Mobile data business in Africa projected to hit $23 billion by 2018

Findings from research commissioned by Informa Telecoms & Media in July 2013 on trends in global mobile data usage shows that the rise in digital service usage will drive Africa’s mobile data business to be worth US$23 billion in 2018.

Of the 12 countries surveyed – a range of developed and developing markets, South Africans are the 4th biggest spenders, behind consumers in the US, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.

This is illustrative of a trend across the African telecoms market. The continent’s mobile data business is currently worth US$8.5 billion a year and will exceed US$23 billion in 2018. “It is consumer demand that is driving this growth”, explains Nick Jotischky, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. “But retail prices are still too high, smartphones are too expensive and there continues to be a lack of investment in connecting parts of rural Africa: These are barriers restraining even greater consumer demand.”

Read more: BIZCOMMUNITY.com