Business & Markets · Mobile subscriptions · Botswana
Botswana’s mobile subscriptions fell to 164 per 100 people in 2024.
164 per 100 people
2024
Down 15 per 100 people from 2023.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
164 per 100 people
What it is. Mobile subscriptions counts active mobile cellular lines per 100 people. A person with two SIM cards, such as one for work and one for home, counts twice, so the figure can rise above 100. The measure covers lines in use. It leaves out how many different people own a phone, how fast their connections are and how much data they use.
Higher is better. More lines generally means more people can make calls, send messages, use mobile money and get online. The latest figure, for 2024, is 164 per 100 people, down from 179 per 100 people a year earlier, a fall of 8.4%. Since 2015 the range has run from a low of 143 per 100 people in 2017 to a high of 179 per 100 people in 2023. The 2024 figure sits a little above the middle of that range and below the 2023 peak.
Why it matters. At 164 per 100 people, phone lines outnumber residents in Botswana, and many households and firms run more than one line. Calls, payments and online services are within easy reach of most people. The next annual reading will show whether the level climbs back towards the 179 per 100 people reached in 2023.
| Period | Mobile subscriptions · Botswana |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 157.7 per 100 people |
| 2016 | 147.2 per 100 people |
| 2017 | 143 per 100 people |
| 2018 | 147.1 per 100 people |
| 2019 | 160.7 per 100 people |
| 2020 | 161.9 per 100 people |
| 2021 | 173.3 per 100 people |
| 2022 | 178.2 per 100 people |
| 2023 | 179 per 100 people |
| 2024 | 164 per 100 people |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
How to read this number
- Source
- Who published the figure
- Published
- When they released it
- Verified
- When we last checked it against the source
Every change is logged in Corrections. How the figure is made: Methodology.
Cite this number
Show text
Strata-AF™ Data, Mobile subscriptions, Botswana, 2024; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/business/mobile-subscriptions/botswana
Data insights · Worked out from the published figures
What this means
Working this out from the published figures…
Strata AI commentary is coming — reviewed, dated, and generated only from the figures on this page.
Methodology
Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people. Unit: per 100 people.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (series IT.CEL.SETS.P2), retrieved through the World Bank API and published under CC BY 4.0. Updated annually; the World Bank's own source notes apply.