With 44 million subscribers, in 2008 Nigeria beats South Africa to become largests mobile market. New customers are signing up at a rate of almost one per second, and yet market penetration stands at only just over 30%. To expand networks, operators are investing billions of dollars. 3G services have been instigated, and rising competition comes from a number of additional players who have entered the lucrative mobile market under a new unified licensing regime. Falling ARPU levels compelling the operators to introduce new services and transform themselves into converged broadband service providers.
Operators covered for Nigeria include
- MTN
- MTC
- Nitel
- Globacom
Notable highlights of Mobile Forecast include:
- The subscriber base in Nigeria will be increasing rapidly from 2008 to 2010. The number of total subscribers will rise from our current projected 52.7 million to a forecasted 70.8 million in 2010.
- The level of wireless penetration in the country will also increase from 35.9% in 2008 to 45.5% in 2010.
- The largest operator in Nigeria will continue to be MTN whose market share in 2010 will be 43.6%. The competitive environment in the Nigerian wireless market to be stable over the next few years with second player (MTC) and third player (Globacom) serving approximately 33.1% and 20.3% of total subscribers respectively.
- MTN will receive ARPU of US$ 14.57 and will enjoy 52.9% EBITDA margin in 2010 whereas MTC will have ARPU of US$ 8.07 and 39.8% EBITDA margin.