Mozambique plans to connect 300 rural localities to the internet 🌐🇲🇿

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Mozambique’s government wants to extend telecom services to at least 300 additional localities and keep connecting schools. Beyond the antennas and infrastructure, the goal is to make it easier for residents in these areas to reach education, public services, economic opportunities, and communication tools.

Bringing rural areas closer to essential services 📱

In rural Mozambique, digital access can reshape how people communicate, work, and reach services. A working internet connection isn’t just a technical upgrade. It can let a resident handle paperwork remotely, an entrepreneur reach new customers, or a student access learning materials that simply aren’t available locally.

That’s the logic behind Mozambican authorities’ plan to extend telecom services to at least 300 localities over the coming years. The Ministry of Communications and Digital Transformation frames the target as part of the country’s broader national digital inclusion program.

Rural areas and schools are getting particular attention. The government says it has already connected 149 localities to the internet and 418 schools. The roadmap goes further still, with up to 4,000 schools slated for connection and roughly 10,000 new 4G and 5G access points planned.

Opening up new possibilities 💻

The stakes are especially high in a country where much of the population lives outside urban centers. According to the World Bank, 61% of Mozambicans lived in rural areas in 2024. Yet International Telecommunication Union (ITU) data shows only 20.5% of the population used the internet that same year.

That gap shows the challenge isn’t just about putting up more antennas. It’s also about turning coverage into regular, useful habits.

Better connectivity can make it easier to reach educational content, information, government services, and commercial platforms. For small businesses and freelancers, it can also open the door to new markets and let them operate beyond their immediate surroundings.

Schools, another gateway to digital access 🎓

The education sector is expected to be one of the main beneficiaries of this connectivity push. The government says it has already connected 418 schools and plans a much larger rollout.

In rural schools, internet access can give teachers additional teaching resources and support their training. Students, meanwhile, can tap into online educational content and build the digital skills now considered essential across many sectors.

Still, having a connection doesn’t automatically mean it gets used. Reliable electricity, equipment maintenance, and teacher training all remain essential for the infrastructure to actually deliver results.

National roaming to fill the network gaps 📡

Alongside new infrastructure, Mozambique’s regulator — the National Communications Institute of Mozambique (INCM) — is working on other ways to improve network access.

In April 2026, the authority reportedly launched a pilot phase for national roaming, a system that lets a subscriber switch to another operator’s network when their own isn’t available. The goal is to address coverage gaps in rural areas.

At the same time, the Universal Service Access Fund is financing rural connectivity projects and infrastructure for schools. Together, these levers aim to make digital services reachable in areas where private investment remains hard to justify commercially.

‘Internet for All’: an ambition set for 2030 🌍

This push is also part of the « Internet Para Todos » (« Internet for All ») program, officially launched on March 28, 2025, in Nacala-Porto. The project aims to expand the country’s digital coverage by 2030 through network extension and improved density.

The government also plans to accelerate fiber optic rollout and improve service quality in areas that already have coverage but where connections remain unreliable.

Opening the market to new players — including low-earth-orbit satellite operators and telecom infrastructure specialists — could reportedly help speed up coverage in territories that are hard to reach with traditional infrastructure.

Getting online also has to become affordable 💰

For these investments to actually benefit people, cost remains a determining factor. Owning a phone doesn’t necessarily mean being able to use the internet regularly.

In 2024, the ITU estimated that 79.9% of Mozambique’s population owned a mobile phone, while only 20.5% used the internet. That gap illustrates the persistent divide between device ownership and actual use of digital services.

According to the GSMA’s Mobile Connectivity Index, Mozambique scored 30.1 out of 100 for mobile affordability in 2024 — dropping to just 18.3 for the poorest 40% of the population.

Device costs, mobile data prices, electricity access, and digital literacy levels are all factors that could limit the impact of new infrastructure.

Better-connected villages, a digital economy in reach 🚀

For authorities, connecting these territories is ultimately a way to bring rural populations closer to the opportunities of the digital economy. In newly covered localities, residents could potentially gain easier access to mobile financial services, commercial platforms, online training, and government services. Local businesses could also use the internet to reach customers, promote products, or find new markets.

More broadly, this strategy fits into the digital agenda of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the ambitions of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Reliable connectivity can facilitate trade, support small businesses, and bring local economies closer to regional markets.

The real test for Mozambique’s project won’t just be how many antennas or access points get installed. What will matter is what these connections actually let residents of the 300 targeted localities do — in education, employment, entrepreneurship, public services, and access to information.

So, is connecting these 300 localities enough to meaningfully close the digital divide between Mozambique’s cities and its rural areas?