African mobile market up 20%
Mobile subscribers in Africa have reached 448.1 million, this according to a report produced by Ovum Research.
Although the African mobile market really took off around the year 2000, the industry achieved tremendous growth last year, reporting 448.1 million mobile phone subscribers, a 20% increase compared to 2008, when close to 373 million subscribers were accounted for, representing 75 million new subscribers in just one year.
The report lists MTN Nigeria as the largest mobile African operator, overcoming its South African representative and Vodacom SA. New entrants such as Ghana’s Zain, Cote d’Ivoire’s GreeN, Kenya’s EKTL or Etisalat Misr in Egypt have shown rapid growth in customer base , overtaking long established operators like Safaricom, writes the report.
The worst performing operator, M-Tel Nigeria, fell 93 places from 32nd (2006) to 125th (2009) in just three years, due to its recent history and acquisition challenges.
This research was conducted by Ovum Research, a provider of consulting services to the technology and telecoms sectors.
Great! As penetration deepens in Africa, content is the next thing to look and technology to harness all this potentials. Meanwhile can you link us to the full report?
I don’t really see what is so unbelievable about this. If you look at India, the wireless subscriber network stands at 584 million as of March 2010. It was 392 million in March 2009 – a year on year growth of 192 million subscribers or 49% (choose whichever makes your jaw drop more!!!).
It is noteworthy that India’s population is only 150 million more than that of Africa…