Nigeria is the largest Mobile market in Africa

In 2008, Nigeria had 44 million subscribers beating South Africa to become the largest mobile market in Africa.  New customers were reported to be signing up at a rate of almost one per second, and yet market penetration stands at only just over 30%. To expand networks, operators are investing billions of dollars. 3G services have been instigated, and rising competition comes from a number of additional players who have entered the lucrative mobile market under a new unified licensing regime. Falling ARPU levels compelling the operators to introduce new services and transform themselves into converged broadband service providers.

Key Operators covered in Nigeria include

• MTN
• MTC
• Nitel
• Globacom

Notable highlights of  Mobile Forecast include:

• The subscriber base in Nigeria will be increasing rapidly from 2008 to 2010. The number of total subscribers will rise from our current projected 52.7 million to a forecasted 70.8 million in 2010.
• The level of wireless penetration in the country will also increase from 35.9% in 2008 to 45.5% in 2010.
• The largest operator in Nigeria will continue to be MTN whose market share in 2010 will be 43.6%. The competitive environment in the Nigerian wireless market to be stable over the next few years with second player (MTC) and third player (Globacom) serving approximately 33.1% and 20.3% of total subscribers respectively.
• MTN will receive ARPU of US$ 14.57 and will enjoy 52.9% EBITDA margin in 2010 whereas MTC will have ARPU of US$ 8.07 and 39.8% EBITDA margin.

Source: Wireless Mobile Telcom