Africa mobile subscribers grow 33%… the clear laggard in Africa was Ethiopia which retained a monopoly both on fixed-line and mobile telephone services.
(Reuters) — African mobile operators added 70-million users in the past year, a growth rate of 33 percent, and expanded cell phone coverage by an area the size of France, industry organisation GSMA said on Tuesday.
Africa now has 282-million mobile phone users out of a population of around 960-million, but more than 300-million people living in rural areas still have no cell phone coverage, the GSM Association (GSMA) said.
Around 66 percent of the population are reached by a mobile phone signal, up from 62 percent in 2007.
Some African countries, such as Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, already have a coverage well above 90 percent, the GSMA said.
The industry is committed to spending more than $50 billion over five years in sub-Saharan Africa to boost the coverage to 90 percent of the population, the GSMA said, adding investment could even be higher if the regulatory environment was right.
Gabriel Solomon, a senior vice-president for public policy at the GSMA, told Reuters a study for the industry group concluded last year that an additional 25 percent could have been invested in Africa under ideal circumstances.
“If you look at our $50 billion, that could lead to an incremental $12,5-billion over the next five years invested,” he said at the sidelines of the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Telecom Africa conference.
An ITU report prepared for the conference also argued that further privatisation, moves to increase competition and more independent regulators could give Africa’s telecoms industry, whose fast growth has attracted interest from buyers in Europe, the Middle East, India and China, a fresh boost.
Solomon said the clear laggard in Africa was Ethiopia which retained a monopoly both on fixed-line and mobile telephone services.
“I know that our members would be ready to invest in Ethiopia tomorrow if they got a licence,” he said.
In other countries, competition is heating up.
“If you look at Kenya for example, this time last year there were two operators, today there are four… Uganda now has six licences. So you have to ask yourself are these sustainable, will some of these guys drop out, will it lead to consolidation?” Solomon said.