The transition of mobile in Africa and Ghana

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Investors are flooding into Africa from all corners of the world as the untapped business opportunities on the continent become more apparent. High on the local business agenda are infrastructure and ICT developments. The response to these developments and the growth of mobile has brought new possibilities to a variety of countries in Africa.

 

By Yaron Assabi, CEO of Digital Solutions Group

 

Ghana was recently listed at number 14 by the World Bank in the Top 29 countries with the highest growth based on 2013/2014 growth estimates1?? and what we are seeing is that many of the countries in Africa experiencing fast paced growth are adopting various mobile and ICT technologies, which have?helped them reach such high growth projections.

 

By utilising mobile technology, new ideas are able to emerge out of pure necessity to meet the educational, business, health, and banking needs of a country. Ghana is a great place for mobile technology implementation to thrive as there are enough users to support the relevant technologies. In fact, the latest industry statistics released by the National Communications Authority2?state that out of a population of 25 million, there are approximately 19 million subscribers on at least one of the five active mobile networks in the country.

 

Let us examine how some of these mobile platforms have transformed Ghana where more than 50% of the population is expected to own a cell phone by the end 20123.

 

Overall internet connectivity

Ghanaians face many challenges in fixed-line communication including the high cost of buying satellite bandwidth, power supply problems, and an overall poor infrastructure.

 

This may be why there has been such a significant uptake of mobile communications. Research from Audience Scapes4?observes that mobile phone usage in Ghana is quickly outpacing that of landline phones. It found that 75% of respondents said they had used a mobile phone for some purpose in the last week and 88% had used a phone within the last year.

 

M-health

Mobile phones can provide real-time advice and diagnosis to people who do not have access to doctors. There has been a variety of mobile health (M-health) projects on the continent. These mobile applications and platforms can monitor the outbreaks of disease and provide diagnosis and treatment to users across Africa.

 

In Ghana, application developers are meeting the demand for M-health services by, for example, creating mobile platforms that provide advice and counselling to pregnant women through SMS or voice messages.

 

Banking

Mobile banking is another great platform being rolled out in Africa as it creates new jobs and business opportunities, promotes entrepreneurship and brings a better life to people all over the continent. While ?M-money? or ?m-banking? apps were used for the first time in Kenya, since these apps have emerged all over Africa including Ghana, where these applications facilitate financial transactions, airtime transfer and paying of invoices.

 

M?learning

Recent market research5?on m-learning in Ghana found that one in four youth surveyed said that the largest barrier to accessing educational resources was lack of funds. This is why the adoption of m-learning offers new opportunities for learners. It is convenient, collaborative, and instantaneous learning that can help to overcome problems that learners may face including; unavailability of textbooks, lack of electricity, poor schooling and classroom infrastructure and financial constraints. If m-learning apps can be made available and at affordable costs, they will be able to reach a significant number of youth and even in remote areas where access to schooling has previously been limited.

 

The benefits and opportunities of mobile growth in Africa outweigh any operational costs. Mobile operators and stakeholders from around the world are coming to invest in the continent and the benefits of this are slowly becoming more visible and tangible.

 

By continuing to improve the quality of life in some of the world?s poorest countries, mobile phones will provide inexpensive access to mobile content that can offer innovative solutions that help solve local problems.

 

Source:?Yaron Assabi

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