South Africa - Mobile Market - Overview, Statistics and Forecasts

Synopsis

South Africa has a vibrant mobile market that has seen rapid uptake since competition was introduced to the sector in the 1990s. With market penetration back above 100%, the network operators – Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Telkom SA – are increasingly forced to find innovative ways of distinguishing themselves from the competition in order to gain and retain customers. In addition, Virgin operates in the market as a MVNO. 3G/HSPA mobile broadband services rival available DSL fixed-line offerings in terms of both speed and price, and have consequently outpaced them in terms of subscriber numbers. All four operators are preparing the introduction of the next generation of mobile technology, LTE (also referred to as 4G), but are being held back by delays with suitable frequency spectrum allocations.

While emerging as the country’s leading broadband providers, the major mobile operators are also branching out into fixed-lines, fibre backbone networks, international fibre connectivity, mobile banking and entertainment in a rapidly converging environment. Fixed-line incumbent Telkom SA has reacted by launching its own mobile network.

Companies covered in this report:

Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Virgin Mobile, Telkom SA (Heita, 8ta).

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. Overview of South Africa’s mobile market
  • 2.1 Mobile statistics
  • 2.2 Market liberalisation and licence obligations
  • 2.3 Community service telephones (CST)
  • 2.4 Fixed-mobile convergence (FMC)
• 3. Regulatory issues
  • 3.1 Prices
  • 3.2 Interconnection
  • 3.3 Handset subsidies
  • 3.4 International gateways
  • 3.5 Fees and obligations for 1800MHz spectrum
  • 3.6 Registration of subscriber ID
  • 3.7 Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
  • 3.8 Quality of service (QoS)
• 4. Mobile handsets, smartphones
• 5. Major mobile operators
  • 5.1 Vodacom South Africa
    • 5.1.1 Vodacom’s move into the wireless broadband market
  • 5.2 MTN South Africa
    • 5.2.1 MTN Zone
  • 5.3 Cell C
  • 5.4 Telkom SA
  • 5.5 Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO)
• 6. Mobile data services
  • 6.1 Overview
  • 6.2 Mobile data revenue
  • 6.3 SMS
  • 6.4 MMS
  • 6.5 WAP
  • 6.6 GPRS
  • 6.7 EDGE
  • 6.8 BlackBerry
• 7. 3G and 3.5G (HSPA)
  • 7.1 Mobile broadband overview
  • 7.2 Vodacom
  • 7.3 MTN
  • 7.4 Cell C
  • 7.5 Telkom SA
• 8. LTE (4G)
• 9. Mobile content and applications
  • 9.1 Push-to-Talk (PTT)
  • 9.2 Mobile TV
  • 9.3 Mobile music
  • 9.4 CellBook
  • 9.5 M-commerce
  • 9.6 Mobile advertising
  • 9.7 Location-based services (LBS)
  • 9.8 Manobi
  • 9.9 Mobile social media
• 10. Forecast – mobile subscribers – 2013, 2016
  • 10.1 Notes on scenario forecasts
• 11. Related reports

• Table 1 – Mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 1994 - 2012
• Table 2 – Vodacom South Africa subscribers and market share – 2002 - 2011
• Table 3 – Vodacom South Africa key statistics – year ended March 2011
• Table 4 – MTN South Africa subscribers and market share – 2002 - 2011
• Table 5 – MTN South Africa key statistics – six months ended June 2011
• Table 6 – Vodacom broadband subscribers – 2006 - 2011
• Table 7 – Telkom SA mobile subscribers – 2009 - 2011
• Table 8 – Forecast mobile subscribers – 2013; 2016

• Chart 1 – Mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 2002 - 2012

• Exhibit 1 – Spotlight on Vodacom GSM community payphones