Islamic countries of Sub-Saharan Africa are mobile first

There are 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that are members of the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Out of all the OIC member regions, Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest numbers of fixed broadband subscribers. The total number of fixed broadband subscribers per 100 people for Sub-Saharan African OIC countries is 5.36. 

The implication of this is very clear for the Islamic media and digital sectors -- when designing any website or programme there must necessarily be a mobile first strategy. 

The projections for Africa's Internet sector is very bright - by 2025 Internet penetration will reach 50 percent and there are expected to be 360 million smartphones on the continent by then, roughly double the number in the United States currently, Mckinsey Consultants data shows.

The continent had 16 percent Internet penetration and 67 million smartphones in 2013.

This growth picture is attracting big tech companies such as Google and Facebook, which are at the forefront of a scramble to win over new African Internet users, offering freebies they say give a leg-up to the poor but which critics argue is a plan to lock in customers on a continent of 1 billion people, according to a Reuters report in March this year.