The 2019 Malawi Digital Identity Country report has said that Malawi has a competitive mobile landscape based on recent and continued increases in mobile users on penetration. The report also shows that there is substantial opportunity for growth in the mobile landscape of Malawi.

The GSMA report is an output of a project funded by UK Aid’s Department of International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. The report observes that 4G subscriptions remain small but at the same time Malawi is a relatively advanced market in terms of 3G subscriptions, as shown by an immense increase in such subscriptions in recent years.

On mobile penetration, the report showed the research results based on sex; the report reads, “While the gender gap overall remains similar between urban and rural areas, men and women in urban areas are significantly more likely than their rural counterparts to report owning a phone with internet access. This is likely due to a number of factors, including digital literacy rates among urban and rural populations, the ability to buy smart phones and data, and disparities in 3G coverage,”. The report also indicates that a high penetration rate is leaning towards men, meaning that male ownership of phones stands at 52% as compared to 33% for females.

While mobile phone penetration is competitive, Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) National Payment System 2019 First Quarter Report has shown that there has been a drop in the use of mobile money services.