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.