London — Africa's mobile industry is under significant financial pressure and this may yet be the forcing ground for wider changes. What the mobile operators are selling is changing from voice and SMS to data and this demands a different mindset. But it will also be a more challenging road than the super-profits of the mobile voice era. Russell Southwood looks at the straws in the wind that provide some clues to what's happening.
If I want to make call to an African colleagues, 80-90% are now either on Skype or What's App. The latter is causing the most significant changes in behavior because it has a good mobile app for smartphones: you can see which of your contacts are on What's App and what their status is. You can send them the equivalent of an SMS without paying SMS rates. This the context of the change the mobile industry in Africa is going through.
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