Communication
Five ways African Telecom companies can boost network quality
HOUSTON TX– The Mobile revolution in Africa has become one of the spectacular success stories of the ongoing 21st century. With huge market chunks scattered all across the continent, as well as significant growth potential, doing telecoms business in Africa is becoming more profitable and, of course, challenging.
African telecoms, Internet and Broadcasting Consultancy, Balancing Act, reveals five imperatives for telecom operators in line with improving service delivery.
– Embrace Shared Infrastructure. Telcos can leverage economies of scale and cut costs by sharing masts and related infrastructure, thus providing more cash to invest in improving service delivery. Additionally, the cost savings can be passed down to the consumer who will readily jump at an opportunity to get cheaper data of premium quality. This may be a prudent path especially for players who are not yet industry leaders in their geography.
– Accelerate LTE Deployment. The Long Term Evolution is a new wave of high-speed communication technology sweeping across the globe, and this is the future of high-speed delivery in Africa. An upgrade to LTE will guarantee drastically improved service quality; although it is a high fixed-cost investment, it will pay back many times over as broadband penetration on the continent improves. Rolling this out also requires establishing more enhanced data links, and acquiring better infrastructure.
– Boost Wifi Coverage. WiFi, as a technology, is already available and can serve as an enabler of LTE. While many African countries have rolled out Wi-Fi, more remains to be done. Setting up more hotspots is not exactly profitable, but it drives data volumes and consumer use thus playing a strategic role in delivering services.
– Seek to Power Base Stations Directly from the National Grid. By far, the highest component of the cost structure of any telco is power, and this is driven by many factors including the sketchy power situation in the African region and the consequent cost of powering private generating units. Much like sharing masts, telcos can attempt to float a joint electricity distribution company that services their needs, this assumes that efforts to get the government to directly power their base stations prove abortive.
– Adopt New Business Models. It will be worth it to rethink the current approaches to doing business on the continent. LTE, and other technologies that offer improved service delivery are definitely expensive, but hiking the cost of data is not the way to satisfy the African consumer. There is the need to think up newer models that accommodate improved services and lower price points at the same time.
Smartphones are already becoming commodity items in Africa, and given that the average African consumer is price sensitive, operators should remain committed to continuous improvement without stressing the consumers’ pockets. The result will be the undying allegiance of one of the most tech savvy regions on earth.
Ventures Africa-
In a significant market projection, Mordor Intelligence predicts that the Nigerian telecom sector is set to surge to a value of $11.43 billion by 2029.
The report anticipates a steady growth trajectory with a cumulative average growth rate (CAGR) of 4.70% between 2024 and 2029, based on the current market value of $9.09 billion.
The transformation of Nigeria’s telecom landscape, fueled by government initiatives to boost internet infrastructure and broadband connectivity, coupled with rising data consumption, 5G deployments, and innovative strategies from major telecom players, is expected to drive this substantial market expansion.
The report underscores additional factors propelling the growth of Nigeria’s telecom sector, emphasizing the surge in smartphone adoption.
the report said “Increased smartphone adoption in Nigeria has fueled the development of a dynamic digital services sector. Currently, millions of Nigerians use mobile apps, including social networking sites, e-commerce, and financial services.
“These apps could leverage smartphones’ capabilities to offer speed, convenience, and efficiency, encouraging more people to invest in smartphones.
“In addition to these expansions and collaborations, the growing adoption of digital technologies and government support in aiding the same alongside the 5G technology implementation across the country is analyzed to boost the demand for telecom towers significantly.”
“In addition to these expansions and collaborations, the growing adoption of digital technologies and government support in aiding the same alongside the 5G technology implementation across the country is analyzed to boost the demand for telecom towers significantly.”
Mordor Intelligence highlights that the flourishing e-commerce and digital service platforms in Nigeria are significant drivers behind the escalating demand for dependable telecom services in the country.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has granted MTN’s request to partially disconnect Globacom (Glo) from its network owing to unsettled interconnect charges.
Reuben Muoka, the NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, disclosed this in a document named ‘Pre-Disconnection Notice’ on Monday.
The move follows Glo’s persistent failure to clear its outstanding debts despite multiple attempts to resolve the issue.
Under this partial disconnection, Globacom subscribers will solely receive calls from MTN users, while retaining access to other network services like outgoing calls to other networks and data services.
However, they won’t be able to initiate calls to MTN users during this period.
The statement read, “All subscribers are, therefore requested to take notice that the Commission has approved the Partial Disconnection of Globacom to MTN in accordance with Section 100 of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003 and Paragraph 9 of the Guidelines on Procedure for Granting Approval to Disconnect Telecommunications Operators, 2012.
“At the expiration of 10 days from January 8, 2024, subscribers of Globacom will no longer be able to make calls to MTN but will be able to receive calls.
“The Partial Disconnection, however, will allow in-bound calls to the Globacom network,” it added
Nigerian telecommunication users, along with others within the country, expended a total of N3.33 trillion on various telecom services such as calls, data, SMS, and more throughout 2022, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
This information comes from the recently published ‘2022 Subscriber/Network Data Annual Report’ by the NCC, which also revealed that telecom companies generated N3.33 trillion in overall revenue for that year.
The report further highlights a noteworthy growth of active voice subscriptions, rising from 195,463,898 subscriptions in 2021 to 222,571,568 by December 2022, marking a 13.86% year-on-year increase.
Commenting on the increase, it said, “The increase in the Operators’ subscriber base was attributed to a number of reasons which includes subscriber loyalty, promos, seasonal effects, aggressive consumer acquisition drive, and competitive product offerings across all the networks.”
It noted that the growth in active subscriptions impacted positively on other derived telecom indicators such as teledensity, Internet penetration as well as broadband penetration.
Data usage also continued its surge in 2022. It increased by 46.77 per cent to 518,381.78TB as of the end of the year.
The NCC stated, “There was an increase in the volume of data consumed at the year-end December 2022 when compared with the year-end December 2021.
“The total volume of data consumed by subscribers increased to 518,381.78TB as of December 2022 from 353,118.89TB as of December 2021. This represents an increase of 46.77 per cent in data consumption within the period.”
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