(Ecofin Agency) - In West Africa, mobile technology and services contributed 8.7% of GDP in 2018, the GSM Association (GSMA) indicates.  

During the period under review, they generated $52 billion, a volume that may rise to $68 billion by 2023 or 9.5% of GDP.

The 2018 performance was achieved thanks to 185 million mobile users, including 100 million internet users. This represented 53% of mobile penetration rate and 40% for internet.

The mobile ecosystem contributed $4.4 billion to public treasuries in the region via taxes. $2.8 billion was contributed via value-added taxes, sales taxes and various duties while $1.6 billion was levied on firms and jobs.

This sector also created 1 million direct jobs and 600,000 indirect jobs.

3G technology was the most used. Its use will be higher in 2019 while the 4G use will increase to overtake 2G use.

According to the GSMA, West Africa leads other sub-regions in the adoption of mobile internet. An additional 80 million people should use it by 2025. The market will also get more than 60 million new subscribers, half of which will be in Nigeria.

The GSMA estimates that in 2019/2020, the region’s mobile telephony operators will spend $8.5 billion for infrastructures representing a $1.6 billion increase compared with the volume invested in the past two years.