Deloitte recently completed an in-depth analysis of the market, its trends, and the drivers of it. Click on the link below to download the full paper.

The future of Telecoms in Africa: The “blueprint for the brave”

Africa can no longer be considered the Dark Continent. Given the rate at which mobile connectivity is growing, it seems only natural that the way business is done will change. But how will Telco’s embrace this change and are they even ready for it? We are convinced that there will be consolidation in the telecommunications sector and inevitably more inbound investment as the market opens up and the economic returns improve.

Indigenous companies, foreign investors, and global players have all made significant investment into the continent or certainly parts of it. Even governments are waking up to the opportunity to regulate and to auction spectrum and licences.

While the future shape is still far from clear, we see four potential scenarios:

1. Winner takes all – as the markets consolidate quicker than most operators can respond
2. Turf wars continue as new and existing operators battle it out for the profitable market and are joined by banks trying to protect their core business against mobile payments
3. New entrants come into the market from adjacent sectors with greater added value than the traditional carriers – foreign media and even advertising groups are viewing telcos as a readymade channel to market and
4. Owning the hearts, minds, and wallets of consumers is the end goal. Will telcos, who have laid the foundation for connectivity and access, be the winners; or will it be global technology groups, the banks, media, advertisers or retailer giants?

The impact in not just on the industry incumbents, but on all players in their respective value chains (hardware, software, services and people provisioning) as they reposition their offerings to keep in step with an unchartered end-state.

Click here to access the full report.