Expert Predicts Mobile Penetration To Reach 82% By 2015

An Information Technology expert, Mr
Matthew Dawes, on Wednesday predicted that mobile telephone penetration in
Nigeria would reach 82 per cent by 2015.

Dawes, who is the Managing Director of All
Amber Communications, made the prediction in Lagos at the opening of a two-day
conference tagged “Mobile Web West Africa 2012”.

According to him, the market penetration of
mobile is growing rapidly as about 90 million out of 158 million Nigerians now
use mobile telephones.

“Recently, Nigeria overtook South Africa to
become the continent’s largest mobile market with over 90 million subscribers.

“Across the continent, the mobile web and
applications opportunity continued to have profound effect on all echelons of
society,’’ Dawes said.

He said that the idea of Mobile Web West
Africa conference was to develop a thriving industry and support the growth of
the ecosystem.

Our correspondent reports that the
conference has the theme “Taking the Monetisation & Content Creation
Dialogue to the Next Level”.

It is being organised by the All Amber, an
IT firm in the U.K.

Dawes said that mobile internet browsing
was now larger than desktop browsing, adding that 54 per cent of internet
contents were being accessed through mobile gadgets.

According to him, the importance of mobile
web applications and content in West Africa is undisputed.

“There is need to outline the potential
that exists in the development of the mobile ecosystem.

Mrs Isis Nyong’O, the Vice President,
Africa InMobi, advised the Federal Government to promote local content policy
in the ICT sector.

She said that promoting local content would
make the country actualise its Vision 20: 2020.

“Promoting our local content would enable
the country to be among the list of 20 most developed countries of the world.

“Right now, we are not on that list and the
countries on that list will not stand idle waiting for Nigeria.

“It means national commitment, dedication,
hard work and real determination,’’ she said.

The IT expert said that the policy would
promote direct investment in the ICT manufacturing and assembling, thereby
creating jobs for the teeming young Nigerians.

Nyong’O said that the country needed ICT
content policy “just as it has it in the downstream sector of petroleum
industry”.

“Why are we still importing virtually
everything we use, do you know huge amount of money we are spending on
importation of software applications and hardware used by government agencies.

“Our youths do not have the right skills,
competencies and exposure to move forward and ICT can make a creative change in
their life style,’’ she said.

Nyong’O urged the Federal Government to
encourage direct investment in ICT manufacturing and content development.