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Telecommunication Industries in Africa
In recent years, there has been huge investment in telecommunication in West Africa. Despite the big investment in this industry, there is still a lot of consumer need in the telecommunication industry...
The telecommunication industry is one of the fastest growing industries in Africa, especially in West Africa. In recent years, there has been huge investment in telecommunication in West Africa. Despite the big investment in this industry, there is still a lot of consumer need in the telecommunication industry that companies are yet to explore. Also, most telecom service providers have not been able to meet up to the high consumers demands for some time now. Even with the high prices of services and products in the telecommunication industry, there are still a lot of people who are still going for these expensive products and services.
To buttress this point further, phone calls and internet services in country like Nigeria is more expensive than in Finland. The lowest phone calls in Nigeria can only be made from business centre or a phone booth. So, someone can only make cheap call that is less than 20 cent per minute from only a phone booth or a business centre.
When I travelled to Nigeria in October 2009, I was very surprise at the rate of internet services – I paid over a 100 Euro for a USB internet I used for only three weeks, whereas in Finland, the acquisition of a USB internet of not less than 3 megabits for one month cost about 40 Euros. Even at the exorbitant price of phone calls and internet services, sometimes the services can be very poor. But the consumers are left with no choice as many people still rush to buy these products and services.
However, most of the telecom companies have ascertained that the high prices are due to the companies high cost of diesel for running their facilities. In my opinion, there is no way their overall cost can be higher than the overall cost of running such facilities in Europe.
Research question: Which kind of realisable reform should take place in Africa telecom industry to reduce cost and improve the quality of s
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I did my phD thesis on "the logic of flat rate pricing". Have a look at YouTube with the search word villesaar.
Internet pricing should be flat i.e. x euros per month - and also in mobile. One should move away from transaction based pricing.
Second there should be cap pricing i.e. the regulator should state which is the maximum price. This has been implemented in European roaming tarrifs. The price cap in roaming is helping to create a European wide growth market.
Regulation is a great idea. More details about how the industry will be regulated could be written on this page as a solution to this telecommunication challenges in Africa. But another challenge that will need a different solution will be how to overcome or convince the major players that will always oppose regulation with their strong grip on the government.