Africa mobile web growth 'exploding'
2010-11-10 15:01
Cape Town - As more mobile devices connect to the internet, software company Opera says that Africa is poised for "exponential" growth in terms of web access.
"Access to the internet is a universal right and while wired devices reach only 20% of the world's population, wireless connections reach 60% of the world's population," Peter Panait Løjmand, Opera software sales director told News24 at an executive breakfast meeting.
Opera, which counts Vodacom, Samsung and AT&T among its customers, is well-known for its mobile browser that can be downloaded free from the company's website. In particular, its Opera Mini browser uses compression tools, to enhance the display of web pages on feature phones.
"We have more than 71 million monthly unique users of Opera Mini and it's shipped on more than 130 million plus mobile phones," said Løjmand.
"South Africa is the top market in Africa, followed by Nigeria and Kenya," said Sean D'Arcy, Opera's director of partner marketing and management, on the sidelines of the Africa Com conference in Cape Town.
Growth
"Our mission is to get the internet to as many people as possible," he added.
He said that the company was intent on expanding the web through mobile devices particularly in Africa because of a lack of wired access, despite the broadband cables in development around the continent.
"We view the internet like eating or water. Information is key for countries to develop and it's important for us to break down barriers."
According to Opera's State of the Web report, mobile web access has grown by 124% in Africa with Nokia being the top brand used to access the internet on the continent.
However, D'Arcy said that in Asia, some governments had resistance to the free flow of information on the internet and the company had already received warnings.
In Asia, the Vietnamese government has been criticised over its actions of censoring websites the regime deems unsuitable and earlier this year, Google threatened to quit China over allegations of hacking and censorship of search results.
This mirrors recent developments in SA where the ANCYL vowed it would shut down Twitter over fraudulent accounts in the name of its leader, Julius Malema.
Consumption
"We get into trouble as well - we don't want countries to block websites - but there've only been a couple of instances, in China and Vietnam, where we've been warned," D'Arcy said.
He said that the company was not actively anticipating which African government may want to block access to the web once it is universal, but conceded that the possibility exists, given the power of information in the hands of ordinary people.
"If you get enough people on the internet, they should be able to influence government."
The reports shows that the way users consume content on the internet has changed slightly. In SA, users tend to consume the mobile web over short periods, as opposed to Nigeria where consumption is up at about 35 hours per week.
Social networking and entertainment has remained the top activity on the mobile web, but a surprise has been the rapid jump of video-sharing site YouTube, which launched a South African channel this year.
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