Africa has been seen in recent years as an excellent investment destination for telecommunications infrastructure, with many countries receiving billions of dollars in funding in order to upgrade GSM networks, installing 3G and fibre optic rollouts.
According to a report released by Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic, it’s to no surprise that South Africa has received more than $18-billion in investments from 1998 to 2008. Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria, is a close second, receiving over $12-billion for the same period. What rather shocking, is the fact that Kenya only managed to attract just under $3-billion in investments, and sits third on the list.
“Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been a remarkable success in Africa. Across the continent, the availability and quality of service have gone up and the cost has gone down. In just 10 years—dating from the end of the 1990s—mobile network coverage rose from 16 percent to 90 percent of the urban population,” the report stated. The report also noted that most of the investments come from Chinese companies, although a number of European companies are also involved.
The top ten list of how investments in Africa’s telecommunications have been distributed from 1998 till 2008 (in US $):
1. South Africa ($18.1-billion)
2. Nigeria ($12.7-billion)
3. Kenya ($2.9-billion)
4. Sudan ($1.8-billion)
5. Uganda ($1.6-billion)
6. Senegal ($1.5-billion)
7. Tanzania ($1.4-billion)
8. Democratic Republic of the Congo ($1.2-billion)
9. Ghana ($1.1-billion)
10. Angola ($1-billion)
For the full report, click here
Charlie Fripp – Consumer Tech editor
