By Emmanuel Okwuke / Senior IT. Correspondent
Fixed-line communication services account for only 3.6 per cent share of Africa’s telecoms market, according to research firm, Frost & Sullivan, which says mobile communications have captured 96.4 per cent of the continent’s subscriber market.
Frost & Sullivan says Africa’s low take-up of fixed-line services could be attributed to state-owned companies dominating the continent’s fixed line market.
“The rationale is that fixed-line communication services are offered solely by state-owned telecommunications companies across African countries with limited funds for infrastructure development and investment,” says Frost & Sullivan.
“Furthermore, lack of competition within the fixed-line market has resulted in little motivation to improve services, consequently, customers, choose to communicate through mobile devices rather than fixed-line modes,” says the research firm.
Africa’s mobile phone market has boomed in the last decade as affordable prepaid services in particular have taken hold on the continent. Mobile phone body, the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), forecasts that the total number of unique subscribers in Africa will reach 346 million by 2017.
Source : Independent