Why we need to leverage more on the smartphone revolution

According to MIT’s Technology review, in the US alone, the smartphone has replaced the Television as a gadget with the highest adoption rate reaching 40 percent saturation in just 2 ½ years.

Worldwide, the smartphone has now reached 1 billion users with 2.5 million apps and counting across Google and Apple marketplaces. There is an average of 3,739 mobile apps added to google play store per day.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the rate of smartphone uptake is also on the rise. It is expected that by 2028, there will be 685 million smartphones users. In 2022, there were 415 million smartphone subscriptions in Sub-Saharan Africa.

However even with the rising number of smartphone users, there is still 43 percent of Africans without smartphone access.

According to Uganda Communication Commission, smartphone penetration in Uganda currently stands at about 30 percent which is below the Sub-Saharan average, leaving the majority (70 percent) without access to smartphones.

This therefore means that there are 70 percent of the Ugandan population being left out on the exciting smartphone revolution and the associated benefits. It also means that as a nation we are also missing out on the impact the smartphone should be contributing to our socio-economic transformation. Smartphones have potential to impact finance, medical, marketing, social networking, education, etc.

The smartphone is also one of the key drivers of a digital economy which has a huge potential to contribute to our overall economic growth. 

At a global scale, mobile technologies and services generated US$ 4.5 trillion representing 5 percent of the global GDP.

India is one of the nations that appreciates the benefits of a digital economy and quickly jumped onto the digital revolution “train”. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is pushing an agenda dubbed, “digital India” aimed at increasing internet accessibility and empowering people digitally.

This move will see the country’s digital economy hit $1 trillion by 2025 up from $200 billion in 2018. By 2025, India’s digital economy will contribute 20 percent to GDP.
India presents a classic case of how the digital revolution which mostly runs on smartphone technology can spur the economic growth we so badly need.

So, even if as a country we continue to push for economic growth through other important sectors like Agriculture where we have an obvious comparative advantage and more recently oil, we need to keep abreast with the digital and smartphone revolutions and ensure we maximize our benefits. 

And the first step we can take to leverage on the digital and smartphone revolution is by committing more financial and human resources to the digital transformation agenda.
By now the Gou, should prioritize investment in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and perhaps even consider the option of ensuring each household owns a smart phone which by the way is no longer a luxury.

We need to demonstrate this commitment by stepping up the budgetary allocation to digitalization. 

The last few years have shown that despite the talk about digitalization, government has been allocating less than 1 percent to digitalization efforts. In 2021/2022 government allocated only 134.9 billion of the 44 trillion budget to digital transformation efforts while in 2022/ 2023 Gou allocated to ICT only 124.2 billion of the 52 trillion budget. 

As President Museveni would say, “This too must stop.”

Otherwise, I look forward to the day my neighbors deep in Rumbugu, Kebisoni will be singing out of their smartphone hymn books, retire to watch movies off their smart phones or keep e-albums then we will surely know that we are all part of the exciting digital and smartphone revolutions. And by doing this, as sure as day follows night we will be assured of the ensuing benefits at both at a micro and macro-level.

Edward Makobore,  Afronomist and Farmer