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JR:
“Africa's telecommunications market is
going through major changes. The
market has been growing at
exceptional rates, but organic growth
is slowing down and operators are
looking for new services and business
models to maximize their profitability.
In the last couple of years,
international connectivity has been
vastly improved by the arrival of
submarine cables and improved
satellite networks, meaning broadband
will be made more accessible and more
services will be available. Most
operators have deployed 3G, and a
number of them are already looking at
LTE to enable more services.”
Outsourcing is also a key trend in the
market, as operators are looking at
ways to reduce their costs. The arrival
of Indian operator Bharti Airtel
following its acquisition of Zain Africa is
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What happens in Africa over the next few years could drastically alter the global telecoms industry. |
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line telephone, of power supply or of
road networks to reach the more
remote areas. In addition, some
countries still lack the adequate
regulatory framework to support the
growth of a healthy competitive
telecommunications industry. Not to
mention the low disposable incomes of
the consumers.” Our role at AfricaCom
is to bring together all the
stakeholders of the industry
(operators, service providers,
infrastructure vendors, solutions
suppliers, regulators, investors) to
share best practices and to help
develop the solutions that will help the
market grow despite those challenges.”
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creating a lot of hype, whose low-cost
model is based on outsourcing, and
should provide new opportunities for
solutions suppliers.”
PL:
Are there any challenges facing these developing markets, where are there
areas for improvement and how does AfricaCom help to further these advances?
JR:
“The major challenges facing Africa's
telecommunications market is the lack
of infrastructure, be it in terms of fixed-
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The Road Ahead
These are exciting times for African telecoms, and with the
world’s largest untapped market. What happens in Africa over the next few years
could drastically alter the global telecoms industry. With African telecoms set
to explode, AfricaCom could be a great way to get the lay of the land and see
what the future may hold.
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