In contrast, there are only about 20,000 Internet service subscribers in Ethiopia, and 0 mobile Internet (accessing the Internet on cellphones) users under a policy instituted by the dictatorial regime of Meles Zenawi that is intended to keep the people of Ethiopia in the dark. Other African nations such as South Africa strive to make information technology accessible to ever one as the following report shows.
THE massive growth of internet usage in South Africa will see mobile internet users in South Africa rise to 15 million in the country according to a report released by a leading information and computer technology firm.
BMI-TechKnowledge also projected mobile internet browsing and mobile e-mail access to rise in the next five years.
“There will be 15-million mobile internet users in South Africa by 2013,” said the organization.
The report that BMI-TechKnowledge has released is entitled SA Consumer Handset Model and Cellular Activities.
Ryan Smit, consumer market analyst at BMI- TechKnowledge, and author of the report, said mobile internet browsing and mobile e-mail access are expected to increase rapidly and forecasted that more than 15 million users would access the internet directly or indirectly on their handsets by the same year.
South Africa’s mobile phone industry has grown immensely in recent years.
According to a recent survey, the country is now the world’s fourth fastest growing cellular communications market, accounting for 80 percent of the population, which equals more than 39 million users.
This represents a market value of US$2.4 billion. It is by far the fastest growing such industry in the whole African continent.
Cutthroat competition characterizes the mobile phone industry in South Africa where three mobile networks, Vodacom (the biggest in the country in terms of subscribers), Mobile Telephone Networks (MTN) and Cell C, operate.
Last year, cellphone number portability was introduced across the three networks.
This enables subscribers to change from one network to another while retaining their cellular phone numbers.