After months of speculations, Nigeria has officially taken the lead as Africa’s largest telecommunications market, Informa Telecoms & Media (IT&M), organizers of the annual West and Central AfriCom exhibitions has said.
Teccla Mbongue, Research Analyst, IT&M, told Nigeria Communications Week in Abuja that the continent’s most populated country is leading the way in West and Central Africa not only in terms of market numbers, but also with services.
She said with a regulatory regime which introduced universal licences in the market, services providers are now using new business models to improve access to the Internet as well as voice communications. As a result, GSM operators are experiencing competition from companies using alternative technologies for the benefit of the consumers.
She cited example of CDMA player Starcoms which she described as the first non-GSM operator to claim over 1 million customers in Nigeria, and optimistic about gaining another million in the near future.
Mbongue observed that other countries in the region are beginning to look into the opportunities of convergent or triple play services, citing France Telecom (Orange Group), with its 8 operations in the region including 3 launched in the last year, a new development to draw from its experience in Europe to deliver both fixed-line and mobile services.
