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Light Reading (News - Alert) Communications’ telecom research arm, Pyramid Research, reportedly says that Nigeria has now outpaced South Africa to emerge as the largest mobile telecom market in Africa.

 

With more than 61 million subscribers, Pyramid says, Nigeria will retain its growth rate in mobile subscription over the next five years, triggering more intense competition among a growing array of network operators.

 

The 28-page report, titled “Communications Markets in Nigeria,” analyzes the African nation’s converged telecommunications, media, technology sectors, key trends, near-term opportunities, and upcoming risks.

 

The Nigerian telecom market grew by 23 percent in 2008, generating $8.4 billion in overall telecom service revenues, according to Yejide Onabule, the analyst at Pyramid Research who wrote the report.

 

“With mobile subscriber penetration at just 42 percent, Nigeria’s total telecom revenue is expected to increase at a CAGR of 5.7 percent from US$8.42 billion in 2008 to US$11.14 billion in 2013,” Onabule said.

 

Nigeria’s telecom industry, according to the researcher, is experiencing explosive growth and attracting new operators.

 

According to other news reports, mobile payment is poised to drive subscription uptake in coming months, as systems increasingly become part of the country’s financial infrastructure. Therefore, mobile payment firms like Tagattitude, MTN and Zain (News - Alert) are expanding their bases across Africa.

 

With 20 million bank accounts and 140 million people, Nigeria is looking more and more attractive to telecom service providers. 

 

“The bulk of service revenue will continue to come from mobile, which will generate 83 percent of total service revenue over the next five years,” Onabule said.

 

The exceptional growth of this oil-rich African nation is appearing attractive to suppliers of mobile network technologies who are likely to benefit from more aggressive rollouts of mobile voice and data services. More subscribers will increase demand for CDMA and GSM base stations too, according to the firm.