Africa exceeds 500m mobile phone subscriptions mark

THE number of active mobile phone subscriptions in Africa has crossed the half-a-billion mark in the third quarter of 2010 to reach 506 million at the end of September 2010.

This development has been attributed to the various investments across the continent in telecommunications infrastructure, especially the landing of the various submarine cables across Africa.

Presenting the latest research on Africa’s telecommunications industry at the on-going AfricaCom telecommunications exhibition in Cape Town, South Africa, Informa Telecoms and media analyst, Thecla Mbongue, said Africa accounts for 10 per cent of the world’s mobile subscriptions and is one of the fastest growing regions – with the subscription numbers increasing by 18 per cent over the years till September 2010. This was attributed to low mobile penetration rate on the continent as well as demand for new services, such as mobile Internet access that increase the need for telecoms connectivity.

Mbongue said “although the rate of growth in mobile subscriptions in Africa will slow as markets mature, the continent continues to offer great opportunities for investors in the voice segment in under-penetrated markets and also in the non-voice segments with mobile broadband and mobile-money services taking off.
“By 2015, there will be 265 million mobile broadband subscriptions in Africa, a huge increase from the current figure of about 12 million, and accounting for 31.5 per cent of the total of 842 million mobile subscriptions that the continent will have in five years’ time. There will be almost 360 million users of mobile-money services on the continent by 2014.”

Mbongue, in the statement made available to The Guardian yesterday, noted that the mobile revolution that has swept through Africa has made mobile telephony widely available, but there are still substantial under-served markets, especially in rural areas, where the rate of mobile penetration is typically below 10 per cent.

The Informa Telecoms and Media analyst explained that the landing of a series of new submarine cables on both the East and West coasts of Africa over the past 18 months has given the continent a good level of international connectivity for the first time, and has greatly expanded the opportunities for data services.
Mbongue posited, however, that terrestrial backhaul threatens to become the next bottle-neck, and must be extended if the benefits of the new connectivity are to be made widely available and, in particular, reach rural communities and countries in the interior of the continent.

“The past year has seen a big change in the line-up of key players in the African mobile market, with the sale of Zain Africa – one of the biggest pan-African players with 15 operations on the continent – to Bharti Airtel of India. Airtel, which is poised for the formal launch of its services in Africa, is expected to introduce elements of its Indian operating model, including its extensive use of outsourcing as a means of maximising efficiency. Airtel has also set out major network-expansion plans in Africa,” she stated.

The research revealed that Nigeria remains the largest mobile market in Africa, accounting for 16 per cent of the continent’s mobile subscriptions. Egypt and South Africa are the second and third largest mobile markets on the continent.

Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tanzania and Zimbabwe together accounted for 48 per cent of the 54 million net additions to Africa’s mobile subscriptions market up till September.