Podcast: What's the story with mobile data in Africa?
As per Ericsson's June 2020 Mobility Report, Sub-Saharan Africa is on track for mobile data traffic to skyrocket in the next five years, while data also shows that fixed-broadband subscribers in South Africa have been declining.
What does this mean for the industry and region at large, and what other trends are at play?
That's the subject on the latest episode of Light Reading's "What's the Story?" podcast, featuring Connecting Africa's Paula Gilbert. Paula joins the show to expand on her recent reporting to discuss what's going on with mobile data and broadband in Africa, why it matters and what to expect next.
"Africa is a mobile-first continent, so the majority of Internet access still happens on mobile devices," said Gilbert. "Operators really see data as a good way to make money because voice revenues keep declining in Africa. So they want to see more people buying smartphones and using more gigabytes per month."
You can find more episodes of "What's the Story?" in the Light Reading Podcast feed on Apple Podcasts, Google, SoundCloud and Spotify.
For more on this topic, see:
- Africa set for mobile data traffic boom
- SA smartphone numbers jump, but fixed broadband subs drop
- South Africans want free mobile data as COVID-19 ups Internet use
- Vodacom to slash SA data prices by 30%
— Nicole Ferraro, contributing editor, Light Reading
As per Ericsson's June 2020 Mobility Report, Sub-Saharan Africa is on track for mobile data traffic to skyrocket in the next five years, while data also shows that fixed-broadband subscribers in South Africa have been declining.
What does this mean for the industry and region at large, and what other trends are at play?
That's the subject on the latest episode of Light Reading's "What's the Story?" podcast, featuring Connecting Africa's Paula Gilbert. Paula joins the show to expand on her recent reporting to discuss what's going on with mobile data and broadband in Africa, why it matters and what to expect next.
"Africa is a mobile-first continent, so the majority of Internet access still happens on mobile devices," said Gilbert. "Operators really see data as a good way to make money because voice revenues keep declining in Africa. So they want to see more people buying smartphones and using more gigabytes per month."
You can find more episodes of "What's the Story?" in the Light Reading Podcast feed on Apple Podcasts, Google, SoundCloud and Spotify.
For more on this topic, see:
- Africa set for mobile data traffic boom
- SA smartphone numbers jump, but fixed broadband subs drop
- South Africans want free mobile data as COVID-19 ups Internet use
- Vodacom to slash SA data prices by 30%
— Nicole Ferraro, contributing editor, Light Reading