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Africa continues to be the fastestgrowing mobile market in the worldTeletimes report based on latest GSMA Mobile Observatory Edition 2011According to the latest editionof GSMA Mobile ObservatorySeries, with over 620million mobile connections as ofSeptember 2011, Africa regionhas overtaken Latin Americato become the second largestmobile market in the world,after Asia. The report also ratesAfrica region to be the fastestgrowing mobile market in theworld. Over the past 10 years,the number of mobile connectionsin Africa has grown withan average of 30% per yearwith a forecast to reach 735million by the end of 2012. Datafrom 25 African countries (referredas A25) representing 91%of the total mobile connectionsin Africa has been analyzed byGSMA.The report rates fierce competitionand price wars as the coremotive behind the rapid growth.According to it, there has beendominating; the uptake of dataservices including SMS is increasingrapidly. In Kenya, datarevenues have increased at aremarkable 67% CAGR over thelast 4 years and now represents26% of the total revenue saysthe report.Recent studies by the WorldBank reveal a direct relationshipbetween mobile penetration andGDP. In developing countries,it is estimated as that for every10% increase in mobile penetrationthere is a 0.81% pointincrease in a country’s GDPwhile in developed countries thisit falls to a 0.60% contribution.In context with economical contributions,the mobile operatorrevenues in the A25 contributedUSD 49 billion during 2010,equivalent to 3 % of aggregatedGDP. A sum of USD 15 billionhas been contributed to publicfunding through direct & indi-directly or in-directly with themobile eco-system of Africa.The mobile phones have perceiveda status of an essentialconsumer utility throughoutAfrica. It is bringing new channelsof innovations and develop-While highlighting the mobilebroadband details across Africa,GSMA mobile observatory seriessays that operators are expandingthe mobile broadband accessthrough 3G roll-out. SouthAfrica, with its more developedan average of 18% tariff reductionin Africa region between2010 and 2011. A key share ofsubscription (96 %) representspre-paid service with voicerect taxes, social security andregulatory fee collected throughthe mobile industry. Moreover,the report estimates a total of5.4 Million Africans employedments for the region. Given thepoor fixed-line infrastructure insub-Saharan Africa in particular,mobile phones are the onlymeans of communication inseveral parts. Mobile operatorsare offering innovative mobileservices in the areas of agriculture,banking, education, healthand gender equality. Cisco VNI(Visual Networking Index),February 2011 predicts that sub-Saharan Africa will have morepeople with mobile networkaccess than have electricity athome by 2015.infrastructure leads the way interms of mobile broadband withan estimate of 6% penetrationrate. Some African countrieshave recently awarded the 3Glicenses. In comparison withEurope, Asia and the Americas,African countries had allocatedconsiderably less spectrum tomobile services. To enable thefuture growth and reaping theadvantages of mobile broadbandservices, sufficient spectrumis needed for the provision of3G and 4G technologies in thecontinent.December 2011www.teletimesinternational.com13