The new ' mobile ' in Africa
The mobile operators have been the ‘unicorns’ of Africa for the last 20 years. Consistently outperforming, not only their global peers, but also all other sectors in Africa – even resources. Historically African MNO’s have enjoyed higher EBITDA margins than their developed market peers – but it seems the African mobile fairy tale is coming to an end as we approach the bewitching hour of midnight. The nasty sisters of MTN’s Nigerian Cinderella have reared their ugly heads with the imposition of a punitive $5.2bn fine. Like Apple, whose once unstoppable iPhone sales have started to slow, most African MNO’s need to come up with something new and smart or risk marginalisation as demand slows. The killer App in Africa to date has been voice – but this market is saturated now with customers from the very bottom of the pyramid – and so voice ARPU’s have declined. According...