L’urbanisation en Afrique : les TIC importent-elles ?

The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Africa has increased considerably over the past two decades, and has been the subject of an extremely fruitful literature. The ICT penetration rate has been accelerated by education and especially the improvement of energy supply. In this article, we examine their effect on the urbanization rate observed from a sample of 52 African countries. To do this, we specify and estimate a panel data model with the methods of ordinary least squares (OLS) and generalized least squares (GLS) over the period 1991-2017. The theory of urban sprawl is highlighted to assess the determinants of the rate of urbanization in Africa. The robustness of the results is assessed with the method of generalized moments in the system (GMM-S). Our results show that the use of ICT, measured by the penetration of mobile phones, landlines and the Internet, significantly increases the rate of urbanization in Africa. Their effect is amplified by financial development, education level and energy consumption. Also, we appreciate the effects of ICT on urbanization by referring to different African regions. Even if in all regions these effects are positive and significant, southern Africa is the most dynamic. We also highlight the scale effects of ICTs on urbanization in Africa. The effects of scale are captured by the density of populations considering the most urbanized cities in Africa. We find that scale effects, associated with ICT indicators, accelerate urbanization. Two main policy recommendations emerge from the results. First, we suggest a quantitative and qualitative strengthening of investments in telecommunication infrastructure for better urbanization in Africa. Second, we suggest strengthening education systems, increasing investments in the energy sector and a real policy for financing private companies through the local banking system.