Thecla Mbongue, senior analyst at Informa Telecoms and Media, speaking this morning in Johannesburg. Image by HumanIPO.
Digital migration in Africa continues to be a controversial matter in Africa as tech advancement is hampered by widespread poverty.
Africa’s social obstacles are standing in the way of digital migration, statistics by Informa Telecoms and Media, presented at this morning’s session of Digital Services Africa conference, in Johannesburg, show.
While 25 per cent of 200 million households on the continent own at least one television set, not many can afford the cost of digital television.
HumanIPO reported yesterday on Tanzania, where digital migration is not favoured by financially challenged communities.
Speaking at the conference, Thecla Mbongue, senior analyst at Informa Telecoms and Media, revealed the status quo on digital and mobile progress.
According to Mbongue, there were more than seven million PayTV subscribers in Africa 2012.
“It’s not just about tech, it’s more about the mobile population being able to buy a set-top box in order to review channels,” the analyst said.
While most African countries are determined to accomplish digital migration by 2015, there are still multiple “questions and issues” with regards to progress as competition between African countries grow.
Referring to mobile subscription statistics measured in 2012 in Africa, Mbongue said industry role players should pay attention to these to reach African communities more effectively.
“Obviously the market is being dominated by mobile networks, this is growing at very low penetration over the continent,” she said.
Mobile broadband subscriptions during 2012 were measured at a count of 62 million.
With 8 per cent of mobile subscriptions coming from smartphones, feature phone use still dominates.
However, due to declining prices, smartphone popularity is growing, Mbongue said.
