Africa slow to adopt smartphones

29 Nov 2012

Although smartphones penetration continues to grow worldwide, increasing demand for data in the process, Africa will remain behind developed markets for the foreseeable future, a new research report suggests.

The divide between emerging and developed markets in terms of smartphone penetration is set to grow wider, new research suggests.

Telecommunications equipment company Ericsson expects that by 2018, almost all handsets in Western Europe and North America will be smartphones compared to only a third in the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific.

Ericsson's latest annual Mobility Report finds that mobile traffic is expected to continue the current trend of doubling each year, driven by increased demand in developed markets and new users of mobile broadband in developing ones.

Moreover, mobile data traffic is predicted to grow far faster than fixed-line data between now and 2018, even though, cumulatively, fixed-line services will still carry greater volumes of data globally. Not surprisingly, mobile data is expected to continue to outstrip fixed-line services in Africa as the primary form of data connection for most people in the region.

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Source: TechCentral

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Craig Wilson

About Craig Wilson

Craig Wilson is an ICT journalist and speaker based in Johannesburg. He is deputy editor at TechCentral, the South African source for technology news, reviews and opinion, and regularly provides insight into the technology industry for radio and television. Email him at az.oc.lartnechcet@giarc, follow @craigwilson on Twitter and connect on LinkedIn.