Operator-billed service revenues across the Africa & Middle East region are expected to rise to more than $107 billion in 2013, according to a new report from Juniper Research.

The report found that growth would be driven by mobile data services, fuelled by the greater availability and wider variety of rich-media content coupled with lower browsing costs. However, it noted that regional operator-billed voice revenues were likely to peak in 2011 and would subsequently fall away due to increasingly competitive pricing in that sector.
According to Juniper Research report author Dr Windsor Holden, “While the downward trend in regional ARPU will continue as adoption increases amongst lower-usage customers, we expect the decline in voice ARPU to be partially offset by an increase in data revenues, both amongst 2.5G and 3G customers.”

The report also observed that the region was likely to witness a surge in the growth of mobile financial services, with a raft of operator-led payment initiatives such as M-PESA (a service allowing you to transfer money using a mobile phone ) and mobile banking providers such as WIZZIT having already gained substantial user bases.

Other findings from the Juniper Research report include:
• The Middle East/Africa mobile user base is to grow at an average annual rate of 10.5% between 2008 and 2013
• Mobile data services are expected to contribute 24% of operator-billed service revenues in 2013, against just 9% in 2008.
• Saudi Arabia will provide the largest share of cumulative regional revenues over the forecast period, followed by Nigeria

This forecast is a good news for current mobile 2.0 startups who some of them I profiled on AC , it also points out that mobile data is a lucrative market in the Arab world as well for other entrepreneurs to enter.

The detailed report provides in-depth coverage and forecasts for six key Africa & Middle East markets (Egypt, “Israel”, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates) as well as for the region as a whole. It also includes regional overviews for key revenue drivers including mobile advertising, mobile entertainment services, mobile financial services and mobile ticketing.

Source: Juniper Research

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