2009-11-03 22:25:03 -
West and Central Africa Telecommunications Report Q4 2009 - a new market research report on companiesandmarkets.com www.companiesandmarkets.com/Summary-Market-Report/west-and-centr ..
BMIs West and Central Africa report covers a broad range of telecoms markets. Central Africa sees
some of the most extreme examples, ranging from Gabon, a well-developed but small mobile market, just
waiting for operators to start fully exploiting the potential of value-added services, to the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, which has massive growth potential thanks to a large population and a
penetration
rate that is under 20%. Most of the West African markets have between three and four active mobile
operators, and penetration rates of between 30% and 55%.
Probably the most exciting developments since the last update of this report have been in Senegal and
Cameroon. January saw the launch of Senegals third national mobile operator, and now that we have the
new operators Q109 results, it has been added to our market statistics. Expresso, as the new network has
been branded, is owned by Sudan incumbent Sudatel, which already has a network in nearby Mauritania.
As well as the third network operator, Senegal has joined Cameroon as one of the few African markets to
have an MVNO. BMI maintains that this development is somewhat premature in both markets, but will
probably do no harm, and could increase competition to some degree.
In Cameroon, news has been focused on the internet market and network development. Due to an ongoing
dispute between the incumbent Camtel and MTN Cameroon, work has been suspended on a new fibreoptic
backbone project. At the same time, new internet service providers are hailing increased
competition in the internet market for bringing prices down.
The west coast of Africa, while already served by the SAT-3 international submarine cable, is still
waiting to benefit from new submarine projects that should help to alleviate congestion and bring more
affordable broadband services to some areas. The GLO-1 cable is expected to launch before the end of the
year, while the WACS cable may take a little longer.
