World’s fastest growing region — with Eastern and Middle Africa still below 50% penetration
With 700,000 mobile connections in Q2 2012, Africa has overtaken Asia Pacific as the world’s fastest growing region in terms of cellular reach, resulting in new milestones in the global mobile industry.
Wireless.com’s infographic shows Growth has been driven by prepaid demand in West and North Africa, followed very closely by long term prospects and opportunities in the Eastern and middle regions.
If this doesn’t blare ‘OPPORTUNITY’ for African innovators, Community organizers, Government, NGOs,  and Advertisers  I don’t know what else does.
What exactly are the opportunities?
1.  Mobile local search: This significant growth aligns with current consumer adoption trends in the mobile advertising market. Culture Label found that 90% of mobile searches result in an action, such as a purchase or in-store visit, representing the potential for mobile local advertising.
2. Brand marketing and advertising: Consumers are adopting and using smartphones to obtain relevant information about their favorite brands and their local surroundings. The key for brand marketers and advertisers is to provide relevant, valuable messages and offers to their consumers via the mobile device that take into consideration the consumer’s location and preferences.â€
Consumers expect to be able to locate local businesses, retailers, etc on their mobile device at different times and locations. Brand marketers and advertisers that strategically use mobile local advertising to reach local consumers with relevant, personalized offers, deals or ads will see the greatest results.
3. Local information: Mobile is now the quickest way for consumers to access information about local on-goings – banking information, medical help and clinic locations, market prices, events, gas prices and weather information, etc at the moment they are looking to acquire that information. By providing African consumers with the ability to move beyond discovery of their local area  could potentially meet the social and community requirements for those most in need.
Credit: Wireless Intelligence
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- Africa’s mobile subscriptions to break 750 million by end of 2012 (mobile-ent.biz)
- The Future of Social is Mobile (immediatefuture.co.uk)
