Connectivity Key to Leveraging Digital Services Business Prospects

THE increasing maturity of most mobile markets in West Africa has intensified the competition for subscribers, compelling operators to innovate and differentiate in terms of service delivery and provide additional non-traditional telco services.

The launch of digital services (e.g., financial services, ecommerce, and digital media) is one such strategy for creating differentiation within this ultracompetitive landscape, but global ICT consulting services firm International Data Corporation (IDC) is also keen to stress the importance of connectivity in facilitating seamless access to these innovations.

Certainly, Oluwole Babatope, a research analyst for telecommunications and digital media at IDC West Africa, believes that in order to fully maximize the digital service opportunity, mobile operators must also provide improved connectivity alongside these new data-hungry offerings.

“Mobile financial services, online transactions on ecommerce sites, video on demand, video streaming, music streaming, and mobile gaming are all real-time services that require the least amount of latency possible between data packets,” said Babatope. “As such, operators must strive to improve the quality of their network connectivity if they are to ensure a positive customer experience.”