Competition in the mobile telecommunications market is expected to stiffen as existing local operators focus on affordable data bundles and VAS to drive revenue, a recent report released by research agency, GlobalDatas shows.
The report says that the telecom services revenue in Botswana will grow at a sluggish CAGR of 0.02% (3.3% in local currency terms) during 2016-2021, due to currency depreciation and the impact of mobile and fixed voice revenue decline.
It says planned expansion of 3G/4G services and the subsequent rise in consumption of high-bandwidth content over mobile devices will drive mobile data revenue in the coming years. “Along with mobile data, fixed Internet services will be a key growth driver for the market, expanding at a CAGR of 7.5% over 2016-2021,” reads the research.
It says that over the next five years, operators should continue to focus on network investments and upgrades and tap into opportunities arising from growth in the mobile data segment.
According to the researchers, expansion of 3G/4G networks and supporting the governments national broadband strategy will also present significant opportunities for both vendors and investors.
It says the overall telecom services revenue in Botswana will grow at a sluggish CAGR of 0.02% (3.3% in local currency terms) during 2016-2021.
The Country Intelligence Report which offers a thorough, forward-looking analysis of Botswana’s telecommunications market, service providers and key opportunities says that the fixed/mobile revenue split will be dominated by the mobile segment through the 2016-2021 period and will account for 84.9% of overall service revenue by 2021.
“Mobile data revenue will continue to grow at a CAGR of 6.8% during 2016-2021, driven by the rise in 3G/4G and smartphone adoption and the increase in mobile data usage,” the report says.
It notes that 2G continues to be the most used technology, accounting for 55.4% of total mobile subscriptions in 2016 but is losing share to 3G and 4G technologies, which will altogether represent 68.7% of the subscriptions by 2021.
“Being in its early stages of adoption, 4G is expected to record the fastest CAGR , at 71.5%, over the 2016-2021 period, to reach 433,000 subscriptions by 2021,” the researchers said.
They observed that Mascom and BTC (the merged brand for BTCL and beMobile) accounted for 71.7% of total service revenue in 2016.
“Mascom will continue to maintain its leadership position in the telecom market through 2021. Both operators will seek to improve coverage and quality of their wireless networks in order to strengthen their position in the marketplace,” the report states.
