Nigeria has put the rest of Africa behind emerging in a study conducted by the GSM Association as the country with the largest number of mobile telephone subscribers.The study, which covered several sectors of the information communications technology industry showed that Nigeria has 93 million subscribers representing 16 per of the continent's mobile subscribers base.The study, which is the first to be conducted on Africa by the GSM Association, showed that Africa is the fastest-growing mobile market in the world, and is the biggest after Asia.While Nigeria led other African countries in mobile telephony subscriber to base, South Africa leveraged on its more developed infrastructure, took the lead in broadband penetration with a 6 per cent mobile broadband penetration, followed by Morocco as the next biggest market, with 2.8 per cent.Kenya was at the forefront of Mobile Money Transfers and m-banking, with 8.5 million users. For example, Safaricom in partnership with The Equity Bank in Kenya provides customers with an M-KESHO account allowing them to save money, buy insurance and arrange micro-finance loans through the mobile.The report, known as GSMA Africa Mobile Observatory 2011 showed that Africa achieved milestone in mobile penetration reaching a record high of 649 million connections in fourth quarter of 2011 having first exceeded 50 per cent mobile penetration in 2010. According to the report, in a period of five years, the number of subscribers across Africa has grown by almost 20 per cent each year predicting that it will reach more than 735 million by the end of 2012. Voice services dominated in the mobile industry with pre-paid subscriptions as high as 96 per cent although data services increased steadily. The GSM group said that there are currently six live HSPA+ networks across Africa, with a seventh deployment planned in the near future adding that by 2015, next-generation LTE networks are predicted to reach 500,000 connections in Kenya, 1.1 million connections in Nigeria and 2.5 million connections in South Africa.On revenue generation in the mobile ecosystem in Africa, the study showed that Africa currently generates approximately US$56 billion or 3.5 per cent of total GDP, with mobile operators alone contributing US$49 billion adding that recent studies by the World Bank and others showed that there is a direct relationship between mobile penetration and GDP. The study observed that in developing countries, for every 10 per cent increase in mobile penetration there is a 0.81 per cent point increase in a country's GDP noting that the mobile industry contributes US$15 billion in government revenues and is a significant contributor to employment in Africa. The GSM body study also observed that in 2010 alone, approximately 5.4 million people were employed directly and indirectly in the mobile ecosystem.However, the Observatory revealed that huge untapped potential remains. 36 per cent of Africans within the 25 largest African mobile markets currently have no access to mobile services. The projections indicated that reaching 100 per cent mobile penetration could add over $35 billion in aggregate GDP if governments and operators work together to bring mobile communication to the entire African population.Director of Spectrum Policy, Africa and Middle East, GSMA, Peter Lyons while commenting on the report said: 'The mobile industry in Africa is booming and a catalyst for immense growth, but there is scope for far greater development.' Urging leaders in Africa to take advantage of the potentials of the industry, he said that, 'African countries need to both allocate more spectrums for the provision of Mobile Broadband services, as well as introduce tax cuts for the industry. By doing so, they will increase consumption of mobile services, thereby boosting their economic and social development.'The GSMA report stated that African countries have allocated less spectrums to mobile services than Europe, the Americas and Asia, which is inhibiting connectivity to large swathes of rural Africa. Sufficient spectrum should be provided for Mobile Broadband services through 3G HSPA and LTE technologies, to enable the mobile industry to 'connect the unconnected' and continue to act as a catalyst for growth.The GSMA report also called on government to reduce taxes imposed on the mobile industry in many African states so as increase mobile penetration.Commending the Kenyan industry, the study showed that, the Kenyan government's abolition of the 16 per cent general sales tax on mobile handsets in 2009 has resulted in handset purchases increasing by more than 200 per cent.
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