Africa presents great opportunities in the telecom sector. The liberalisation of the sector, the extension of services by multinational conglomerates and the active competition currently in place in the sector have all contributed to the telecom revolution. Since the processes of liberalisation and privatisation have been taken into consideration by African countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, the Sudan, South Africa and Kenya, their telecommunication infrastructures have improved drastically. Many African governments have developed their telecommunication infrastructure by privatising their former state-owned enterprises.
As a result, the telecom sector in the African secor has opened up new vistas of business opportunities. Africa has been the fastest-growing mobile market in the world during the past five years. There are now more than 82 million mobile users in Africa: Nigeria’s mobile market is growing at over 100% per year. Mobile telephony has a positive and significant impact on economic growth, and this impact may be twice as large in developing countries as in developed countries.
That mobile phone use is growing faster in Africa than anywhere else shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, given a moment’s thought. Only 6 per cent of African citizens owned a mobile phone in 2004, so as prices drop (and low-cost phones made for the developing world come to market), there’s a huge potential market available. In Asia, North America and Europe, conversely, mobile phone use approaches saturation, so any remaining growth will be far slower.
