New Internet Growth Spots are in Middle East and Africa

The internet population of the world, often referred to as its “netizens,” has more than doubled in an incredibly short time. From 2007 to 2012, there was a twofold increase in the number of people globally that have regular access to the internet.

This rapid explosion of internet adopters has, not surprisingly, occurred in markets that do not have very deep roots with digital communication infrastructure. North America and Europe have shown some growth, but they are about as plugged-in to the internet as they can possibly be. However, the growth in the internet population of regions that are starting to embrace the high-tech market has been phenomenal. The Middle East showed a 294 percent increase in this time frame, while Africa led the world in growth at 317 percent.

What this means is that these are the prime growth markets for content delivery networks (CDN). CDN improves the reliability and latency of digital media, websites, and other data-intensive forms of internet communication.

One reason why it is so valuable is that the digital adoption patterns in the Middle East and Africa are very different from the patterns in other regions as they began to adopt the internet. Thanks to internet and mobile technology, many people in these regions are sidestepping older, more bandwidth intensive forms of communication and going directly to those that are powered by digital technology.

For instance, a report from McKinsey has profiled the new online consumer habits in Africa. The report found that that these users were involved with gaming, social networking, and watching video far more than with shopping or managing bank accounts. These are exactly the types of activities that benefit from a CDN.

For more about how CDN will play a great role in the internet population explosion, contact Medianova, the CDN of Turkey, the Middle East, and Africa.