Sub-Saharan Africa will remain the fastest growing region, with an additional 167 million subscribers over the period to 2025. This will take the total subscriber base to just over 600 million, representing around half the population. Nigeria and Ethiopia will record the fastest growth rates between now and 2025, at 19% and 11% respectively.

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).

In this Region in Focus, we cover market trend analysis for the MENA region to December 2018 and provide insight into recent technology, regulatory and competition developments. We also include analysis of the performance of Etisalat, Ooredoo, Orange, Vodafone and Zain in the region; look at the diverse landscape for mobile financial services; and examine the hurdles remaining for those looking to join the 5G race.

By the end of 2018, there were 185 million unique mobile subscribers in West Africa, an increase of nearly 10 million over the previous year. Future growth will largely be driven by young consumers owning a mobile phone for the first time; more than 40% of the sub-region’s population are under 18 years old. A considerable proportion will become young adults over the next decade.

This report assesses the impact of mobile money on monetary and financial stability across several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa – something no previous study has done. It shows that mobile money can enable more effective monetary policy and is also associated with growth in the commercial banking sector. The report’s findings are highly relevant to central banks, mobile money providers and the wider financial sector because they can inform policy discussions both in countries where mobile money has not achieved scale and in those where it has.

GSMA is launching a new compact research series called Region in Focus. The research complements our existing long-form Mobile Economy reports and provides targeted analysis, insights and future implications of telecoms and broader TMT market trends in a given region and key countries within it.

Advanced MENA markets are at the forefront of innovation, with the GCC Arab States in particular looking to be global leaders in the deployment of 5G networks.

For many consumers across Sub-Saharan Africa, the mobile phone is not just a communication device but also the primary channel to get online, as well as a vital tool to access various life-enhancing services.

GSMA Intelligence, in collaboration with the GSMA’s Disaster Response team, is today publishing a report on disaster response in Middle East and North Africa. This report is part of a series focusing on four key regions: Asia Pacific, Middle East & North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.

The number of smartphone connections in Africa has doubled over the past two years, and by mid-2017 will account for a third of total connections. However, varying levels of affordability and network coverage between countries have resulted in uneven rates of smartphone adoption across the region. While smartphone adoption and mobile internet penetration are increasing across all markets, some operators are pushing ahead by implementing innovative data tariffs and investing strongly in infrastructure to drive 3G/4G usage and thus data revenues.

The positive contribution of the mobile sector to the economy is well recognised. However, the tax treatment of the sector is not always aligned with best-practice principles of taxation; this may have a distortive impact on the industry’s development.

GSMA Intelligence is today publishing a report on consumer barriers to mobile internet adoption in Africa. Produced in collaboration with the GSMA’s Connected Society team, this report focusses on understanding the consumer barriers to digital inclusion in the region.

The number of 4G-LTE mobile networks in Africa has doubled over the last 18 months, with coverage now reaching one in five people. Since the beginning of 2015, mobile operators have launched 34 new networks, extending 4G services to 14 more countries, including some of the world’s lowest GDP markets such as Malawi, Burundi and Liberia.