Bharti Airtel says data usage in Africa will be accelerated, after seeing its growth double in the year through June.

According to the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, Andre Beyers, the growth rate will further increase due to smartphone penetration and expanding coverage.

“We have seen tremendous growth in most of our markets, but the growth in markets such as Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria and Burkina Faso is really pleasing,” he said.

Mobile-phone users in urban Africa are turning to data because of falling prices of Internet-enabled handsets, according to research by McKinsey & Co.

About 25 percent of smartphone owners in Africa access the Internet daily and more than half at least once a month, Beyers said.

The telecoms company said its African data-subscriber numbers jumped 65 percent during the 12-month period to 15 million customers, while data use advanced about 150 percent.

Bharti Aitel, India’s biggest mobile-phone company, with an estimated 269 million customers across 20 countries in Asia and Africa, made a net loss of $106 million on the continent in the three months through June, compared with a loss of $124 million in the same period a year earlier.

However, the company plans to “advance by targeting a growing number of smartphone users in Africa to boost revenue per user and reduce dependence on traditional fixed-line services.”