Emerging Markets Are Driving Adoption Of Mobile Internet

According to Forrester research, the global penetration of mobile Internet users will exceed that of PC-based Internet users in 2016.

This situation is already the norm in many African countries, where the low penetration of landline phone connections has led to the exponential increase in the adoption of mobile phones, and where subsequently many consumers who had not been able to go online are using these devices to access the Internet.

For instance, according to the Communications Commission of Kenya July statistics, in the Internet/data market segment, the number of subscriptions increased by 5.5 per cent, from 6.1 million recorded in the previous period to 6.4 million during the quarter under review. Mobile data/internet subscriptions continued to dominate  the internet market with 98.8 per cent of the total Internet/data subscriptions being from the mobile Internet/data  sub-market.  Number of  Internet users  rose  by 4.7 per cent,  from 11.3 million users posted the previous period to 11.8 million users during the quarter under
review. Broadband subscriptions increased significantly by more than three-fold, from 131,829 subscriptions posted the previous quarter to  651,738 subscriptions  during the quarter.  Broadband subscriptions represented 10.0 per cent of the total  Internet/data subscriptions.

“Emerging markets are driving the adoption levels of not only mobile telephony, but also Internet access through these mobile devices,” says Gerald Naidoo, CEO of Logikal Consulting.

“Access to the Internet through a mobile handset is predominantly incremental in emerging markets, whereas it is supplementary in developed markets. For companies looking to reach global customers, the mobile Internet is just an additional channel in mature markets but is the chief point of entry in many emerging markets.”

This understanding has formed the basis of the company’s approach in its African territories, particularly in Nigeria, one of the continent’s biggest growth markets. Working with its partner company, Interlogikal West Africa, Logikal Consulting is using its expertise in mobile application development to help Nigerian businesses access this rapidly expanding market.

 

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