Africa and Middle East’s (AME) monthly mobile data usage per subscriber is forecast to more than double between 2017 and 2022, reaching 4.6GB by the end of the forecast period, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
Growth will be supported by the increasing availability of sub $50 smartphones, falling data prices and the emergence of large and unlimited mobile data plans, especially in the GCC(Gulf Cooperation Council).
The firm has also projected that the average monthly mobile voice usage per subscriber in the Middle East and Africa will remain stable in 2018, despite the growing adoption of over-the-top (OTT) voice applications such as Skype, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
Houda Bostanji, Technology Analyst, GlobalData
In the Middle East, Kuwait boasts one of the largest subscriber mobile data usages in the world at 23.8 GB/month in 2017, followed by Bahrain. Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritius lead the African ranking. All AME countries will witness a double-digit data usage CAGR through 2022, leading to a regional average of 15.1%.
