Africa - yet more mobile phones

330m Africans will own cellphones in 2008

Africa is projected to experience a 22 per cent jump in its mobile phone subscriber base during 2008, with the number of people owning a phone increasing from the current 270 million to 330 million.

The Global System for Mobile Communication Association (GSMA) — a global trade association representing 700 GSM celullar operators in 215 countries — says mobile phone penetration will also rise by a corresponding 5 per cent from 28.78 per cent in 2007 to 33.9 per cent in 2008.

Addressing the Africa e-Government conference that ended in Kampala recently, Vitalis Kizito Olunga, chairman of GSM Africa, said the outlook remained positive, with mobile phone subscribers outnumbering fixed lines by a ratio of 15:1.

“Mobile phone subscription has grown rapidly and we expect further penetration, especially in Africa,” said Mr Olunga.

Between 2006 and 2007, the subscriber base in Africa grew by 40 per cent, the highest rate of all compared to other continents. The growth in Eastern and Western Europe stood at 0.003 per cent and 2.05 per cent respectively.

The growth in Africa is mainly attributed to the stagnation in fixed lines. Government policies in most African countries have failed to expand fixed-line subscriptions,” said Mr Olunga. “Governments have been too rigid in that respect, but there has been liberalisation of their economies, which has attracted several private telecommunication firms.”

“In Europe,” he said, “the rate of expansion in the subscriber base is slowing because almost everyone owns a mobile phone. In certain cases, individuals carry two or more handsets.”

In East Africa, he said, as of 2007, the penetration rate was highest in Kenya at 28 per cent, followed by Tanzania at 20 per cent, Uganda at 15 per cent, then Rwanda at 7 per cent and Burundi at 3 per cent.

Mobile phone usage is expected to take centre-stage in e-governance, under which public services can easily be accessed. E-government is the modernisation of processes and functions of government using ICT tools.

According to a survey on e-governance in new growth markets by the Nokia Siemens Network in Ghana, South Africa and India recently, mobile devices are the technology with the most potential to stimulate the supply and demand of public services via e-content.

“The value of mobile devices in this context lies in their pervasiveness, interactivity and multiple functions, with voice, radio, Internet, payment and other capabilities,” the survey, commissioned during an e-government conference in Kampala, states.

According to the survey, ICT users have shown interest in the areas of news, health education and training opportunities and job opportunities, marketing information, availability and price of resources and information on new products and services.

However, the study shows that the importance of mobile communications has not been widely recognised, and few users think that receiving e-content through a mobile device is important.

The report suggests that in spite of the merits of radio, the technologies that can truly be considered as most effective are the Internet and mobile devices, as they offer the interactivity that will ensure users can demand and receive the public services they need.

“Mobile devices have the potential to be the most effective form of ICT. The large and increasing number of users, the growing amount of content/value added services provided by the private sector and the fact that mobile devices are being used to give people an Internet experience justify why most must be done to realise their potential.

“Among people who do not currently own ICTs such as the Internet, fixed-line phone and mobile, the intention to acquire a mobile device is strongest.

“Also, in all countries, non-owners’ intention to get an Internet connection is stronger than their intention to get a fixed-line phone, implying that there may be a market for wireless Internet,” says the report.