The GSM 3G West Africa conference kicked off yesterday in Dakar, Senegal, in a bid to create debate around the future of mobile communications in the region.
West Africa's mobile growth rate is expected to exceed 100 million subscriptions by 2011, according to analysts at communications research company Informa Telecoms and Media, said conference organisers.
The mobile market in West Africa grew faster than Africa's market as a whole over 2006, recording a 58% increase in subscriptions, compared with 39% for the entire continent.
Telecommunications operators, regulators and governments are focusing on how to maximise development in the communications market, says Julie Rey, conference manager.
The mobile penetration rate in West Africa is forecast to jump from 18% to 34% in the next five years. This is in line with a similar rise across Africa as a whole from 21% in December 2006 to 34% by end-2011. The region overtook southern Africa early last year, according to analysts.
The growth rate in Western Africa reached 75% mobile subscriptions year-on-year, with rapid development in Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, Ghana, Gambia and Ivory Coast, according to Joss Gillet, senior analyst at Wireless Intelligence.
Nigeria's mobile market leads the way in West Africa, hosting 59% of the subscriptions. According to Informa Telecoms and Media, Nigeria will become the largest market in Africa by the end of 2007 with nearly 40 million subscriptions.
Adel Taher, MD of telecommunications company Comium Sierre Leone, attributes the growth in the region to GSM technology's late entry in West African countries as compared to the rest of the world.
"GSM operators only entered most of these countries in the late nineties and it proved to be an instant success due to the poor, unreliable services provided by PSTNs in various West African countries."
Liberalisation
Taher, a keynote speaker at the conference, notes the GSM sector's liberalisation policies adopted by most of these countries after 2003 contributed hugely to an increase in competition. This makes the prices of GSM services in West African countries among the most affordable in the world, he points out.
The Nigerian Communications Commission recently awarded unified licences, allowing licensees to offer a diverse range of services. These developments have encouraged competition for the benefit of consumers and the overall economy, says Taher.
For example, MTN has been competing with Globacom and is improving its network coverage in the country, which was reaching 73% of the population in December 2006.
Growing concerns
Taher notes the absence of proper functioning regulatory bodies in some West African regions is also a growing concern that needs to be addressed. "Lack of regulatory leadership leads to uncontrolled competition and mismanagement of frequencies."
He says lack of investment in the ICT sector to the scattered outlying populated and industrial regions is a growing concern. "The absence of basic infrastructure is hindering growth in the regions."
He cites lack of expertise of locally qualified people in the ICT industry as another concern in the region as it is hindering growth.
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