Africa, Middle East Will Lead Mobile Broadband Subscriber Growth by 2012, Pyramid Research Finds

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts - Africa and the Middle East will lead the world in terms of the percentage of mobile broadband subscriptions through 2012, according to a new report from Pyramid Research (www.pyr.com), the telecom research arm of the Light Reading Communications Network (www.lightreading.com).

Emerging Opportunity: Boom Times Ahead for Mobile Broadband in Africa & Middle East examines the use of mobile broadband as an Internet access technology for PCs, excluding the use of mobile networks for Web browsing on smartphones or other handsets. This 15-page report, part of Pyramid’s new Africa/Middle East Telecom Insider report series, identifies the factors that affect future adoption of mobile broadband in markets across the region. It analyzes how operators have adapted their mobile broadband strategies to three key markets: South Africa, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia. Download an excerpt of this report here: www.pyr.com/downloads.htm?id=5&sc=PR042809_INAM1.3

Although Africa and the Middle East generated 10 percent of global mobile revenue in 2008, the region contributed only 3 percent of global mobile data revenue, notes Dearbhla McHenry, analyst at Pyramid Research and author of the report. However, the region will double its share of global mobile data revenue by 2014 due to its growing popularity of mobile broadband in the region, in rich and poor markets alike. “We expect mobile broadband adoption in Africa and the Middle East to grow faster than the global average over the next five years, with the subscriber total increasing at a CAGR of 33 percent to reach 32.2 million by 2014,” she says.

“Just as markets in Africa and the Middle East were starved for voice communications prior to the mobile era, so too were they starved for Internet access: Inadequate fixed infrastructure and insufficient competition in the fixed market meant that services were either unavailable, unaffordable, or both,” explains McHenry. “The launch of 3G services in much of the region means that its Internet market is now on the brink of a similar makeover as when the advent of mobile communications famously and dramatically transformed AME’s voice telecommunications sector,” she adds.

The region’s great unmet demand for Internet access, combined with its generally inadequate fixed networks, means that from 2008 through 2012, Africa and the Middle East will lead the world in terms of the percentage of broadband subscriptions that are mobile. “Mobile operators are eager to take advantage of this opportunity, routinely offering mobile broadband as their first or even their only 3G service following their 3G network rollouts,” McHenry says.

Emerging Opportunity: Boom Times Ahead for Mobile Broadband in Africa & Middle East is part of Pyramid Research’s Africa/Middle East Telecom Insider report series. Telecom Insiders are packed with trend analysis, industry best practices, market sizing and forecasting, competitor analysis, and case studies, providing you information you can leverage to make better business decisions.

Download an excerpt of this report here: www.pyr.com/downloads.htm?id=5&sc=PR042809_INAM1.3

Emerging Opportunity: Boom Times Ahead for Mobile Broadband in Africa & Middle East is priced at US$595 and can be purchased online here: www.pyramidresearch.com/store/ins_ame_090422.htm?sc=PR042809_INAM1.3 or by contacting Jeff Claudino via email at claudino@pyr.com or telephone at +1-619-229-9940.

About Pyramid Research

Pyramid Research (www.pyr.com) offers practical solutions to the complex demands our clients face in the telecommunications, media and technology industries. Our analysis is uniquely positioned at the intersection of emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models, powered by the bottom-up methodology of our market forecasts for over 100 countries-a distinction that has remained unmatched for more than 25 years. As the telecom research arm of the Light Reading Communications Network, Pyramid Research works with Heavy Reading, providing the communications industry’s most comprehensive market data, trusted research and insightful technology analysis.

About Light Reading

Founded in 2000, Light Reading (www.lightreading.com) is the leading online media, research, and focused event company serving the US$3 trillion worldwide communications market. Lightreading.com is the ultimate source for technology and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. Light Reading’s research arms, Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, provide the most comprehensive communications research, market data, and technology analysis in close to 100 markets around the world. Light Reading produces nearly 20 targeted communications events including TelcoTV, Ethernet Expo New York and Ethernet Expo London, The Tower Summit @ CTIA, and Optical Expo, as well as focused one-day events tailored for cable, mobile, and wireline executives. Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005 and operates as a unit of TechWeb.

About TechWeb

TechWeb (techweb.com/aboutus), the global leader in business technology media, is an innovative business focused on serving the needs of technology decision-makers and marketers worldwide. TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed media brands in the business technology market. Today, more than 13.3 million* business technology professionals actively engage in our communities created around our global face-to-face events, Interop, Web 2.0, Black Hat, and VoiceCon; online resources such as the TechWeb Network, Light Reading, Intelligent Enterprise, InformationWeek.com, bMighty.com, and The Financial Technology Network; and the market leading, award-winning InformationWeek, TechNet Magazine, MSDN Magazine, and Wall Street & Technology magazines. TechWeb also provides end-to-end services including next-generation performance marketing, integrated media, research, and analyst services. TechWeb is a division of United Business Media, a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than US$2.5 billion.

*13.3 million business decision-makers: based on number of monthly connections

About United Business Media Limited

UBM (UBM.L) focuses on two principal activities: worldwide information distribution, targeting and monitoring; and, the development and monetization of B2B communities and markets. UBM’s businesses inform markets and serve professional commercial communities - from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists - with integrated events, online, print and business information products. Our 6,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organized into specialist teams that serve these communities, bringing buyers and sellers together, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to www.unitedbusinessmedia.com.

Press contact: Jennifer Baker +1-617-871-1910 jbaker@pyr.com

Source: Pyramid Research

Jennifer Baker, +1-617-871-1910, jbaker at pyr.com