A new forecast from analyst firm Informa Telecoms & Media projects that mobile subscription in Africa will pass the 750 million mark in the fourth quarter of 2012.
The group further projects that by 2015 the number of mobile subscribers on the continent will number 1 billion. Africa has the fastest rate of mobile growth in major world regions and has the second-biggest mobile market region by subscription count according to Informa. It is beaten by the Asia-Pacific region but outstrips all of the others.
Informa’s principal analyst for Africa and the Middle East Matthew Reed said in a statement “Africa’s mobile market continues to grow robustly, driven by competition among mobile operators, , the availability of new data services and strong economic growth on the continent. And substantial opportunities for further growth remain, because the rate of mobile penetration in Africa is the lowest among major world regions and fixed networks are under-developed or absent across much of the continent.”
Nigeria and Egypt are expected to remain the leaders in mobile subscriptions for the continent.
The information released by Informa notes that several African countries, South Africa among them, have rolled out LTE services ahead of some better developed European markets. The countries are Angola, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania.