundations Before Applications
For Dr. Bawumia, the data on affordability and access is not a footnote to the AI conversation — it is the conversation. Africa’s internet connectivity stands at just 43 percent overall, he noted, lagging behind both global and developed market averages. Beyond cost, the barriers include limited digital literacy and restricted access to reasonably priced devices. Each of these gaps, left unaddressed, transforms AI from a tool of inclusion into yet another mechanism through which existing inequalities deepen.
“Technological revolutions reward those who build foundations — institutions, infrastructure, skills, and rules — before they chase the latest applications,” Dr. Bawumia said. “This is how nations have always converted innovation into prosperity. Africa’s task is to do the same boldly, but methodically.”
Sovereignty or Dependency
The stakes Dr. Bawumia attached to these infrastructure gaps extend well beyond download speeds. In his framing, the choice Africa faces with artificial intelligence is fundamentally a question of sovereignty.
“If we treat AI as a set of imported tools, we will remain price-takers in the Knowledge Economy,” he warned. “But if we treat AI as a national and continental capability stack, we can become co-authors of the rules, the markets, and the benefits.”
That ambition, he made clear, cannot be realised while millions of Ghanaians — and hundreds of millions of Africans — remain priced out of the internet entirely.“The question of AI in Africa is not a niche technology topic,” he said. “It is a question about sovereignty, inclusion, and opportunity.”
Until data costs fall within reach of the informal worker, the market trader, and the rural smallholder, that opportunity will remain unevenly distributed — and Africa’s AI ambitions, however bold, will be built on an incomplete foundation.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia served as Vice President of Ghana from 2017 to 2025. He delivered this address at the LSE Africa Summit 2026 in London on Saturday, March 28th, 2026.
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