While South Africa boasts a more robust broadband infrastructure than its African peers, more people in Nigeria and Ghana use their mobile phones to access the Internet, a survey has revealed.

The Mobile Africa 2015 study found that, on average, 40% of those surveyed in South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda, use their mobile phones to browse the Internet, led by 51% of respondents in Ghana and 47% in Nigeria.

About 40% of those surveyed in South Africa accessed the Internet through a mobile phone, while Kenya and Uganda, at 34% and 29% respectively, lagged behind on the uptake.

While South Africa’s more robust mobile broadband infrastructure enabled a greater intensity of use, more people accessed the Internet from their phones more often in Nigeria and Kenya, World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck said in a statement.

The survey also found that 48% of the respondents across the five African countries used their mobile phones to access Facebook, 45% to send an SMS, 41% to listen to the radio, 37% to take photos, 36% for instant messaging, 32% to download applications and 13% to use twitter.

“South Africa leads in app downloads, usually an indication of higher smartphone adoption, with 34% of phone users making downloads from app stores,” said Goldstuck, comparing this with 31% in Ghana, 28% in Nigeria, 19% in Kenya and 18% in Uganda.

South Africa also led the way in the use of instant messaging, at 41%, followed by 34% of the respondents each from Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda and 40% from Kenya.

Around 45% of those surveyed in South Africa used their mobile phones to take photos, with Nigeria coming in second with 38%.

Nigeria, at 58%, reported the most use of Facebook using a mobile phone, followed by Ghana at 54%, and South Africa at 48%, while Kenya and Uganda, at 46% each, used their phones for listening to the radio.

In Kenya, 55% of the respondents used their phones to send SMSs, while 52% and 43% of those surveyed in South Africa and Uganda respectively use their mobile phones for sending SMSs.

The study, undertaken by GeoPoll and World Wide Worx, surveyed 3 500 mobile phone users in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Uganda.