Africa's Growing Middle Class is a Huge Deal

Some problems seem unsolvable; some probably are nearly unsolvable. But the growing middle class in many parts of Africa is a huge and important deal, given the relative or nearly-complete failure of many aid programs over the last half century, one might argue.

From a communications industry perspective, the growth explains, in part, not just growing interest but growing revenue possibility.

People often forget that all jobs come, in the final analysis, from the health of the private economy. People work in public sectors, to be sure, but all those jobs are funded by taxes on people who work, and companies that hire them. The whole point of any economic development effort is sustainable growth of the private economy.

Without robust economic growth, little in tax revenues is possible. The growth of the African middle class is a hugely-important development.

Mobile Money Could Be 5% of Africa Mobile Operator Revenue in 2015

As of September 2010, at least 19 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa had "mobile money" service available, according to Pyramid Research, which forecasts that by the year 2015, revenue generated from mobile money services could represent around five percent of total operator revenue on the continent. 

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Mobiles Displacing Landlines in Africa

Mobility increasingly is the way human beings talk, though in many cases the use of Subscriber Information Management (SIM) cards might outpace the propagation of devices.

The substitution of cell phones for landlines is increasing across Morocco, Algeria, Sudan and Tunisia, for example.

In Mauritania, the number of SIM cards per landline was 29 in 2006, compared to 14.7 in 2005, which is the highest rate among the seven countries of Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia.

In 2006, Egypt and Libya counted the lowest ratio of SIM cards versus number of
landlines, respectively, at 1.7 and 4.9. In Libya, 2006 marked the year whereby SIM card numbers topped landlines.