Mobile Operators Plan US$50 Billion Investment to Blanket Africa With Telecoms and Internet Access

KIGALI, Rwanda, October 29 /PRNewswire/ --

At the Connect Africa summit, the GSM Association announced that the
mobile industry plans to invest more than US$50 billion* in sub-Saharan
Africa over the next five years to provide more than 90% of the population
with mobile coverage. The investment will be used to extend the reach of GSM
mobile networks, enhanced with GPRS, EDGE and HSPA technologies, to provide a
rich suite of mobile multimedia services, including Internet access.

Since sub-Saharan governments began liberalising their
telecommunication sectors at the turn of the millennium, the GSMA estimates
that the mobile industry has invested US$35 billion, providing more than 500
million people (67% of the population) in sub-Saharan Africa with mobile
coverage. "This surge in investment by the mobile industry has changed the
lives of millions of Africans, catalysing economic development and
strengthening social ties," said Rob Conway, CEO of the GSMA.

MTN, Orange, Vodacom and Zain subsidiary Celtel are among the mobile
operators planning to invest heavily in the expansion and enhancement of
their networks. "We have the passion and dedication to provide Africa with a
world class infrastructure," said MTN Group President and CEO Phuthuma
Nhleko. "We are proud to be a leading investor in Africa, bringing
world-class services to our customers on the continent through our Celtel
subsidiary," added Dr. Saad Al Barrak, CEO of the Zain Group, while Alan
Knott-Craig, CEO of Vodacom Group, said: "We are proud of our investment in
Africa, and we will continue to focus on our customers and the development of
products and services that benefit them."

There are more than 150 million mobile subscribers in
sub-Saharan Africa today. However, a further 350 million people have mobile
coverage and are not yet directly connected. As well as extending coverage,
the mobile industry is focused on using its economies of scale to connect
these people. As the number of users grows, so too will economic prosperity.
The GSMA estimates that an increase of 10 percentage points in mobile
penetration can increase the annual growth rate of GDP by up to 1.2
percentage points.

In order to create the conditions that will maximise the
benefit of this new investment, the GSMA calls on governments across
sub-Saharan Africa to follow the President of Rwanda, His Excellency Paul
Kagame's advice: "The barriers that governments put in the path of
entrepreneurs need to be urgently removed. Individuals and companies create
wealth, not governments. This is not to say that the state should become
invisible. But governments should see their roles as enablers of business,
and not gatekeepers that control and hamper it."

In particular, African governments need to ensure that
sufficient spectrum is available to enable the hundreds of millions of
Africans, who live beyond the reach of today's fixed networks, to gain access
to cost-effective broadband services. The GSMA believes the World
Radiocommunication Conference, currently meeting in Geneva, needs to reserve
the 750MHz to 862MHz spectrum band for mobile broadband services in Europe,
Middle East and Africa. In this spectrum band, radio waves can travel
significant distances and provide better in-building signals, helping
operators to achieve more extensive and cost-effective mobile broadband
coverage, particularly in rural areas.

"The world's governments have an opportunity to narrow the
digital divide between those who enjoy high-speed access to multimedia
services today and the many people who can't yet be economically served by
broadband networks," said Tom Phillips, Chief Government & Regulatory Affairs
Officer of the GSMA. "It is important that the world's governments set aside
this spectrum in a harmonised way, enabling handset makers to achieve
economies of scale, thereby reducing the cost of access devices for
consumers."

African Governments also need to address other barriers to the
uptake of mobile communications, such as high consumer taxes. Mobile specific
taxes are levied in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia; if these were
lowered or removed, government tax receipts would actually increase as more
people will connect and use mobile services, boosting Value Added Tax
receipts and stimulating wider economic activity. High license fees and
other regulatory bottlenecks, such as international gateway monopolies,
constrain the competitiveness of African business.

* Notes to Editors:

Frontier Economics was commissioned to provide an estimate of future
investment in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, based on forecasts supplied by
mobile operators serving approximately 70% of sub-Saharan Africa's mobile
users today.

About the GSMA:

The GSMA (The GSM Association) is the global trade association
representing more than 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 218 countries
and territories of the world. In addition, more than 200 manufacturers and
suppliers support the Association's initiatives as key partners.

For more information about the GSM Association see:
http://www.gsmworld.com