05
Players
05.1 Telecom operators
05.1 Telecom operators
Despite the rise of a few international telcos which, together, earn around 50% of the continent’s revenue, Africa’s telecommunications market is still very piecemeal and above all prey to fierce competition. As growth begins to slow and margins are being squeezed, telcos are looking for new avenues of growth and expansion.
A handful of pan-African operators… The development of Africa’s telecoms markets, and the process of opening them up to competition created opportunities for international telcos looking for growth outlets to forge themselves a foothold. Today, five telcos together control around half of the African market. Leading the pack is South African born MTN, which now [...]
OTT players
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05.2
OTT players
Consolidation of core businesses and multi-service strategies, spurred by the mobile financial services boom
Players
05.2 OTT players
05.2 OTT players
OTT services are spreading steadily across the African continent, both through international players’ expansion and the emergence of home-grown platforms. Veteran stakeholders such as OTT pure players are adopting multi-service strategies that vary depending on their core sector of activity.
OTT content and e-commerce providers focusing on their core business The e-commerce market in Africa is populated by a host of local players, operating alongside international giants like Alibaba and Amazon. By and large, their operations are confined to their core business, with the exception of a handful of financial services initiatives such as Jumia [...]
TV industry
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Players
05.3 TV industry
05.3 TV industry
Buoyed by the broadcasting market’s solid momentum, a host of African players are helping to round out the services provided by public broadcasters, South Africa’s Naspers and veteran international players. If local offerings are popular with consumers, these new entrants still need to shore up their business models.
The rise of still fragile local concerns The deregulation of the broadcasting sector in the late 1990s helped put an end to public broadcasters’ monopoly, and pave the way for the sector’s modernisation. Despite which, public broadcasters are still powerful players, and very few commercial channels have managed to mount a successful ad-based business model. [...]
Satellite operators
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Players
05.4 Satellite operators
05.4 Satellite operators
Satellite industry leaders have made disparate technological choices. Now they will have to compete with ambitious new entrants, and it is possible that not all will be successful, notably with the uncertainties looming over new constellation projects.
Technological choices that determine players’ positioning In low-earth orbit we find: SpaceX with Starlink, a project to launch more than 4,000 satellites with an investment of 10 billion USD; Telesat, planned to launch in early 2022, with an announced capacity of several Tbps; OneWeb, owned by SoftBank, which expects the first of its 10 satellites to [...]
