* Africa seen as last open emerging market for MA
* Nigeria, Libya, Tunisia offer opportunities
* Poverty, lack of infrastructure pose challenges
By Leila Abboud and Kate Holton
BARCELONA, March 2 (Reuters) – Poor infrastructure,
fragmented markets and stiff competition mean Africa poses risks
as well as potential rewards for telecom operators hunting for
growth in countries like oil-rich Nigeria and post-revolution
Libya and Tunisia.
With new cheaper smartphones set to drive sales, a growing
corporate market, and the fact that most in Africa will use
mobile phones to access the Internet and do business, many
operators are seeking acquisition targets in the continent.
France Telecom and Vodafone now present on
the continent could expand, but they’d have to compete with new
emerging market players like Russia’s Vimpelcom, South
Africa’s MTN or India’s Bharti Airtel.
Chinese companies, which already sell telecoms equipment in
Africa, could move up the value chain by buying operators or
licenses. In 2010, China Mobile lost a bidding war to Bharti
that saw the Indian operator snap up telecom units in 16 African
countries for $10.7 billion.
But making money in Africa, one of the last remaining
emerging telecoms markets not yet sown up, has proven very
difficult, as some of the existing players have discovered.
Continued…
