African operators line up triple-play

June 24, 2008 - The number of broadband subscribers in Africa will triple over the next three years, according to a new report from research and consultancy firm Balancing Act, and will be driven by the launch of triple-play services.

The report predicts that operators on the continent are about to start marketing broadband and triple-play services in earnest, while "considerably cheaper" international fibre prices will be reaching East Africa by the middle of 2009 and having an impact across the continent, starting in South Africa. New fibre projects are expected to compete with the monopoly-controlled SAT3 that already connects West Africa to the world, and cheaper international prices will mean downward pressure on national backbone prices.

Russell Southwood, CEO of Balancing Act and co-author of the report, commented: "In terms of communications technologies, Africa is increasingly becoming a two-track continent. There are the countries where a combination of policy, regulation and investment are producing fast-track changes of which faster, cheaper broadband and Triple Play are one result. And there are those slow-track countries where the attitudes of government, regulators and operators are shutting out investment in newer technologies like broadband."