Telecom operators across the African continent continue to face significant risks when it comes to revenue growth. Despite the increase in mobile revenue, annual growth will continue to trend downwards over the next five years, amid increasing competition, currency volatility, and less reliance on texting and voice-based calls.
On the other hand, African start-ups and incubators have continued to champion local innovation, introducing diverse products and services in education, insurance, remittances and health care industry. But most of these startups continue to face challenges like raising investment capital, reaching unconnected users or securing government support for their business models.
Yet both African mobile operators and start-ups can help close these gaps and deliver maximum impact by working with each other, says a new report from GSMA, the association that represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide. While mobile operators continue to lag behind in innovation, start-ups in emerging markets continue to struggle to reach their scale or realize their full potential. So, merging the mobile operators’ powerful distribution and payment networks with the start-ups’ efficiency and high-impact models can pave the way for important and profitable synergies. Full Story