Plenty of growth potential for mobile in Malawi.
One of the world’s least developed countries, Malawi is expected to be able to avoid a recession as a result of the global economic crisis, although its GDP growth will gradually slow from almost 10% in 2008 to around 3% in 2011. Penetration rates in all sectors of the telecommunications market are still well below regional averages. With the imminent launch of the third network, G-Mobile, the mobile sector is set for a boost when it finally moves beyond the duopoly held for many years by Zain and TNM, the mobile arm of fixed-line incumbent MTL. In parallel, however, the average revenue per user (ARPU) is expected to continue its rapid decline.
Competition for MTL is also set to arrive in the fixed-line sector in early 2010 with the second operator Access Communications (ACL), already licensed in 2007. The company may eventually emerge as the country’s fourth mobile operator, since the CDMA-2000 technology it uses supports full mobility. Malawi’s telecoms regulator, MACRA has announced it plans to licence a fourth mobile network.
The fixed-line sector itself has seen a revival following MTL’s privatisation and the introduction of CDMA-2000 fixed-wireless services. A national fibre backbone is being implemented, and the country is set to gain access to international submarine fibre optic cables for the first time in 2010 when a transit link via neighbouring countries is completed. Provided a suitable regulatory regime is put in place, this will bring down the cost of international bandwidth and deliver a boost to the broadband market.
The Internet sector is reasonably competitive with 15 licensed ISPs, but the limited availability and high cost of international bandwidth has held back growth and kept broadband prices high. Several ISPs are rolling out WiMAX wireless broadband networks, and the CDMA-2000 networks of MTL and ACL support broadband speeds with the EV-DO technology being used.
Mobile data services are currently limited to GPRS, third-generation (3G) systems have not yet been launched.
Table 8 – Mobile penetration in Malawi and other countries in the region -2009
| Country |
Mobile penetration |
| Tanzania | 31% |
| Zambia | 29% |
| Mozambique | 24% |
| Madagascar | 21% |
| Zimbabwe | 16% |
| Malawi | 14% |
| DRC | 13% |
(Source: BuddeComm based on various sources)
For more info on new BuddeComm Report see: http://www.budde.com.au/Research/Malawi-Telecoms-Market-Overview-Statistics.html
