South Africa, together with Egypt and Nigeria, has a full third of Africa’s total cell phone subscriber base.
According to a report by the mother body representing the interests of mobile operators worldwide, the Groupe Spécial Mobile Association (GSMA), there were 557 million unique mobile subscribers across Africa at the end of last year (2015), which is equivalent to 46% of the continent’s population. This makes Africa the second-largest – but least penetrated – mobile market in the world, of which South Africans, Egyptians and Nigerians represent slightly over 33.3% of all African mobile phone users.
Pan African development website Elicit Africa reports the increasing contribution of Africa’s mobile industry to strengthening regional economies is being highlighted in the report released during the recent GSMA Mobile 360 Africa event held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The report further suggests the mobile industry is boosting employment and public funding.
The report, as quoted by Elicit Africa, says the use of mobile technologies and services across Africa generated $153 billion in economic value last year (2015), equivalent to 6.7% of the region’s GDP. This contribution is expected to increase to $214 billion by 2020 (7.6% of expected GDP) as countries in Africa continue to benefit from the improvements in productivity and efficiency brought about by increased take-up of mobile services.
Africa’s mobile ecosystem also supported 3.8 million jobs in 2015 and made a $17 billion contribution to the public sector via general taxation. The number of jobs supported is forecast to rise to 4.5 million by 2020, while the tax contribution is expected to increase to $20.5 billion.
The report also explains how mobile is powering innovation and entrepreneurship across Africa. It notes that there are now approximately 310 active tech hubs across the region, including 180 accelerators or incubators. Mobile operators are supporting this ecosystem by opening up APIs to third-party developers in areas such as messaging, billing, location and mobile money, which has allowed start-ups to scale quickly.
Mobile technology playing a central role in addressing many of the social challenges in Africa, including the ability to provide citizens with official identities, tackling the ‘digital divide’ by enabling access to the mobile internet, and delivering financial inclusion via mobile money services. The number of mobile subscribers in Africa that access the mobile internet has tripled in the last five years, reaching 300 million by 2015, equivalent to a quarter of the African population. An additional 250 million subscribers are expected to become mobile internet users by 2020, bringing the total to 550 million (41% of expected population).
The report also found there were 557 million unique mobile subscribers across Africa at the end of 2015, equivalent to 46% of the continent’s population, making Africa the second-largest – but least penetrated – mobile market in the world. Africa’s three largest markets – Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa – together accounted for around a third of the total subscriber base. The number of unique mobile subscribers is forecast to reach 725 million by 2020, accounting for 54% of the expected population by this point.
The new report ‘The Mobile Economy: Africa 2016’ is authored by GSMA Intelligence, the research arm of the GSMA. To access the full report and related infographics, visit: .
