Mobile internet usage in SSA leaps as smartphones penentration rises

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) will witness a quantum leap in mobile internet usage over the next five years, piggy backing on the rise of social media, content-rich applications and video content accessed from a new range of cheaper smartphones, according to telecommunications equipment maker, Ericsson.

Mobile internet use doubling year-on-year, with usage expected to increase 20 times in the next five years. By 2017, 3G technology will outstrip 2G to become the region’s dominant form of mobile connection, according to the firm. Consumers in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria are increasingly using video TV and media services from their smartphones. “Nigerians are one of the chief contributors on Facebook.

The key factor that will drive the growth of mobile internet is smartphone prices”, says Kamar Abass, managing director, Ericsson Nigeria, in a media briefing in Lagos.

According to him, the sub $100 smartphones are already a reality, adding the under $50 smartphones will make the need difference in mobile data uptake. The June 2014 Sub-Saharan Africa Ericsson Mobility Report shows that in 2014 phone users accessed 76,000 TB (terabyte) of data per month, double the 2013 figure of 37,500 TB per month. In 2015 the figures are expected to double again with phone users accessing 147,000 TB per month. The firm predicts that by 2019, the mobile subscription in will reach the 930 million mark, adding that smartphone and broadband subscription will hit 557m and 710m mark respectively. In the same vein, Fredrik Jejdling, regional head of Ericsson Sub-Saharan Africa, says: “SSAis currently undergoing a mobile digital revolution with consumers, networks and even media companies are wakening up the possibilities of 3G and 4G technology.

“We have seen the trend emerging over a few years but in the past twelve months the digital traffic has increased over 100 percent forcing us to revise our existing predictions.” In the next five years, the Report’s findings show that the voice call traffic in Sub-Saharan Africa will double and there will be an explosion in mobile data withgrowing 20 times between 2013 and 2019, twice the anticipated global expansion. By 2019 the report predicts that 75 percent of mobile subscriptions will be internet inclusive (3G or 4G). This growth however has been predicted following the launch in 2014 of a number of smartphones for under $50 USD by a number of major device manufacturers allowing the rapid expansion of 3G and 4G technology across the region. The 2014 Report predicts that in just three years’ time 3G technology will become the dominant technology across the region.

According to Jejdling, “The rise of cheap smartphones will allow vast portions of the population – from middle classes in cities to small businesses in rural areas – access to mobile broadband. “Mobile commerce can offer endless opportunities for entrepreneurs and we’ve found that farmers are fans of mobile wallets – as well as teenagers wanting to watch music videos on their smartphone.”

The report predicts that by 2017, 3G technology will outstrip 2G to become the region’s dominant form of mobile connection. Ericsson, Swedish telecoms equipment maker, regularly performs traffic measurements in over 100 live networks across the world and predictions have been made in collaboration with Ericsson ConsumerLab, utilising population, macroeconomic trends combined with the firm’s own anonymised data.