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11 key predictions that will drive the Africa mobile industry in 2017
The panel discussion was moderated by Akinwale Goodluck, Head of Sub Saharan Africa GSMA. The Panelists comprised of Dorcas Muthoni,…
The panel discussion was moderated by Akinwale Goodluck, Head of Sub Saharan Africa GSMA. The Panelists comprised of Dorcas Muthoni, CEO and Founder Open World, Mariam Abdullahi SAP Africa’s Telecommunications Industry Lead and Simon Karikari current Acting General Manager for Tigo Tanzania.
The panel also looked into ways that mobile technology status quo in each industry be challenged, policies reshaped and communities empowered and how the industry will enable and sustain this momentum across Africa.
“Mobile technology offers a transformative opportunity to advance digital Africa; from the digitisation of humanitarian services and the provision of access to information in displacement contexts, to the scaling of mobile money and utilities services in fast developing sectors of the economy,” said Akinwale Goodluck.
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To top it all up The panel discussed and came up with 11 key predictions that will re-shape the mobile industry. Here are the key predictions
Data will continue to grow rapidly boosted by smartphone adoption and social media briefings: If you look at Sub Saharan Africa there are about 200 million Smartphones on the Network. Going by the trend the panel predicted that by 2020 and going by the current trends Sub-Saharan Africa will add on another 300 million smartphones in the network.
More collaboration and multi-stakeholders initiatives to support mobile economic and social contribution to development
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The panel said that there were three areas multi-stake holders needed to collaborate in to drive the industry, one is infrastructure, content and the third area is bundled prices to ensure affordability. The panel also said that the OTTs were here to stay and Mobile Operators need to seek ways the two industry players can work together
High speed mobile data LTE will drive internet access and adoption in Africa
In Africa today we have 97 LTE Networks, if this prediction is correct next year the industry will grow its LTE Networks as more and more operators invest heavily into the networks.
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Mobile on-demand applications (P2P,B2C and G2C)will provide answer to elusive local content gap
Today a lot of people spend time consuming content online and this will see greater and greater outcry of local content.
Continued impact on margins from market saturation and continued disruption from OTT Providers:
The disruption by OTT Providers will continue to grow. This in turn will see the OTT Providers and Mobile Operators collaborate in a way to drive profitability for both.
Cloud will continue to be on the rise to enable cost containment and move from Capex to Opex:
Cloud is among the key tech trends globally and will continue to grow. More and more operators will move from the Capex Platform to an Opex platform to enhance sustainability.
Other predictions brought out included:
Network revolution to amplify further to enable no latency digital life and IoT scenarios
New financial regulations will come to effect in 2018
Competition will be more intense and the challenges or opportunities will be with Non-Telco players
Telco consolidation to intensify again to achieve better economies of scale
Reverse of liberalization in Africa as Broadband penetration and adoption becomes more politically sensitive and relevant.