MARIAM ISA, Cape Town | Wednesday
THE pre-paid sector of the mobile phone market in Africa’s cash-based economies is driving the growth of GSM on the continent, Andrew Mthembu, chairman of the African section of the GSM Alliance said this week.
”Pre-paid is the key to growth in Africa,” he told the opening session of the annual GSM in Africa conference.
Mthembu, who is also managing director of Vodacom South Africa, said more than half of the GSM subscribers in Africa were pre-paid rather than contract holders.
He said there were eight million GSM subscribers on the continent – a figure he expected to hit 10 million by the end of the year.
But there were only six countries on the continent – South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe and Botswana – with more than 100000 GSM subscribers.
South Africa accounted for 80% of the continental total, Mthembu added.
He said the potential for growth was significant, although clear rules and regulations had to be laid down and there had to be transparency in the allocation of frequencies.
”The recent Nigerian and South African licensing delays need not be repeated,” he added.
What the operators had to get to work on seriously was roaming capabilities and compatibility between second and third generation technology, he added.
Michele Scanlon, research analyst manager at EMC World Cellular Database, told the more than 400 delegates at the conference she expected Africa’s share of the global cellular market to double to four percent within five years. – Reuters