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African Business Telephony Markets
Frost & Sullivan, Aug 2007, Pages: 42
The Frost & Sullivan research service titled African Business Telephony Markets is part of our continued coverage of the global business telephony marketplace. Through extensive primary and secondary research, this analysis provides telephony system vendors and other industry participants with a detailed look at the traditional telephony market and the current and shifting dynamics in the rapidly evolving IP telephony marketplace.
Economic Progress Creating Growth Opportunities
Benefiting from better macro economic management, countries across Africa are beginning to see improved economic growth, thereby increasing opportunities for business telephony vendors. Cash surplus from primary sectors such as oil and natural gas, minerals, and cash crops, new foreign direct investment, multinational aid, and international loans have all helped governments finance secondary and tertiary sectors in the continent. These factors have helped the business telephony market grow by 15.8 percent in 2006. The comparatively higher growth rate can be attributed to capacity building on the back of a low base.
In the short term, Equatorial Guinea, Egypt, Libya, Mauritius, Nigeria, and South Africa offer the most attractive opportunities. However, vendors might also want to look at Angola and Morocco. Most of these countries have a relatively higher per-capita income that is growing faster than the average across the continent. 'While oil and gas, defence, and mining industries remain the key sectors driving business telephony investments, several countries in Africa are also investing heavily in structural reforms that include building telecommunications infrastructure,' notes the analyst of this research service. 'Countries such as Cape Verde, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Sudan and Zambia have committed in excess of 25 percent of their GDP to fixed investments.'
Asian Manufacturers have Strong Presence
Quite significantly, Asian manufacturers have developed very strong distribution networks in Africa and companies such as Panasonic, NEC, Samsung, and Toshiba have become familiar names. These participants have a very strong base in the sub-50-line segment of the market, particularly as their products are easily available, low priced, simple to use, and fault tolerant. Moreover, key telephone systems (KTS) are available through the same reseller, who offers faxes, telephones, printers, and computers to a business. The leading vendor, Panasonic’s success in this market is largely attributed to its early market entry and low prices. Its KX series of digital KTS are the simplest and cheapest products in the market. NEC, on the other hand, has a relatively strong presence in North-West Africa. Egypt, for instance, accounts for 40 percent of its continental sales. NEC is relatively stronger in the 10 to 30 user segment with its economical three-way call facility.
Going forward, the African business telephony market will continue to expand with some fundamental changes in the market dynamics including the increasing initiation of public-private partnership projects in the social sector. 'The telecommunication market in the continent is undergoing deregulation and the entry of private participants has helped create a competitive environment that is offering customers greater choice as well as better value for money,' says the analyst. One of the biggest opportunities for telephony participants is the 2010 World Cup to be held in South Africa. The country will not only invest in creating stadiums, road and rail networks but also in improving communications that will create new business opportunities in the mid-term.
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