The Race (Craze) For 3G In Nigeria
by Yomi Adegboye2005-09-15 00:00:00 | Viewed 978 times
A few months ago, Mtel a GSM network operator in Nigeria announced ambitious plans to build and launch a 3G network within 6 months. Not too long after, MTN Nigeria made a public statement on its plans to also setup a 3G network by 2006.
Great news for technology lovers. But I am not so excited about the news.
The case of Mtel is quite suspect. Just early this year (2005), Mtel launched GPRS on its network. But no-one anyone knows seem to be using it. There have been no publicity on the services based on this 2.5G platform. There are those who believe that the so-called GPRS launch was a political thing, and another white elephant project. Its easy to agree with those who hold this view.
If a network has no-one subscribing to its GPRS service, one begins to wonder which subscribers will take up 3G?
In the case of MTN, at the time the Y'hello guys announced plans for 3G, they did not even have an active GPRS network in place. MTN has since set GPRS up and are currently testing it out.
With GloMobile fixing tariffs for WAP over GPRS at 60kobo per kb, industry wattchers expect MTN to fix 70 to 75 kobo per kb. Now, take into consideration that most subscribers are of the opinion that at 60k per kb on GloMobile, GPRS is expensive. Then take into consideration that 3G will be more expensive, and so enjoy lower patronage, and one wonders how all this is going to play out.
Setting up a 3G network is cost-intensive. The operator has to build a parallel network, so to speak. All over the world, 3G charges are higher than GPRS charges. A way out for the operators who do go ahead with their plans for 3G would be to migrate from the current tariff plans based on amount of data transferred to a fixed monthly fee similar to what the CDMA networks are operating. Low entry costs; low monthly fees.
As it is right now, current 3G charges (especially the entry costs) by a new service provider in the country confirm that 3G is still a platform only the extremely comfortable can afford. And that market niche is already saturated.
The GSM operators must not forget why they have been a success in Nigeria till date: their introduction of mass market products and services.As soonas they forget that, I can safely predict that the future of their success is suspect.
Yomi Adegboye is a consultant on mobile communications in Nigeria. Read his diary on GoSmartMobile
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