Convergence in Africa
The liberalisation of VoIP, the accelerating rollout of ADSL broadband services and other IP-based infrastructure is enabling some of Africa’s larger ISPs to turn into converged service providers, while at the same time the traditional telcos are trying to boost their Internet businesses.
The convergence between telecoms and the Internet became apparent when Morocco’s second largest ISP was awarded the country’s third fixed-line licence in September 2005 which also includes a limited mobility concession. In Kenya, following the liberalisation of VoIP, data carrier Kenya Data Networks (KDN) is rapidly developing into an alternative telco rolling out extensive fibre infrastructure and offering converged services, and in South Africa ISPs offering VoIP under the new deregulated environment are getting ahead of the SNO which has yet to launch services.
The liberalisation of broadcasting regulations and the increasing penetration of low cost Direct-to-Home (DTH) technology have led to significant growth in Africa’s television market. While the vast geography of Africa and the sparse communications infrastructure make a perfect combination for satellite-delivered telephony, there is also an emerging market for audio and video broadcasting services. The broadcast potential is attracting commercial ventures with expertise in DTH and other satellite broadcast technologies. In Africa, where the overall cable penetration rate is extremely low, DTH service provides an efficient means of delivering TV broadcasts to the expanding middle class. Huge growth is expected in this market in the coming years particularly in South Africa where the MIH Group (now part of Naspers) dominates the market.
Pay TV is becoming increasingly more attractive to those Africans who can afford TV sets. Multichoice is still Africa’s premier pay TV service, with more than 1.2 million subscribers across 50 countries in Africa but, in January 2006, the regulator in Botswana, BTA, received an application for a new satellite pay TV service with initially 10 channels, planned to eventually cover most of Africa. A decision is expect to be made during 2006.
Africa’s first digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcast system was launched in Namibia in February 2005, and another service will be launched in Mauritius in 2006.
Interactive TV, especially the variety using mobile phone text messages (SMS), has found its way to Africa and is growing fast. The Personal Video Recorder (PVR) was introduced in South Africa in 2005 and will become available in other African countries in 2006.
With far greater ownership of TV sets compared with PCs in Africa, the broadcasters’ viewers represent a huge potential customer base for Internet services as well. At least four African countries are currently trialling or planning to introduce Broadband TV and Video-on-Demand services, typically converged with voice and data services under so-called Triple-Play models.
Originally set up as signal distributors for South Africa’s broadcasting industry, Orbicom and Sentech own infrastructure suitable for IP-based NGN and are increasingly playing a role in the country’s converging telecommunications markets.
A new BuddeComm report comprises 234 statistical tables, with high-level and detailed data relating to fixed-line, mobile and Internet operations within Africa as a whole, and within its component countries. Industry categories include revenue and subscriber statistics on the major companies involved in the key segments when these are available. It also provides key statistics for each of the 32 countries. Broadband is not yet well enough established to have meaningful statistics. Some of the data is not current, but was the latest available at the time of preparation.
For more information see: 2006 Africa Telecoms Statistics - 234 tables report
