Bridging the Mobile-Electrification Gap: The Potential for Privately Subsidized Phone Charging in Rural Africa

There is a profound misalignment between the state of network coverage and phone ownership and the state of electrification across sub-Saharan Africa. While about 83% of the sub-Saharan population is covered by a mobile network and nearly 70% has a mobile subscription, only 33% can access electricity [1]-[3]. This problem is particularly acute in rural areas, where network access and penetration lag slightly but electrification is far lower [4]. We term this condition the mobile-electrification gap (MEG.) Faced by the MEG, rural sub-Saharans options for phone charging are few and undesirable. As mobile growth has outstripped electrification on the continent, sub-Saharans have turned to limited off-grid solutions or to resold electricity from "phone shops" to fill the void; some have even taken to shipping their phones to get them charged [5].