Africa's high mobile penetration sets the stage for internet revolution

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Vincent Maher

Rapid penetration of cellular phones into South Africa and the rest of the Africa will set the stage for mass adoption of the internet across the country and continent. That's according to Deon Liebenberg, regional director for sub-Sahara Africa at Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind the BlackBerry solution.

Commenting on the recent “Africa Connected: A telecommunications growth story” study from Ernst & Young that found that market penetration of cellphones in Africa is sitting at 37%, Liebenberg notes that the continent has largely bypassed fixed-line telecommunications solutions in favour of mobile technology. South Africa has cellular penetration of about 98%.

From 2002 until now, Africa has seen its number of cellphone subscribers climb by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 49.3% compared to a CAGR of about 27.5% in Brazil and Asia, according to Ernst & Young. By 2012, market penetration in Africa can be expected to climb to more than 60%.

Read the full article on ITNewsAfrica.