The world’s fastest growing mobile market is also a source of huge innovation – but this isn’t reflected at MWC. Is it time for a change?
A recent article noted that Africa has become the world’s fastest growing mobile market, which reflects the sheer scale of the continent and the growing population. There’s a lot happening in mobile in Africa – and exciting times are ahead.
That’s not because 5G is on the horizon. While some African operators are investing in trials and early launches, 5G is unlikely to take off for some time to come. Instead, 2G, 3G and 4G continue to dominate. As WTL has noted, there is a significant deployed base of 2G, while long handset replacement cycles mean that, even where a later ‘G’ is available, it may take time for the device fleet to catch up.
These networks need to be supported – but they are also sources of innovation. As the article points out, there is considerable innovation coming from the continent, due to this ongoing investment in earlier generations of mobile network technology.
The industry as a whole has benefited from the rapid spread of mobile payments, for example, pioneered by a number of African operators. Another interesting area is that of ‘data-free’ applications, for which innovators such a Bi.nu have pioneered solutions that allow users without data in their accounts to access mobile applications, or to enable data exchange for reverse-charge models. And, with growing pressure to close coverage gaps, there’s also considerable ongoing innovation in terms of both solutions and policy making.
As the article suggests, this activity is often overlooked, particularly at the world’s leading conference focused on the mobile industry: Mobile World Congress. We tend to agree. We’ve seen African innovation at first-hand over the course of many years and it’s clear that there is much from which the rest of the world can learn.
In this context, it’s worth thinking for a moment about 5G. Yes, this will bring many benefits, enabling new services but the investments operators have made in 2, 3 and 4G will continue to yield dividends for some time to come – and African innovations, such as those enabling data-free access, will be critical to maximising these. But, the benefits of 5G are also some way off for other operators, so they cannot afford to neglect existing technologies and customers. There is a risk that they focus too much on jam tomorrow, rather than bread today. Operators elsewhere can and should learn from African innovators.
As such, the GSMA should devote more space and time to showcasing the best of Africa, so that others can learn from innovative use cases and applications from existing technologies which tend to be overlooked in the hype around the next generation of mobile networks.
For MWC to really live up to its billing, it shouldn’t just be about the future, but about innovation that allows operators to make the most of existing assets and innovations – and in this regard, the world’s fastest growing mobile market has much to offer.
