Africa Mobile Infrastructure and Mobile Broadband: Ken Research

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Africa Mobile Infrastructure and Mobile
Broadband Ken Research
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Improved mobile network capability in Africa
stimulating smartphone adoption Within Africa
there is considerable diversity in the
availability and capability of mobile telecom
infrastructure. Vast tracks of the continent,
particularly in the northern desert regions, are
sparsely populated with little in the way of
network coverage. However, intense investment
programs undertaken by several pan-regional
operators in recent years has meant that
population coverage in most countries is
excellent.
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Much of the phenomenal growth in the take-up of
mobile voice and data services has stemmed from
the lack of fixed-line alternatives. Fixed-line
networks provide limited reach, particularly so
in rural areas but also in many urban areas.
Before market liberalisation efforts started some
two decades ago most incumbent telcos were
government-owned enterprises. There was little
commercial incentive to invest in infrastructure,
and combined with a lack of regulatory oversight,
poor management and government neglect,
fixed-line penetration remained very low by
global standards. In many countries, such as in
the DRC, Sudan, Mozambique, South Sudan and
Libya, war and civil conflict largely destroyed
what little infrastructure there was in place.
Mobile voice and data services were able to
fill this void very effectively. As a result, in
many countries in the region the use of telecoms
services is morphing from being predominantly
mobile to being solely mobile. Investment in
fixed-line infrastructure is being side-lined in
favour of mobile infrastructure.
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Operators are predominantly investing in
spectrum, particularly in the 700MHz band as this
is being released into 2017 and 2018 following
the switch from analogue to digital broadcasts.
They are also strengthening the robustness of
their networks by migrating from 3G to LTE-based
services. This in turn is being supported by
increased international connectivity from a
number of new submarine and terrestrial cables.
These cables are providing the required backbone
infrastructure to support the growing flow of
data. Prominent projects include the SACS cable
running between Angola and Brazil, with onwards
connectivity to Miami, as well as the Liquid Sea
cable being built by the pan-regional
infrastructure provider Liquid Telecom along the
continents east coast. Smartphones are
increasingly becoming the principal mobile device
used among consumers. The adoption of smartphones
is being encouraged by a plethora of cheaper
units manufactured locally. The growing take-up
of such devices is in turn supporting a
tremendous growth in m-commerce, m-money and
m-banking services.
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With the majority of Africans being unbanked,
m-payment systems are thriving in most markets
where they have been deployed. This has been
helped by operators facilitating money transfers
between their cross-border networks, as also by
co-operation among different players and by a
wider number of banks hosting such services.
M-money is particularly popular in markets such
as Kenya, though the more sophisticated banking
sector in South Africa was a contributing factor
in the Vodacoms M-Pesa service being withdrawn
from that market in mid-2016. More than three
quarters of mobile subscribers on the continent
are expected to subscribe to broadband services
by 2020, compared to about a fifth in early 2016.
With more than a billion mobile subscribers in
the region this presents a vast market for
vendors and application providers. Although the
relatively low purchasing power in the region
will not translate into a similarly rapid growth
in revenue, considerable potential remains.
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• MOBILE INFRASTRUCTURE
• High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA)
• The regulator launched an international tender in
  mid-2010 to build and operate a third generation
  (3G) mobile network. It took until October 2011
  to award the licence to Bharti Airtel (Airtel
  Gabon). To facilitate the development of 3G
  services a deal was brokered with Gabon Telecom
  in the following December allowing Bharti Airtel
  access to the SAT-3/WASC/SAFE submarine cable. An
  additional connection with the Africa Coast to
  Europe (ACE) cable was made in December 2012. In
  June 2013 Copyright Paul Budde Communication
  Pty Ltd, 2016. The operators parent company
  announced plans to invest an additional million
  in its mobile operations in Gabon.
• However, the Council of Ministers did not pass
  the decree authorising the 3G licence, extended
  to the use of 3.5G and 4G/LTE technologies, until
  January 2014, and Airtel Gabon did not secure its
  licence until the following March, having paid
  billion ( million) for the year license.
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In April 2014 Airtel Gabon launched a commercial
W-CDMA/HSPA service in Libreville. The operator
planned to cover the entire with the network,
with a third phase expected in late 2014 to cover
the second largest city, Port Gentil, and a
fourth phase, to be completed by the end of 2014,
reaching all provincial capitals. Bintels
licence also includes a concession to offer 3G
services. However, the company still offers only
2G and 2.5G services. Long-term Evolution (LTE)
In March 2014 the government announced that
Gabon Telecom was to be allocated additional
licenses to enable it to offer 3G and 4G
services. The deal was part of a number of
strategic agreements signed between Morocco and
the Gabonese government which cover areas
including agriculture, health, housing, finance
and banking, technologies, transport and tourism.
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Mobile satellite services The satellite service
provider Thuraya in April 2014 signed an
agreement with Bharti Airtel to provide mobile
satellite services to customers across the
operator's footprint, including Gabon. The
project is aimed at providing satellite voice and
data services to subscribers in remote and rural
areas in 17 countries across the region. Mobile
payments In early 2013 Gabon Telecom partnered
with the mobile financial solutions provider
Mahindra Comviva to develop its Mobi Cash mobile
money services and mobiquity mobile financial
applications via its Libertis mobile division.
These enable customers to make remittances,
receive salary payments, pay bills and make
purchases at retailers. For many Gabonese without
bank accounts mobiquity provides a cost-effective
banking alternative.
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Mobile broadband Internet access via General
Packet Radio Service (GPRS) has been available in
Kenya since 2004 from Safaricom, followed by
Bharti Airtel in 2006. ISPs started to feel
increased competitive pressure after 3G services
were introduced by Safaricom in 2008. For more
information on the market research report please
refer to the below link https//www.kenresearch.c
om/technology-and-telecom/telecommunications-and-n
etworking/africa-mobile-infrastructure-mobile-broa
dband/71683-105.html Contact Ken
ResearchAnkur Gupta, Head Marketing
Communicationsquery_at_kenresearch.com91-124-42302
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