Given the increasing rate of mobile
technology subscription services in Africa, especially in Nigeria,
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in the last two years, the GSMA, which
represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, has predicted
that mobile services would drive digital transformation in Africa in the
next three years. It has therefore called on African governments to
address the issue of spectrum in delivering greater connectivity.
In a recent report, the GSMA group said
mobile technology has emerged the platform of choice for creating,
distributing and consuming innovative digital solutions as services in
Africa. Many local and global innovators and tech entrepreneurs are now
using the expansion of advanced mobile infrastructure and the growing
adoption of smart devices to deliver mobile-based solutions that
directly appeal to local interests and cultures.
According to GSMA, mobile internet
adoption in Africa continued to grow rapidly, with the number of mobile
internet subscribers tripling in the last five years to over 500 million
at the end of 2016, with additional 250 million expected by 2020.
It, however, said that by 2020, about 60
per cent of the African population would still be unconnected, based on
significant barriers to adoption of mobile internet, particularly for
underserved groups such as women, rural communities and young people.
Mobile money continues to improve
financial inclusion in Africa. The region accounts for 52 per cent of
271 live mobile money services in 93 countries and 64 per cent of all
active mobile accounts. Six new services were launched in Africa in
2015, with another four in the first half of 2016, and mobile money is
having a significant impact in enabling efficient and convenient
international money transfer, the GSMA group said in its report.
According to the report, at the end of
2015, 46 per cent of the population in Africa, subscribed to mobile
services, equivalent to half a billion people. The region’s three
dominant markets for mobile services subscription, Nigeria, Egypt and
South Africa, together accounted for a third of the region’s subscriber,
with Nigeria alone registering over 150 million telecoms subscribers
across its various network providers.
The group, however, warned that
subscriber growth rates in most African countries were now slow,
compared with the global average, citing affordability challenges,
excessive taxes challenges and the challenge of Right of Way (RoW), as
key barriers. The group therefore called on African governments and
telecoms regulators across Africa, to ensure that they come up with
policies that would not stifle telecoms growth in Africa.
It said over the next five years, an
additional 168 million will be connected by mobile services across
Africa, reaching 725 million unique subscribers by 2020. It said eight
markets would account for the growth, most notably Nigeria, Ethiopia and
Tanzania, provided that African governments encourage mobile technology
penetration.
Addressing the issue of mobile broadband
penetration in Africa, the GSMA report emphasised that subscribers are
increasingly migrating to mobile broadband services, driven by network
rollouts and mobile operator device and data strategies.
Mobile broadband connections accounted
for a quarter of total connections at the end of 2015, but it is
expected to rise in two-thirds by 2020. The 4G LTE service rollout are
gaining traction, and by mid-2016, there were 72 live Long Term
Evolution (LTE) technology networks in 32 countries across Africa, half
of which were launched in the last two years.
The launch of new mobile broadband
networks across the region coincides with the growing availability of
low-cost devices. The number of smartphone connections has almost
doubled over the last two years to reach 226 million, accounting for a
quarter of total connections in the region.
This reflects strong uptake in the
established mobile markets such as Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa,
as well as some relative new 3G markets, notably Algeria, Cameroon, and
the Democratic Republic of Congo, the report said, adding that over the
next five years, the African region will add a further half a billion
smartphone connections, taking the adoption rate to more than half of
the total connections.
by Emma Okonji| Thisdaylive
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