Abstract:

This paper covers three countries in Africa: two in West Africa (Nigeria and Ghana) and one in Central Africa (Cameroon). The paper will focus on Nigeria which is Africa's fastest growing mobile and fixed line market. However, reference will also be made to Cameroon and Ghana. With the region characterised by grossly inefficient public telecommunications networks, prior to deregulation of the industry it did not take much time for the privately owned enterprises to shoot to the top positions. This paper will show how the traditional fixed telephone systems have fared against the GSM and Fixed Mobile/Wireless services in these three countries. The paper will depict the relative strengths and weaknesses of each system and respective consumer preferences. Finally the likely scenario into the future of telecommunications in these markets will be projected.