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Mobile Data Services to Play Growing Role in African Wireless Market

5:40 am on July 29, 2008 | Category: Business, Internet, Telecom Services, Wireless

Operator-billed wireless service revenues across Africa and the Middle East will grow to more than $107 billion annually by 2013, as mobile data services catch on in the region, according to a new report by Juniper Research.

Voice services, which currently account for about 90% of revenues in the area, will continue to grow along with market penetration over the next couple of years, before peaking in 2011, as heated price competition drives average revenue per user (ARPU) downwards. By that time, however, mobile data services will be developed enough to pick up the slack.

“While the downward trend in regional ARPU will continue as adoption increases amongst lower-usage customers, we expect the decline in voice ARPU to be partially offset by an increase in data revenues, both amongst 2.5G and 3G customers,” commented Dr. Windsor Holden, author of the Juniper report, which also predicts a surge in mobile financial services.

By 2013, wireless data services including cellular broadband, email, and messaging, mobile banking, and multimedia downloads are expected to account for 24% of operator-billed service revenue in Africa and the Middle East.

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