The mobile industry in Sub-Saharan Africa continues to scale rapidly, reaching 367 million subscribers in mid-2015. Migration to higher speed networks and smartphones continues apace, with mobile broadband connections set to increase from just over 20% of the connection base today to almost 60% by 2020. Falling device prices are encouraging the rapid adoption of smartphones, with the region set to add more than 400 million new smartphone connections by 2020, by which time the smartphone installed base will total over half a billion.

GSMA:The Mobile Economy Sub-Saharan Africa 2015
1 Mobile market regional overview
1.1 Subscriber growth is slowing
1.2 Transition to mobile broadband is well under way
1.3 4G adoption is slow, but there are a few regional outperformers
1.4 Smartphone adoption is accelerating as device costs decline
1.5 Sub-regional groupings
1.6 Revenue growth is declining
2 Mobile enabling innovation and social change in Sub-Saharan Africa
2.1 Mobile enabling innovation
2.2 The African app economy
2.3 Mobile commerce on the rise
2.4 Mobile enabling digital inclusion
2.5 Mobile enabling financial inclusion
2.6 Mobile addressing social challenges
2.7 Summary of GSMA Programme activities
3 Mobile − a key driver of growth and employment in Sub-Saharan Africa
3.1 The direct economic contribution of the mobile ecosystem
3.2 Indirect and productivity impacts of mobile technology
3.3 Employment and public funding contributions
3.4 Outlook and trends for 2015–2020
4 Pivotal role of regulation in allowing mobile to realise its full potential
4.1 The strategic importance of spectrum
4.2 Extending mobile coverage
4.3 Maintaining healthy competition