2012-05-14 10:23:45 - New Fixed Networks research report from Business Monitor International is now available from Fast Market Research

One of the major themes in this quarter's update to BMI's telecommunications market for Southern Africa is the increasing investment into the build-out of data networks. This is mainly driven by economic growth across the region and the availability of international bandwidth from submarine cables. Despite this development, we are holding off further upgrades to our internet and broadband forecast as we expect high data tariffs to restrict growth in the short- to medium term. We have also left our fixed-line forecasts unchanged as latest regulatory and operator data are in line with our previous growth expectations. However, we have revised our growth forecasts for the mobile sector to reflect YE11 market data published by leading network operators, including Portugal

Telecom, South Africa's Vodacom and MTN, France's Orange and Luxembourg's Millicom International Cellular and some telecoms regulators.


Full Report Details at
- www.fastmr.com/prod/384782_southern_africa_telecommunications_re ..


Some notable developments in the region's telecoms markets in the last few months include the launch of commercial services by Mozambique's third mobile operator Movitel in January 2012, plans by Angola's second biggest mobile operator Movicel to launch commercial LTE services by June 2012, Liquid Telecom's entry into Zimbabwe's broadband market with the acquisition of ISP Zimbabwe Online (ZOL), and plans by Namibia's mobile market leader MTC to roll out LTE services. BMI notes that a considerable proportion of major developments in Q411 and Q112 aim to take advantage of the growing demand for data services. This is in line with our view that the data market is the next frontier for revenue and subscriber growth in Africa's telecoms sector. While we expect wireless access technologies to dominate broadband services in the future, we caution that the effect of LTE network services will be limited in the short to medium term mainly because of the inadequate supply of LTE-enabled devices and high tariffs for LTE services. We expect these factors to restrict LTE services to high-value customers in urban areas and, therefore, retain the view that operator's data strategies in the medium term will be better served by upgrading and expanding their 3G network services.

There has not been any significant progress in plans to privatise some state-owned operators, despite announcements in H111. In December 2011, local media reports, citing the chairman of Botswana's incumbent operator BTC, Len Makwinja, suggested that the privatisation of the operator, which was scheduled for 2011, is now expected to happen by mid-2012. In Mozambique, the government appears to have ruled out the privatisation of incumbent operator mCel, while the Zimbabwean government is yet to provide a framework for the proposed privatisation of state-owned operators TelOne and NetOne.

On the regulatory front, Zambia's government reversed the sale of incumbent operator Zamtel to LAP Green Networks, an investment vehicle backed by Libya's government, after adopting the recommendations of a committee set up to investigate the privatisation of the operator in June 2010. However, the Libyan government has vowed to protect its investments in Zamtel, a development that could see the dispute drag on for a long time.

Partial Table of Contents:

SWOT Analysis
- Southern Africa Telecommunications SWOT
- Angola Business Environment SWOT
- Botswana Business Environment SWOT
- Mozambique Business Environment SWOT
- Namibia Business Environment SWOT
- Zambia Business Environment SWOT
- Zimbabwe Business Environment SWOT
Business Environment
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Sub-Saharan Africa Risk/Reward Ratings, Q212
- Macroeconomic Data
- Table: Southern Africa Macroeconomic Overview
Industry Forecast Scenario
- Mobile
- Table: East & Southern Africa Telecoms Sector - Historical Data & Forecasts, 2009-2016
- Fixed Line
- Table: Telecoms Sector - Fixed Line - Historical Data & Forecasts, 2009-2016
- Internet
- Table: Telecoms Sector - Internet - Historical Data & Forecasts, 2009-2016
Market Data Analysis
- Mobile
- Angola
- Table: Angola Mobile Market, Q411
- Botswana
- Table: Botswana Mobile Market, Q411
- Mauritius
- Table: Mauritius Mobile Market, Q411
- Mozambique
- Table: Mozambique Mobile Market, Q411
- Namibia
- Table: Namibia Mobile Market, Q411
- Zambia
- Table: Zambia Mobile Market, Q411
- Zimbabwe
- Table: Zimbabwe Mobile Market, Q311
- Mobile Content
- Regional Outlook
- Table: Major Players Leverage Footprint In VAS Development
- Fixed Line And Internet
- Angola
- Botswana
- Mauritius
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Regulatory Environment And Industry Developments
- Table: Southern Africa Telecoms Regulators
- Angola
- Botswana
- Mauritius
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
- Regulatory Developments
Competitive Landscape
- Key Players
- Table: Key Players: Southern Africa Telecoms Sector
Company Monitor
- Aviat
- Aviat Networks Quarterly Financial Results (US$mn)
Company Profiles
- Unitel Angola
- Mascom Botswana
- Mauritius Telecom/Orange
- mcel Mozambique
- MTC Namibia
- Airtel (Zain Zambia)
- Econet Zimbabwe
Regional Telecommunications Penetration Overview
- Fixed Line
- Table: Regional Fixed-Line Penetration Overview
- Mobile
- Table: Regional Mobile Penetration Overview
- Internet
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Full Table of Contents is available at:
-- www.fastmr.com/catalog/product.aspx?productid=384782&dt=t

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