Stop Press: Angolan President cancels fourth mobile licence after shareholding controversy

18 April 2019

Late this afternoon (18 April 2019) The Angolan President João Lourenço cancelled the awarding of the fourth mobile licence to a shell company with a General as its main shareholder. Watch this space to see what happens next. The awarding of the fourth mobile licence in Angola shows that for all the talk of reform by the new President nothing ever changes. Russell Southwood looks at the pattern of shareholdings in the telecoms sector and what they tell us about how Angola operates. In December 2017 I wrote an article about the granting of the fourth mobile licence in Angola.…

Understanding the impact of social media and online media consumption – new report sheds new light on how traditional broadcast models are being challenged

9 April 2019

It’s taken four years to gather data from a whole host of new sources to produce probably the most detailed description yet of online behaviour in Sub-Saharan Africa. The author Russell Southwood writes about what’s in the report and how some of its findings challenge traditional broadcast models. Where there is robust national survey data, it shows African online users spending 2-3 hours a day on social media. Whilst you can do social media whilst watching TV, this is a large bite out of the time available for other media. Although pay-for VoD platforms have been slow to take off,…

Sub-Saharan Africa’s Digital Landscape and its Top 11 Markets – data prices, smartphones, digital content and services and e-commerce.

Researched over a four year period, this new report is probably the most detailed description yet of online behavior in Sub-Saharan Africa.