“Nigeria will continue to be Africa’s biggest mobile market by subscriptions, with a forecast of 152.09 million subscriber base by 2016, according to a research by Informa Telecoms and Media, a provider of business intelligence and strategic services to telecom markets.
The report said Africa has become the second most connected region in the world in terms of mobile subscription count, up from fourth place last year. It added that there were over 616 million mobile subscriptions in Africa at the end of September, which means that the mobile market on the continent is second only to Asia-Pacific in terms of numbers.
Africa’s mobile-subscription count overtook that of Western Europe during the second quarter of 2011 and then overtook the Americas in the third quarter of 2011. At the end of 2010, less than a year ago, Africa was the fourth largest regional mobile market by subscriptions, coming after Asia-Pacific, Western Europe and the Americas.
“The combination in Africa of a still relatively immature telecom market with factors including population growth, strong competition among providers and the increasing affordability of mobile devices, explains Africa’s move up the regional mobile-market rankings as well as its strong growth forecast.
“Africa’s mobile market is heading towards a major landmark: the number of mobile subscriptions on the continent will cross the one billion mark in 2016, according to our latest forecast,” Head of Mobile Research for the Middle East and Africa at Informa Telecoms and Media, Matthew Reed, said. . .” – Full Story on The Nation.
