Telecoms and digital technology have already established a strong symbiotic relationship in driving forward economic growth across Africa. Looking forward, the significance of that relationship is only likely to increase. With mobile taking up the slack from the country’s underdeveloped fixed wire infrastructure, the development of 4G / LTE and 5G networks will be critical both to bringing millions of African citizens online and to allowing African enterprises to meet their digital ambitions.
The telecoms industry will reap the rewards of digital transformation just as the continent’s tech sectors will benefit from network evolution. Mobile money is already a major source of additional revenue for African operators, and FinTech stands out as key focus for investment. With next-gen networks and disruptive technologies like AI, cloud computing and Blockchain expanding the horizons for financial service operational models, this is an area expected to see continued rapid growth over the next five years.
Other sectors expected to benefit significantly from continued investment in emerging technologies include agriculture, manufacturing and media and entertainment services. There is particular excitement around the impact AI is expected to have in Africa, partly because of the central role it has to play in mobile network evolution, and partly because of its breadth of applications across many industries. The presence of global giants like Google and Microsoft opening AI and cloud development labs on the continent is supported by the growth of the continent’s native tech start-up scene, with more launches attracting higher investment sums than ever before reflecting a growing confidence in Africa’s potential.