Africa & Middle East mobile revenues to soar

Africa and the Middle East will see a surge in mobile revenues for operator billed services

Mobile revenues for operator billed services across the Africa & Middle East region are expected to hit more than $107bn in 2013, according to analyst Juniper Research.

The study predicts that growth will be driven by mobile data services, fuelled by the greater availability and wider variety of rich-media content together with lower mobile data costs.

Mobile data services will contribute nearly a quarter of operator-billed service revenues in 2013, compared to nine per cent this year.

However, Juniper warned that regional operator-billed voice revenues will peak in 2011 and subsequently fall away owing to increasingly competitive pricing in the sector.

"While the downward trend in regional ARPU will continue as adoption increases among lower-usage customers, we expect the decline in voice ARPU to be partially offset by an increase in data revenues among 2.5G and 3G customers," said Dr Windsor Holden, author of the report.

Juniper expects a surge in the growth of mobile financial services as operator-led payment initiatives and mobile banking applications gain traction in these markets.

The Middle East & Africa mobile user base will grow at an average annual rate of 10.5 per cent between 2008 and 2013, and the sheer scale of consumers making use of the technology is expected to help drive revenue.

The report predicts that Saudi Arabia will provide the largest share of cumulative regional revenues over the forecast period, followed by Nigeria.