Financial Crisis and Economic Stimulus – Focus on Africa.
The effect of the crisis on Africa’s booming telecom sector is expected to be moderate and only temporary. While much of the developed world is already in recession, GDP growth in Africa is forecast to remain positive at between 2.5 and 3.5%. The outstanding growth opportunities in Africa’s still underdeveloped telecoms markets will quickly re-enter the spotlight of investors.
While the banks’ tightened lending practices will affect the ability of some operators in Africa to fund their network expansion, vendor financing – particularly from China – will continue to play a dominating role. China remains keen to establish a presence on the continent and is offering very favourable terms.
In the longer term, rising food and commodity prices will have an impact on consumer spending for telecom services. But many operators in Africa have already adapted to low ARPU levels and are still very profitable. In fact, the ARPU decline has recently come to a halt in many markets and even risen again in some cases, driven by streamlined operations and the introduction of new services, in particular mobile broadband Internet access.
Peter Lange, Senior Analyst – Africa
For more information, see separate reports:
- Africa, Forecasts
- Global – Investing in the Communications Revolution
- Global – Infrastructure – Strategies for the Digital Economy
- Global – Analysis – The Financial Crisis and Economic Stimulus Packages
- Global – Infrastructure – Open Networks
- Global – Broadband – Regulating Fibre Access
- Global – Infrastructure – Functional and Structural Separation
- Global – Analysis – Business Opportunities beyond Structural Telecom Changes
- Europe – Structural Separation – Measuring its Success in 2008
