Expert Urges Consumers to Demand Better Connectivity, Service

Riaan Graham, Sales Director for Ruckus Wireless, sub-Saharan Africa, has asked Africans to start asking for better connectivity and service.

"With the current market dynamics, mobile operators are finding themselves under tremendous pressure to adapt, or face getting left behind," Graham said.

"Added to this, is the introduction of affordable smartphones and the ongoing dominance of social media and Over-the-Top (OTT) services, which has certainly changed 'the game' and is driving consumers to demand more from their mobile operators – not only in terms of better coverage – but better connectivity too.

Additionally, as mobile penetration continues to rise, this demand will increase, especially if we consider that many consumers are moving away from pure voice services towards data, data and more data."

Mobile internet adoption in Africa is growing rapidly with the number of mobile internet subscribers tripling in the last five years to 300 million at the end of 2015, according to GSMA's The Mobile Economy Africa 2016.

However, with an additional 250 million expected by 2020, the rising rate of smartphone adoption and more access to mobile broadband networks, the increasing pressure on traditional voice and SMS revenues is weighing and will continue to weigh on overall revenue growth.

The rising competition, slowing growth and increased regulatory actions in many markets have affected mobile operators' margins (which have fallen by more than 6% points over the last five years).

Graham said: "Africans need to start asking for better connectivity and service. The culture of just accepting what is provided even though the service is not up to par with what is needed will stifle improvements in the sector, which will in turn bring down costs.

He said this is particularly important as Africa is likely to see more Wi-Fi being deployed in cities and metro areas now than ever before.

"Currently we are seeing mobile operators and service providers all adopt a copy and paste model where they aren't being truly innovative and thinking outside the box to improve service delivery. At this point, someone needs to take the leap and adapt from the 'common' way of doing things to a 'new' way otherwise we are unlikely to see the necessary change.

For example, Dar es Salaam has 3G available for customers but it's not adequate as consumers on average have two mobile devices to allow them to swop between the two to get the best coverage."