Africa’s digital transformation is often defined by connectivity statistics. Yet connectivity alone tells only part of the story. Widespread mobile network coverage exists across the continent, but millions remain excluded from meaningful digital engagement because they lack the devices and content needed to participate. The result is uneven access to the digital economy, where mobile-first strategies often exclude those who need digital services the most. 

Feature phone users remain significant in many markets. Estimates indicate that hundreds of millions of Africans are stuck in what GSMA describes as the “voice era,” where basic voice and SMS services dominate digital interaction but do not translate into internet use. 

On the other hand, smartphones alone do not guarantee inclusion and access is only one side of the equation. Content, connectivity, and usability must be designed with all users in mind. Africa has over 2,000 languages, yet most online content exists in English, French, or a handful of widely spoken tongues. Critical information on health, agriculture, finance, and education is often inaccessible because it assumes literacy, app usage, or high-bandwidth connections. Without content in local languages or formats suited to low-tech devices, large communities remain digitally invisible, and their perspectives excluded from the online ecosystem.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a transformative tool that can change this. This #TechTalkThursday article explores how inclusive AI solutions are bridging Africa’s content access gap and expanding opportunities for citizens across sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, education, and financial services. 

AI as a Bridge: Expanding Access Beyond Smartphones

AI provides a practical pathway to reduce exclusion by reshaping how digital content is accessed and delivered. Rather than assuming users must have smartphones or high-bandwidth connections, inclusive AI solutions leverage existing devices and local languages to reach underserved populations. 

“I look at AI not just as artificial intelligence, but as a tool to advance inclusion. AI could actually stand for advancing inclusion or advancing inequality – it’s up to you.”

–Honorable Samuel Nartey George (MP), Minister for Communications, Digital Technology and Innovations, Ghana

Voice, Natural Language, and Low-Tech Interfaces

Voice-enabled AI and natural language processing (NLP) technologies allow users to interact with digital content through simple voice calls, SMS, USSD, or speech-to-text tools. These interfaces reduce barriers related to literacy, digital skills, and device complexity, making digital engagement possible even for feature phone users. AI summarisation further compresses complex information into low-data formats, ensuring meaningful content can reach users without heavy data consumption.

Practical implementations illustrate this approach. Services like Ask Viamo Anything (AVA) in Zambia allow users to dial a number on any phone and receive AI-generated voice responses. In early studies with the GSMA,  59 percent of users were women, and engagement levels were significantly higher than with traditional automated systems, especially for sensitive topics such as health.

A prominent example, MTN’s voice-first AI assistant, Miss Baza, launched at MWC Kigali 2025, demonstrates how these technologies work in practice. Ralph Mupita, Group President and CEO of MTN, explains in a TechAfrica News interview at the event:

“We have an AI chatbot called Miss Baza. On a standard feature phone, you can make a voice call in your own language; currently, we support four languages. You give a voice prompt, and even without a smartphone, Miss Baza can access the internet and respond verbally. It is a practical example of bridging the digital content gap.” 

– Ralph Mupita, President and CEO, MTN Group

Startups like KrosAI  are also building phone‑based AI assistants that respond to voice calls, enabling real‑time interaction with AI on basic devices, a critical development for users who live in patchy networks or cannot afford smartphones. 

By combining voice, multilingual AI, offline and low-data solutions, and careful prioritization of languages, these systems transform feature phones into powerful digital access tools. AI becomes more than a technological innovation, it is a lever for inclusion, enabling millions of Africans to engage with essential services and information, regardless of device ownership, literacy, or network quality.

Impact Across Sectors: Practical Benefits of Inclusive AI

AI’s inclusive deployment is already producing impact in key areas that shape socioeconomic outcomes:

• Agriculture: Farmers receive voice‑based advisories on weather, market prices, and crop management, helping them make informed decisions without smartphones or data plans.
• Healthcare: AI systems provide symptom assessment, health education, and remote consultation services through voice interfaces, crucial in regions with limited health infrastructure.
• Education: Audio lessons and personalized learning support reach learners who cannot access online platforms or educational apps.
• Financial Services: AI chat assistants accessible by voice or SMS offer entry points to financial tools and literacy that do not require digital wallets or mobile applications.

These use cases illustrate how AI can democratize access to essential services by meeting users where they are, rather than expecting them to conform to high‑tech norms.

“There must be a pipeline delivering the content to the end user. It is not enough to put a terminal in someone’s hands. We have seen cases where people had devices but used them for unrelated purposes because the content was not relevant to their needs. What matters is providing relevant content and ensuring the backhaul can deliver it at the right speeds, whether for health, education, or agriculture.” 

– John Omo, Secretary General, the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) 

What Comes Next: Designing for Accessibility

By decoupling access from expensive smartphones, AI enables meaningful participation in high-impact sectors. Governments, telcos, and innovators can scale impact faster when solutions are designed around accessibility. Inclusion becomes about reach and relevance rather than device ownership, setting the stage for sustainable digital transformation across the continent.

The next phase requires collaboration. AI developers, telcos, policymakers, and civil society must work together to ingest local languages, deliver content ethically, and design services for low-tech devices. Open-source approaches and partnerships will ensure that solutions are inclusive by default, not by accident. 

“Africa has over 2,000 languages. We cannot realistically ingest content in all of them into large language models to generate the necessary responses. Instead, we apply an 80-20 principle: work country by country, focus on the two or three largest languages first, and then expand systematically. If we fail to do this, in 10, 15, or 20 years, large portions of content and perspectives will be entirely absent from the digital ecosystem, which could result in biased and risky systems simply because not all voices are represented.” 

– Ralph Mupita, President and CEO, MTN Group 

“We cannot do it alone. We have to work together, with governments, public institutions, operators, and digital players, to ensure Africa is included in this digital era and ready for the AI-driven next era.”

– Hassan Jaber, CEO, Axian Telecom

Africa’s digital future does not need to depend on everyone owning a smartphone. With AI as an access layer, feature phones can carry the weight of the continent’s digital ambitions. By focusing on accessibility, relevance, and scalability, Africa can narrow the content gap, amplify local voices, and ensure that digital transformation benefits all communities.