African Internet Country Market Profiles

African Internet Country Market Profiles has been written by three leading experts in the field: Paul Hamilton, Mike Jensen and Russell Southwood (See About the Authors at the bottom of this section). Their research has been underpinned with contributions from in-country experts.

Part 1: West Africa opens with:

An overview of developments in West Africa that summarises the data found in the 22 country profiles, identifying growth opportunities and relevant industry issues.

A section called The coming legalisation of VoIP in West Africa which looks at why VoIP calling may be legalised first in West Africa and the impact that it will have on the telecoms and internet sectors.

Each report will contain the following information (where available) on each country:

Key Statistics: A panel of summary data including: total population, GDP, GDP per capital, regulator status, number of fixed telecoms operators, fixed telecoms network growth, fixed lines in service, fixed line capacity, fixed lines per 100,000 population, number on waiting list for fixed lines, fixed line waiting list time, number of employees at incumbent, number of employees per line, telecommunications revenue, telecoms revenue as a percentage of GDP, mobile operators, mobile subscribers, mobile penetration, internet dial-up subscribers, number of ISPs, international internet bandwidth, national local-call IP tariff, number of cities with dial-up IP POPs, the regulatory status of VOIP, local loop and wireless data, number of cybercafes, sector deregulation status and currency exchange rate.

Key issues: A short summary of the main issues affecting the country under examination.

Country background data: A brief description of main features of the country, including geography and highlights of the economy.

Number of ISPs: It will provide details of the numbers of ISPs and identify the main players with (where available) their market share.

Dial-up subs: There will be estimates of individual dial-up subscribers and (where available) the same for users. Cost of access will be given and if possible, some trend information over the last 3 years.

Bandwidth and backbone: This section identifies who operates the international backbone of country and the elements that make up the domestic backbone within the country.

Geographic coverage: If possible, there is information on the extent of the reach of the telephone network and the number of POPs within the country.

Cyber-cafes: Numbers of cyber-cafes are estimated and their geographic locations pinpointed alongside whatever information is available on access rates.

Local web content: In the larger markets information is given on the web content and design sector as well services provided locally on the web. As this is in its infancy in most countries, a simple link to a useful list of local sites is given.

Current status of regulation: A summary of the regulatory position is given in relation to key internet issues like: the end of the monopoly of the incumbent; the date of the planned privatisation of the incumbent telco; the position on VSAT, wi-fi and VoIP.

Digital divide initiatives: A summary is given of some of the more significant digital divide initiatives in countries where these projects exist.

Other forms of connectivity: It will describe different types of connectivity that might be available and provide a round-up of mobile operators (including subscriber numbers) and existing fixed line operators (including subscriber numbers).

African Internet Country Market Profiles is aimed at people working in the following categories of organisations:

• Internet Service Providers
• Bandwidth sellers
• Data carriers
• Telephone companies
• Government and regulatory organizations
• Development agencies, universities and NGOs.

If you're working in Africa and want to know the state of the internet anywhere, you¹ll need African Internet Country Market Profiles.

About the authors:

Paul Hamilton, an independent consultant specialising in African telecommunication markets, is an associate of Balancing Act. Formerly the Telecoms Research Manager at World Markets Research Centre (WMRC), he has undertaken a range of research, analysis and consulting assignments for operators, vendors, NGOs and regulators. He continues to write for WMRC as the African telecom analyst, and other key publications.

Mike Jensen is a South African independent consultant with experience in over 35 countries in Africa assisting in the establishment of information and communications systems over the last 15 years. He provides advice to international development agencies, the private sector, NGOs and governments in the formulation, management and evaluation of their Internet projects.

Russell Southwood is the Chief Executive of Balancing Act and the Editor of its weekly e-letter on telecoms, internet and computing News Update. As a consultant, he has worked for a variety of clients looking at: the demand for fibre infrastructure in Africa over the next five years; the creation of a regional internet exchange point; the future for VoIP services in Africa ; the development of local internet content and services; and policy development.

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