Uptake of mobile phones in Africa booms

If you asked someone on the street where they thought the fastest growing mobile market is you wouldn’t be surprised if they said USA, China or maybe even India. However all of those would be wrong, the fastest growing market for mobile phones is actually Africa.

Over the last five years the number of mobile subscribers in Africa has grown by around 20% each year and expectations are that by the end of 2012 there will be some 735 million mobile subscribers in Africa.

A review into why it is such a fast growing mobile market in Africa has been put down to the fact that the land line connections are so bad and extremely expensive.

A report by GSMA indicates that 96% of mobile subscribers in Africa are pre-paid services although there is a growing trend of data services also being subscribed to. The study goes on to find that 65 in every 100 people have some form of mobile service in Africa.

Initiatives like the 2009 abolition of sales tax on mobile handsets in Kenya meant a massive 200% increase in the sales of handsets. When it comes to mobile money transfers Kenya is the leader in this area with some 8.5 million users.

When it comes to actual mobile subscribers Nigeria leads the way in Africa with 16% of the African mobile subscription market (93 million).

There is no surprise to the African country with the highest broadband penetration with South Africa taking 6% of the market due to its more developed infrastructure. Behind South Africa comes Morocco at 2.8%.

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