$1.1Bn of new investments in African telecoms infrastructure were announced in May 2012. When summed with the $3.1Bn France Telecom (finally) paid for full control of Egyptian mobile operator Mobinil this makes May the most successful month of 2012 for telecoms investment in the continent. Significant activity includes the launch of Movitel, Mozambique's third mobile operator, to increase competition in this increasingly vibrant east coast market. Movitel has deployed 1,800 BTS to date and intends to double that number by the end of next year. The former gives them capacity for about 7Mn subscribers - more than enough to cope with likely demand in a country of 20Mn people. Elsewhere, Airtel have commited $100Mn to rolling out 3G in Rwanda over the next three years. Although on the surface this looks like a small amount of money, it should be remembered that Rwanda has a population of roughly 11.5Mn and Airtel's investment should be sufficient to upgrade 1,000 urban cell...
Thoughts on strategy in a Digital Economy