Sub-Saharan Africa wins at mobile
New research by the GSMA reveals that mobile contributes over 6% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP, higher than any other comparable region, globally – and this is forecast to rise to over 8% by 2020.
The report, “Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Economy 2013”, developed by GSMA Intelligence, found that, in 2012, the mobile ecosystem directly supported 3.3 million jobs and contributed US $21 billion to public funding in the region, including licence fees.
By 2020, mobile is set to double its economic effect, employing 6.6 million men and women in the region and contributing US $42 billion to public funding.
Sub-Saharan Africa’s unique mobile subscriber base has grown by 18% annually over the last five years, making it the fastest growing region globally.
By mid-2013, there were 253 million unique mobile subscribers and 502 million connections.
Mobile transforming Sub-Saharan Africa
With many countries in the region seeing fixed line penetration rates of less than 5%, mobile has emerged as the main medium for accessing the internet across Sub-Saharan Africa.
While 2G connections still dominate in the region, 3G and 4G networks are gaining scale and smartphone ownership is on the rise. With unique subscriber penetration rates still less than 33%, this opens up a major opportunity for growth in the next five years, the GSMA said.
Broader economic analysis predicts that mobile broadband adoption would generate up to US $197 billion in additional GDP in Sub-Saharan Africa between 2015 and 2020 and help fuel the creation of 16 million new jobs across a variety of sectors.
“Despite the significant impact of the mobile industry in Sub-Saharan Africa in recent years, even greater opportunities are ahead,” said Tom Phillips, chief regulatory officer, GSMA.
“Beyond further growth for basic voice services, the region is starting to see an explosion in the uptake of mobile data. However, a short-term focus by some countries on generating high spectrum fees and maximising tax revenue risks constraining the potential of the mobile Internet.”
Mobile impact on Sub-Saharan Africa
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