(MENAFN) Findings from research commissioned by Informa Telecoms & Media in July 2013 on trends in global mobile data usage shows that the growth in digital service usage will drive Africa's mobile data business to be worth USD23 billion in 2018.
This is illustrative of a trend across the African telecoms market. The continent's mobile data business is currently worth USD8.5 billion a year and will exceed USD23 billion in 2018.
Much will depend on the state of the smartphone markets as to whether consumer demand for data services in Africa can be met. Smartphone penetration across the continent is 11 percent. Despite the arrival of many low-cost smartphone brands, one in three respondents to the Informa survey believe that the cheapest smartphones on the market are still too expensive for most Africans and 37 percent call for Africa's mobile operators to subsidize smartphones and other data devices if they really want to reach the mass market.
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