Affordable handsets and mobile broadband tariffs enhance uptake in West African region
A new research report has unearthed that over the past years that the West African broadband market has witnessed a dramatic increase in broadband connections mainly due to the deployments of advanced technologies and affordable customer premise equipment as well as tariffs. It was also found that the market earned revenues of $929.9 million in 2009 and estimates this to reach $1.932 billion in 2016.
Internet service providers (ISPs) still remain the dominant players in the region, except for Nigeria where mobile broadband connections have outpaced fixed broadband connections. In comparison to other countries, high investments are made in infrastructure development and broadband services present the highest areas for growth opportunities due to the decline in voice revenues.
The West African region is characterized by poor telecoms infrastructure. Mobile broadband connections have outpaced fixed broadband connections in many countries in the region. This trend is likely to be observed in key markets like Cameroon and Ivory Coast in the next 5 years.
The low fixed penetration shows that the majority of population can only access broadband services via their handsets. The low levels of broadband penetration in the region indicate that there is room for growth opportunities across the region.
The key challenge faced by market participants is the high cost of customer premise equipment. Limited availability of bandwidth, paralleled by high costs and the low disposable income of the majority of the population across the region, also poses challenges.
A number of factors currently hamper the growth of this region including low disposable income. Poor telecoms infrastructure and shortage of bandwidth in most countries in the region also threaten to dampen market prospects.
Facing challenges and restraints in the broadband market, ISPs and mobile operators are expected to improve the quality of services through continuous infrastructure investment like network capacity upgrade and deployments of new technologies.
Developing innovative solutions such as cyber caf©s that target the mass market and partnering with content providers to offer localized content are some approaches that ISPs and mobile operators can deploy. These strategies will help drive up the demand for broadband services.
Global Mobile Revenues to surpass US$1 Trillion in 2014
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: More than US$1 trillion will be recorded in total mobile service revenues in 2013. Rise in the data revenues will leverage the growth in service revenues as the former will rise to over US$330 billion that year, up from an estimated US$208 billion in 2008.
The voice revenues and ARPU will be surpassed by data revenues and data ARPU in Japan in 2014. The LTE in Japan including other markets might help to support this boom in data revenues.
A loss of 70% will be recorded by the end of 2012, in the second-generation mobile technologies, accounting for 90% of the world’s subscriptions. 3G and 3.5G+ technologies will cover 6.7 billion mobile subscriptions while by 2014, 3.5G+ technologies will represent over a third of the total number of subscriptions.
Colt blames ‘tough’ market for lower Q3 revenues
UK-listed Colt Telecom reported a drop in revenues and underlying profits in its fiscal third quarter due to continued fierce competition for corporate telecoms accounts.
Revenues for the three months to the end of September fell 0.6 pct year-on-year to 453.7 mln eur, while underlying profits — as measured by EBITDA — dipped 0.9 mln eur to 66.2 mln.
A consensus of four brokers called for sales of 451 mln and EBITDA of 66 mln.
‘Market conditions have changed little in the last few months and continue to be tough (and) pressure on Colt’s voice revenues continued, especially in the corporate voice markets in both the UK and Germany,’ said chief executive JeanYves Charlier in a statement.
Colt has been trying to increase the amount of turnover generated from more profitable data services, reducing its reliance on voice calls, where charges continue to fall sharply.
These ‘non-switched’ revenues grew by 8.9 pct to 196.5 mln eur in the third quarter, having signed 10 major new deals in the last period worth over 100 mln eur, it said.
Looking ahead, Colt said it continues to cut costs and expects to generate positive free cash flow for the second year running in 2006.
Excluding regulatory cuts to mobile phone call charges, Colt’s turnover inched 1.1 pct higher in the third quarter, it added.
Source- http://www.forbes.com
