Kenya’s mobile penetration rate grew to 77.2% (from 75% in the previous quarter), the latest numbers released by the Communications Commission of Kenya shows. Kenya’s neighbor Ethiopia, on the other hand, continues to rank at the bottom with the worst mobile penetration in Africa, currently standing at about 17%.

Ethiopia, with a population close to 90 million, lags far behind in access to information technology because of the policies carried out by its paranoid ethnic apartheid junta that tries keep most of the people in the information dark age. Under the existing law, private ownership of telecom, internet and electronic broadcasting companies in Ethiopia is a crime.

The numbers are shocking. According to the ITU, there are only 829,000 fixed telephone lines in Ethiopia for a penetration rate of less than 1 percent. Internet penetration is equally low — only 1.1%.

“The combined cost of purchasing a computer, initiating an internet connection, and paying usage charges places internet access beyond the reach of most Ethiopians,” states a UNHCR report.