A new GSMA Report released yesterday hails Africa’s mobile technology as one of the catalysts for economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The report that also identified South Saharan Africa as the fastest growing mobile markets in the world looked at how the mobile phone has changed the way Africans communicate, connect on the internet and even make payments.
According to the report, mobile companies in all parts of SSA have seen an increase in revenue over the years. One part standing out is the East Africa region, which has surpassed all other parts of Africa to record the highest revenue for telecom companies.
The rapid pace of mobile adoption has delivered huge economic benefits for the region, directly contributing US$32 billion to the sub-Saharan African economy, or 4.4 percent of GDP, the report further stated, adding that that 3.5 million jobs are attributed to the mobile industry in Africa, which has also spurred a wave of technology and content innovation.
“More than 50 ‘innovation hubs’, which develop local skills and content in the field of ICT services , have been created, including the Hive Colab in Uganda, the iHub in Kenya, and Limbe Labs in Cameroon.
“Safaricom’s M-PESA mobile money transfer service in Kenya has achieved greater scale than any other service in the world. Today, there are more than 80 mobile money operations for the unbanked across Africa compared to 36 in Asia, the second most popular region for these services,” GSMA reports.
The report, also highlighted some of the innovations that are coming up thanks to mobile operators. It said, services that educates farmers, businessmen and government, such as DrumNet in Kenya helps to disseminate information easily hence saving on cost and time.
The release of the GSMA report coincides with the release of another report from Informa Telecom and Media that also reiterates the findings of GSMA, which also revealed that mobile broadband will constitute greatly to companies revenue in the next few years.
