The global umbrella body of mobile network operators, the GSM Association has said that the manufacturing sector will harvest more benefit from the rollout of 5G technology by telecom operators.
In its latest ‘Mobile Economy Sub-Saharan Africa’ report, the GSMA in its analysis said the 5G network which is expected to drive applications such as smart factories, smart cities, and smart grids, will spur the economy of the Sub-Saharan Africa with over 32% of benefits to the manufacturing sector and 29% going to the services sector.
“5G is expected to benefit the Sub-Saharan Africa economy by $11 billion in 2030, accounting for more than 6% of the overall economic impact of mobile. Much of the 5G benefit will materialize over the period to 2030, as some countries are in the early stages of deployment and 5G economic benefits will increase as the technology starts to achieve scale and widespread adoption.”
The association which projected an equivalent of 17% adoption rate, 226 million 5G connections for the Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030, said it would be largely driven by Nigeria and South Africa but in a slow and steady manner.
“Nigeria and South Africa will account for almost half of these connections. 5G growth in the region will be slow but steady, as a larger share of the customer base will continue to migrate to 4G. Growing demand for the internet is catalyzing the growth of the 5G fixed wireless accesses (FWA) market in the region, with operators such as Orange Botswana and Telkom South Africa having launched commercial 5G FWA services.
“FWA will act as a primary broadband connection and help improve coverage in the region. At the same time, it will give operators an opportunity to increase their number of subscribers and build new use cases,” GSMA said in the report.
Claiming that there has been a steady growth of unique mobile subscribers in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Association said the trend would continue over the next seven years, taking the total to nearly 700 million by the end of 2030 with Nigeria and Ethiopia projected to account for total subscribers in Africa.