Region in Focus: Sub-Saharan Africa, Q1 2019

Revenue stream diversification a top priority

Region in Focus research provides targeted analysis, insights and future implications of telecoms and broader TMT market trends in a given region and key countries within it. In this edition, we analyse key market trends in Sub-Saharan Africa for the period to March 2019, and provide insights into recent technology, regulatory and competition developments. We also include country-level analysis for five markets – Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa – based on recent operators results and underlying market drivers.

2019 will be a pivotal year for the region, with mobile broadband connections (3G and above) set to overtake 2G connections for the first time. The coming years will see continued growth in mobile broadband adoption as a result of 4G spectrum allocation, rising smartphone adoption, and the increasing availability of locally relevant and data-centric digital content (such as video streaming and online gaming). As voice and data revenues come under increasing competitive and regulatory pressure, there is an urgent need for operators to seek incremental revenues from adjacent services to sustain overall growth.