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Development within Benin’s telecom market continues to be restricted by the poor condition of the country’s fixed-line infrastructure. The use of fixed-line voice and internet services is low, and consequently little revenue is derived from these sectors.

Samoa was one of the first Pacific Island countries to establish a regulatory infrastructure and liberalise its telecom market. In 2006, it became the first in the region to see the market entrance of Digicel, which has since launched services in other Pacific nations.

Over the years, efforts to expand the telecom sector in Nepal have met with many challenges. The fixed line market in Nepal remains underdeveloped.

Pakistan’s telecom market has had to transition from a regulated state-owned monopoly to a deregulated competitive structure. The transition, and the development of the telecom sector generally, has been greatly aided by foreign investment.

Following a referendum, oil-rich South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011 and became an independent nation. Having been deprived of investment for decades, it inherited one of the least developed telecommunications and internet markets in the world, while other infrastructure is also lamentably poor.

Sierra Leone has enjoyed sustained political stability in recent years, following a decade of civil war. The departure of the UN’s local mission in March 2014 marked the end of more than 15 years of international peacekeeping operations in the country.

Nigeria has one of the largest telecom markets in Africa, supported by the second largest economy on the continent after South Africa. The economy’s recovery from a recent recession, helped the telecom sector attract foreign investment, particularly from China, while government infrastructure programs also stimulate investment.

Mauritania’s small population and low economic output has limited the country’s ability to develop sustained growth. There are also practical challenges relating to transparency and tax burdens which have hindered foreign investment.

The telecom sector in Laos still has numerous issues to address. For a number of years, the rate of regulatory reform has been well behind wider industry development. However, Laos has started to make significant progress in strengthening its telecom infrastructure. As a result, it has attracted greater foreign investment into the sector.

After more than a decade of civil war which destroyed much of its infrastructure, Liberia became a prime example of an almost entirely wireless telecommunications market.

The telecom market in Bhutan is dominated by the mobile sector, which accounts for the vast majority of voice and data connections. This is partly the result of poor fixed-line infrastructure, and topographic issues which has rendered it easier to deliver services based on mobile infrastructure.

Tunisia has one of the most sophisticated telecom infrastructures in North Africa. Penetration rates for mobile and internet services are among the highest in the region.

Sudan makes up the northern part of a country which in 2011 was separated to form the new state of South Sudan. Three quarters of the former population live in the north, where mobile market penetration is far higher.

Namibia was slow to introduce competition in the mobile market, with a second operator not licensed until 2006.

The Azerbaijani economy has a major dependence on oil resources and the ICT industry. The COVID-19 pandemic and oil price slump is expected to result in an economic contraction of 2.2% in 2020, and slow recovery afterwards. The telecom sector is also exposed to the risk of delays in infrastructure and the launching of services based on new technologies, including 5G.

Djibouti is one of the few remaining countries in which the national telco, Djibouti Telecom, has a monopoly on all telecom services, including fixed lines, mobile, internet and broadband. The lack of competition has meant that the market has not lived up to its potential.

Indonesia’s large population and complex geography pose a number of challenges for governments to develop economic growth. These challenges are mirrored in the telecom sector, which is well served by mobile infrastructure, but which has inadequate fixed-line capacity in many areas.

Morocco has developed one of the most advanced telecommunications markets in Africa, supported by the government’s Maroc Digital 2020 strategy to encourage the development of a digital economy and on the National Broadband Plan which aims to provide fixed or mobile broadband access to the entire population by 2022. The country had the fastest mobile broadband data rates in Africa as of June 2020, a testament to investments made by the MNOs over the years.

Zimbabwe since 2019 has been hit by significant macro-economic difficulties, a climate-related drought, and the effects of COVID-19. Revenue from the telecom sector came under pressure from a number of recent regulatory measures and taxes imposed by the cash-strapped government, though to alleviate the effects of inflation, mobile service tariffs have been increased three times since mid-2019.