Sub-Saharan Africa:

310 million LTE subscriptions by 2023

MARKETS

According to Ericsson’s Mobility Report, LTE subscriptions in Sub-Saharan Africa are set to grow from 30 million in 2017 to 310 million by 2023, an increase of 47 %. The report also states that mobile subscriptions in the region are expected to grow 6 % in that same period, from 700 million mobile subscriptions to 990 million.

Source: FTTH Council MENA and IDATE

Christine Beylouni

DIRECTOR GENERAL FTTH COUNCIL MENA

 

The Middle East North Africa region is already making big steps in the area of LTE rollout. Across the region, there is a marked need for low and high frequencies to support 5G – low frequencies for full coverage and capacity and high frequencies for very high data rates. According to research from the FTTH Council MENA and IDATE, LTE in the region is growing robustly in terms of subscribers and deployments. “We expect there will be more than 300,000 subscribers at the end of 2021,” says Christine Beylouni, Director General FTTH Council MENA. “LTE handsets are more affordable, but although spectrum availability and affordability have improved, they remain a major hurdle. Pricing and affordability of LTE data is another major challenge.”

 

“Adoption for LTE services has been slow, initially, but this is picking up now, owing to growing penetration of smartphones, improved coverage and increased data demand. Across the region, we’ll be seeing trials to validate technologies and requirements, latency and download peak speeds. In UAE, there will be trials this year and commercial launch is expected in 2019, before DubaiExpo 2020. In Qatar, we should also see trials this year and a commercial launch in 2020.”

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© Copyright Prysmian Group.

All rights reserved.