Oliver Meth
Africa is the next frontier for the internet, over the next three years.
A report by World Mobile, a blockchain-based mobile network operator, shows that the value of Africa’s internet economy is projected to more than double to over $180 billion by 2025 from the current estimated $115 billion.
Professional investors attribute the expected potential growth to the eased access of mobile phones in the continent.
The report reveals that investors are forecasting strong growth in the value of Africa’s internet economy, with mobile phones propelling the expansion.
By 2020, 495 million people subscribed to mobile services in Sub-Saharan Africa, representing 46% of the region’s population.
A pedestrian passes by an MTN advertisement in Nigeria. (Pic credit: APF) Co-founder and CEO of Clear Blue Technologies, Miriam Tuerek said that there’s a rise in quick adoption of digital technologies, with Kenya’s largest telecom operator, Safaricom seeing widespread adoption of its mobile payment App, M-pesa since its launch in 2007.
Increased use of mobile phones will be crucially central to the growth of the internet industry enhanced by improved production and affordability of these devices from countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, India, China, Germany, among others.
Tuerek added that “once the technology barrier is breached in providing initial basic internet access, and evolving into faster and larger networks, we can expect to see a dramatic increase in the global digital population. And as that growth in internet access happens, particularly among Africa’s younger demographic, it will power economic growth and create new markets.”
Another study by PureProfile, an advertising agency company, surveyed investors responsible for around $700 billion assets under management. The results showed that twenty-five per cent of investor managers expect Africa’s internet industry to increase by 51 per cent in the next three years.
Over 71 percent of professional investors expect the affordability of mobile phones in Africa to improve by 2025.
A pedestrian runs past a Huawei Technologies Co. mural painted on a wall in Lusaka, Zambia, on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018. Most of the digital infrastructure projects in Zambia, like the more visible airport terminals and highways, are being built and financed by China, putting the country at what the International Monetary Fund calls a high risk of debt distress /AFP/ Currently, the mobile phone economy accounts for an average of 6.8 percent of monthly incomes.
Ninety-seven per cent of all professional investors believe that the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the demand for mobile phones.
https://africaequity.net/africas-internet-economy-to-increase-by-51-over-3-years/