ISSUE 05 2014
AFRICA
37
L
TE is on the move in Africa, of that there is no doubt. In the first instance, it looks like enterprise users will form the advance party
of LTE’s initial successes across this vast and varied continent. But Africa’s markets are as hungry for bandwidth- devouring services as users in more developed markets and this segment will gradually catch up – at least in urban and semi-urban areas – but only when LTE devices become more readily available, cheaper and as services are priced affordably.
LTE Today spoke with Amy Cameron, ICT analyst at Business Monitor International (BMI), Ankit Trivedi, ICT research analyst at Frost & Sullivan (F&S) Africa, and Abegunde Oluwole, research analyst, telecoms and media (West Africa), at IDC, and gathered some fascinating insight and analysis, as well as some of the very latest facts on what LTE is doing in this market.
What is it that LTE offers Africa at this time and does Africa really need LTE now when 2G/3G services and feature phones still dominate the region? BMI, Amy Cameron: Because wireline networks across Africa are scarce, BMI expects LTE to be the main source of high speed broadband connections over the long term. While 3G provides high enough quality for most mobile data needs, LTE offers higher speeds necessary for residential and small enterprise customers looking to stream videos and use services such as basic cloud computing.
F&S, Ankit Trivedi: African countries that have deployed LTE will be globally recognised as those that are up to date with the latest technology trends. This would play a critical role in bringing foreign direct investment to those countries, which, in turn, would boost
Amy Cameron, ICT analyst at Business Monitor International
socio-economic growth. In addition, enterprises in Africa need LTE, as it will provide them with VoIP capabilities to better support conferencing and collaboration platforms that are essential to success. From a residential user’s perspective, LTE is needed as users have a desire for improved browsing, downloads and a general online viewing experience.
IDC, Abegunde Oluwole: Technology innovations, such as LTE, have a far reaching potential beyond providing better experience for consumers. Availability of high-speed LTE connectivity to the wider population allows for an increased quality of, and new approaches to, education, healthcare and government services, and gives rise to new business models, among others. In addition, staying up to date with latest technologies has an impact on how countries are perceived by international investors, as well as on the overall business environment. African countries have started to implement national broadband strategies, which identify broadband as one of the key pillars for socio-economic growth. That said, there are many challenges associated with LTE deployment in Africa and we expect mobile operators to focus on investments in 3G technology, which will drive African mobile broadband development. LTE is also being positioned to serve businesses in Africa rather than consumers. The improved data speeds and capacity that LTE offers have made it suitable to deploy unified communication solutions and potential machine-to-machine connections. Moreover, most of the LTE networks deployed in Africa are fixed
wireless access and not mobile, unlike 3G. A lot of the LTE networks on the continent are being accessed using CPEs (customer premise equipment) and MiFi (mobile Wi-Fi) devices rather than mobile devices. This has not made LTE attractive for the average 3G consumer that enjoys accessing the Internet on their mobile phone.
It’s predicted that the number of mobile subscribers in Africa will approach 1.5 billion over the next five years. What proportion of these do you expect will really need LTE to support the services they use in everyday life? BMI: While we do not expect many subscribers to use LTE for voice services, in urban areas LTE technology provides the most cost-effective means of offering high speed broadband coverage, given the limited reach of copper and fibre cables. Many WiMAX and CDMA providers are in the process of upgrading their networks to LTE, like Spectranet in Nigeria and YooMee in Cameroon, to name but two.
F&S: Currently, there are close to 350,000 LTE users in Africa, which is less than one per cent of current mobile subscribers on the continent. In the next five years, we should see the market
Ankit Trivedi, ICT research analyst at Frost & Sullivan
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