Africa is the second most connected region in terms of mobile subscription count, according to research by Informa Telecoms and Media.
The firm says Africa jumped from fourth place at the end of 2010.
With over 616 million mobile subscriptions on the continent, Informa says only the Asia-Pacific has higher mobile subscription numbers than Africa. The research finds Africa overtook Western Europe during the second quarter, and surpassed the Americas in the third quarter.
However, despite the number of mobile subscriptions in Africa, the continent is forecasted to have a mobile penetration rate of 86.92% by the end of 2016, still lower than in other regions. Informa points out that there is a trend in Africa for mobile subscribers to have multiple SIM cards.
The company says for this reason, the number of unique users of mobile services on the continent is smaller than the number of subscriptions. It forecasts that the number of unique users in Africa at end-2016 will be 572.35 million.
Matthew Reed, head of mobile research for the Middle East and Africa at Informa, says that according to the firm's forecasts, the number of mobile subscriptions in Africa will cross the one billion mark in 2016. Furthermore, Informa says Africa will retain its current position for the next five years.
The big three
Informa predicts that Nigeria will continue to dominate Africa's mobile market, reaching 152.09 million subscriptions at the end of 2016. It says Egypt will retain its second position, with a forecasted 118.03 million subscriptions at the end of 2016, while SA will have 80.56 million mobile subscriptions by then.
3G set to grow
The research revealed that 3G (WCDMA) subscriptions and market share will experience strong growth over the coming years, rising from 6.6% at the end of 2011, to 46% at the end of 2016.
According to Informa, this will almost equal GSM's market share of 47.5% at the end of 2016.
“As the African market matures, the retention of existing customers is becoming increasingly important,” says Informa. It adds that a recent survey into the views of African operators on customer loyalty found that 21.8% of respondents considered customer retention to be their main priority, compared to 18.2%, who said their main priority was customer acquisition.
According to the researcher, 60% said customer retention and customer acquisition were equally important.
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