The establishment of a single digital market in Africa will reduce barriers to trade and communication. The Internet will be faster and more accessible. It will be cheaper to download content and services hosted in local data centers, as they will no longer go through expensive international connections.

And better access to online communication, banking services or healthcare can facilitate family and friendship relationships, interactions between businesses and lenders, and communication between doctors and patients across the continent.

Connections between neighboring countries, regions and across the continent are essential to driving economic growth, generating jobs and bringing Africa into the digital age.

In the long term, the goals are ambitious: create a single, secure digital market across Africa, along with more local free trade areas; build regional links that eliminate roaming charges; improve cross-border trade on the continent by creating the world's largest free trade zone. This type of connectivity, both digitally and across national borders, was one of the main topics at the Infrastructure Financing Summit 2023 in Dakar, held in February. Indeed, one of the African Union's goals is to establish a single and secure digital market by 2030, an ambition supported by the World Bank's Digital Economy Initiative for Africa (DE4A).

article source: INFO AFRIQUE