By Jorgen Arnesen, EVP mobile browsers

Growing our user base in Africa is one of Opera’s strategic objectives. Africa is the fastest growing continent in terms of internet penetration, and through strong user growth we are solidifying our position as a digital leader on the continent. During Q3-2020 we continued to see strong growth (+18% YoY) across our products in Africa reaching a combined user base of more than 140 million monthly active users. GSMA’s latest report from the region shows that some 300 million mobile internet users will be active in 2020 in Sub-Saharan Africa and more than 40% of internet users choose our products such as Opera Mini, Opera News or OList in that area - a reach we’re very proud of!

The strong growth of our user base continues to be driven by our dedication to carefully tailored products to local market demands. Our browsers, such as Opera Mini, and Opera News have never been more relevant in Africa, where our data saving content platform makes our products unique versus the more simple products that are default on the users devices. We are constantly adding more reasons to use our products whether it be music downloads or targeted local content via Opera News Hub. We’re also pleased to see the strong momentum of our classifieds marketplace OList in Nigeria where we’re helping people more easily find the goods and services they want.

This year we’ve partnered with leading telcos on the continent, bridging the digital divide and helping people get online. So far this year, we’ve launched dedicated data plans with MTN and Airtel in Nigeria, Safaricom in Kenya, MTN Zambia, MTN, Vodafone and AirtelTigo in Ghana - and last week we launched with MTN in South Africa. We know that the cost of mobile data is perhaps the biggest barrier for people to get online - therefore we feel really proud and humbled to offer free or discounted access to the Internet for millions of people in these markets.

As we look forward, our goal is to do more of the same -- keep making our products better, solve everyday needs and find more partners such as the telcos that can help us get our product in front of the 300 million mobile internet users in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is expected to grow to 475 million in 2025 (GSMA The Mobile Economy Sub-Saharan Africa Report 2020). While we are extremely proud to reach over 40% of mobile internet users in Sub-Saharan Africa today, there’s still many more that could use one or more of our products in the future! We look forward to keeping you updated as we make progress on this goal!

Jorgen Arnesen