Opera has hit a record 150 million monthly active
users in Africa in Q3-2020 and a strong 18% growth of YOY across all its
products. The firm has 380 million monthly active users globally.
The Opera Mini browser recorded more
than 500
million installations from Google Play and Olist, Opera’s classifieds business in Nigeria is
now the second biggest classifieds business in the country, with approximately
6 million monthly active users.
According to Jørgen
Arnesen, EVP – Mobile at Opera, “We believe that
developing better browsers and news apps that offer great features and
personalized content has been key to Opera’s continued growth across Africa in
2020.”
To fuel the growth of its products, Opera has also
been on a customization journey to see its apps solve everyday challenges such
as the COVID-19 info source on Opera Mini and Opera News and the growing
entertainment news on Opera News Hub with approximately 10,000 articles
self-published every day.
Opera users across many African countries can
download and stream music in their Free Music channel and share it with their
friends.
Opera
News recorded 25 million monthly active users as of
Q3-2020, while the Opera News AI service is used by nearly 80 million users every
month in the region. Opera
News Hub was launched in Nigeria a year ago and today the platform
publishes more than 10 thousand news articles on a daily basis in Africa.
Opera
For Business launched this year in partnership with Google My Business
to help local businesses come online and be discoverable by anyone at any time
from any mobile device, is growing steadily.
Africa is a key focus for Opera only 300 million people out of the total population of 1.1
billion people are connected, meaning less than 1 in 3 people are online today.
By 2025, it is expected that 678 million people in
the region will be connected to the internet. This continued surge in internet
penetration will be driven by key fundamental factors:
The United Nations reports that 60% of the region’s
population is aged under 25, a demographic which will shape the future of
Africa and will come online at a record pace.
Carriers are transforming and accelerating the
investment into infrastructure and 4G rollout, making data cheaper for
consumers.
GSMA reports that smartphone adoption is growing
rapidly in Sub-Saharan Africa reaching 50% of total connection in 2020. This is
due to the availability of more affordable smartphones and popular smartphone
financing models.
With
operations in Lagos, Nairobi, Johannesburg and Cape Town, Opera believes access to the internet
should be a universal right,
though less than 1 in 3 people have access to the internet in Sub-Saharan
Africa.
To fuel its growth, Opera has signed up
partnerships with leading telcos across Sub-Saharan Africa to provide people
with free browsing in the Opera Mini browser. Opera is working with MTN and Airtel in Nigeria, MTN Zambia. MTN, AirtelTigo and Vodafone
in Ghana. Safaricom and Airtel in Kenya. And most
recently with MTN South Africa.
Through these ten partnerships, Opera has provided nearly
40 million people with up to 1.5 GB of free browsing every month across five
African countries.