Telecom Growth Opportunities in Africa: Unlocking the Next Wave of Digital Value

Telecom growth opportunities in Africa have never been more compelling. The continent’s mobile-first ecosystem, combined with rising demand for digital services, is creating a new chapter for the region’s telecom sector—one defined not just by connectivity, but by the power of what happens after the connection is made.

Across the continent, mobile has become the primary (and in many cases, only) channel for communication, commerce, learning, and access to essential services. Unlike mature markets weighed down by legacy infrastructure, African operators hold a strategic advantage: a mobile-first customer base, a rising digital economy, and the opportunity to lead in adjacent services like fintech, eHealth, and EdTech.

But opportunity doesn’t equal inevitability. To capture the upside, operators need to evolve their role—from infrastructure providers to intelligent platforms. That journey starts with how well they understand and serve their customers.

Why Africa is poised for telecom growth opportunities

Africa’s digital growth is not on the horizon, it’s already happening.

• Mobile penetration across Africa is substantial, with smartphone adoption climbing rapidly, even in rural areas. For instance, in countries like Kenya and Nigeria, mobile phone ownership rates are around 80%.
• Fixed-line infrastructure is sparse, making mobile networks the default for everything from voice to video, banking to education.
• Governments and development agencies are increasingly turning to telecom networks as delivery rails for services—particularly in health and education.
• The rise of mobile money—with global success stories like M-PESA—has made telcos central to financial inclusion.

This context creates a perfect storm of telecom growth opportunities for operators. But success will depend on more than coverage and pricing. It requires operators to understand customer behaviours, identify where value is being created (or lost), and act on it in real time.

The Bigger Play: From connectivity to growth engines

Across the continent, telcos are already proving that growth doesn’t have to come from core voice or data services alone.

• Safaricom has built a financial ecosystem around M-PESA, which contributed approximately 42% of its total service revenue in the year ended March 2024.
• MTN Nigeria launched its fintech subsidiary, MoMo PSB, to offer mobile-first banking across the country.
• Orange Egypt has partnered with healthcare providers to enhance the health sector through improved connectivity.
• In Senegal, Yas has collaborated with Ericsson and the Ministry of National Education to provide digital education solutions, including connected classrooms and laptops for learning.

These aren’t one-off experiments. In many cases, they’re core business lines—and they offer a roadmap for what’s possible when telecom operators act as digital service platforms.

What does it take to deliver telecom growth opportunities? 

We see three ingredients that separate operators who scale new services from those who stall:

1. A clear commercial strategy

• Define which verticals matter most based on customer need, market gaps, and regulatory openness.
• Build business models that align incentives—especially when monetisation is shared across a partner ecosystem.
• Set bold but clear KPIs: not just new revenue, but engagement frequency, adoption curves, and NPS impact.

2. Execution capability

Delivering new services means thinking beyond network performance. Operators need to build:

• Product development teams that understand digital user experience.
• Partner management functions that move faster than traditional vendor procurement models.
• Cross-functional squads that include marketing, compliance, engineering, and customer service.

Operators able to test, learn, and iterate quickly will be best positioned to capture the next wave of telecom growth opportunities in Africa.

3. A strong foundation of customer intelligence

You can’t grow what you can’t see. Telcos need to move from broad-brush segmentation to real-time, contextual understanding. That means:

• Connecting fragmented systems (recharge history, VAS usage, mobile app behaviour)
• Detecting key moments (second SIM usage, mobile wallet replenishment, first use of new service e.g. eHealth app)
• Activating this insight through personalisation—automated or through frontline channels

Getting the foundations right: Why data still matters

Let’s be clear: getting your data in shape is not the whole strategy—but it is non-negotiable.

Operators looking to unlock new service revenue need more than just distribution—they need customer understanding. You can’t cross-sell a loan, promote a health service, or deepen engagement with education content without knowing who your customers are, what they’re doing, and what they might need next.

That means:

• Unifying customer data across multiple touchpoints (including prepaid usage, VAS activity, app engagement, and SIM behavior)
• Being able to predict rather than just react to customer behavior
• Moving from fragmented data stores to a single, trustworthy foundation

Without this, even the best partnership or platform strategy risks falling flat.

The good news is, the industry is learning from early missteps. As we explore in our blog on Why Telecom CDP Implementations Fail, operators are increasingly focused on tools and strategies that reflect the realities of telco—not those borrowed from retail or banking.

The message is simple: data won’t win the game on its own, but you can’t play without it.

Making partnerships work: 3 models to leverage telecom growth opportunities

Partnerships will be a cornerstone of future growth. But not all models are created equal. Here are three emerging approaches:

1. Distribution leverage (Telco as Channel)

• The telco provides access to customer reach, payments rails, and data bundles.
• The partner provides the service (e.g., education content, health advice, job platforms).
• Examples: MTN x Ayoba, Orange x World Bank e-learning pilots.

2. Joint venture innovation (Telco as Co-Builder)

• Both parties co-develop a product or service and share the commercial upside.
• Strong alignment but requires clarity in governance and ownership.
• Examples: Safaricom x NCBA for M-Shwari microloans, MTN x JUMO for SME credit scoring.

3. Platform orchestration (Telco as Ecosystem Enabler)

• The operator opens APIs and access layers for third parties to plug in.
• Revenue comes from usage, data monetisation, or transaction commissions.
• This is the telco-as-a-platform model—and it’s where many want to go.

Action framework for telco leaders

To move from vision to value, C-level telco executives can align their teams around five key actions:

From North Africa’s fintech-led innovations to East Africa’s mobile-first health and education services, to West Africa’s rapid adoption of telco-as-a-platform models, the continent is writing its own story.

This isn’t about catching up. It’s about leading with relevance—where the customer is mobile-first, the infrastructure is digital, and the possibilities are open.

Telcos that embrace this new role—connector, enabler, and orchestrator—won’t just grow revenues. They’ll shape markets.

It’s a shift from:

• Transactional to relational engagement
• Product-centric to platform-centric economics
• One-size-fits-all marketing to moment-based, contextual offers

And it’s powered by a combination of vision, strategy, execution—and yes, a strong data foundation.

Final thought: Operators who build right, build beyond

The future of telecom in Africa won’t be defined by towers, coverage maps, or bundle discounts. It will be defined by how effectively operators become platforms for digital life—trusted partners that empower customers every day.

That future isn’t years away. It’s already in motion.

Telcos that act now—who partner smart, build agile teams, and lay the right foundations—will be the ones that unlock the next decade of telecom growth opportunities.

Want to explore how other operators are approaching the journey?

Check out our blog on Why Telcos Need a Customer Data Platform to Drive Growth, or start a conversation with us directly.

Sources and references

1. GeoPoll – Mobile Phone Penetration in Africa
2. Business Daily Africa – Safaricom M-PESA Revenue Growth
3. PYMNTS – Nigerian Central Bank Grants Mobile Banking License to MTN MoMo
4. Mobile World Live – Orange Boosts Egypt Health Sector with Connectivity
5. Ericsson – Improving Digital Education Ecosystem in Senegal
6. NCBA Group – M-Shwari Partnership Overview
7. JUMO – Enabling MTN to Offer Digital Financial Services