With the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) putting the total number of mobile phone subscribers at 14million by this June, the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) surged to Sh66,000 during the second quarter of this year-a figure that means that subscribers spend Sh22,000($16) per month.
- Taking this figure as the basis for revenue measurement for this year, the mobile phone industry may earn an estimated $2.684billion(Sh3.6trillion) per year - that’s double what the mining sector earns yearly — making telecommunications now the country’s leading industry, The Guardian on Sunday has learnt.
- According to official statistics from the TCRA, Tanzanian subscribers spend the second most on mobile phone use in the region, behind Kenya where ARPU is currently pegged at around $18. In Uganda, ARPU stands at $10 with about 10million users estimated in the country.
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Still, the largely weak consumer purchasing power in the country - where half of the population still lives on less than a dollar a day - puts a looming ceiling over how high telecom executives can expect profits to climb.
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By comparison, for example, in South Africa where the country’s GDP stands at $280billion per year, the ARPU is $40 per month.
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According to a survey conducted by Tele World, across Africa, Latin America and Asia, the number of people who do not have a bank account but do have a mobile phone is set to grow from 1 billion today to 1.7 billion by 2012. These ‘unbanked mobile’ individuals represent a compelling market opportunity for operators.
Read the full article from the Guardian on Sunday here.
