Research and Markets: Malawi - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts - 2011.

M2 PRESSWIRE-May 27, 2011-: Research and Markets: Malawi - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts - 2011(C)1994-2011 M2 COMMUNICATIONS

RDATE:27052011

Dublin - Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/fe6f38/malawi_telecoms) has announced the addition of the "Malawi - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts" report to their offering.

New licensing regime promises boost to competition

Average revenue per user.Malawi is one of the world's least developed countries, but its economy continues to grow at around 6 to 7% per year. Mobile penetration is less than half the African average, which means there is excellent growth potential once the market moves beyond the duopoly held by Bharti Airtel (formerly Zain) and Telecom Networks Malawi. A third mobile operator, G-Mobile was licensed in 2008 but the rollout of the new network has experienced delays and the operator is fighting against the revocation of its licence in the courts. A fourth licence has also been awarded, then withdrawn and retendered under non-transparent circumstances. To finally introduce more competition to the market, the government has now decided to follow in the footsteps of several of its neighbours and introduce a converged licensing regime which will allow the two fixed-line operators, Malawi Telecommunications and Access Communications to enter the mobile market as well. Both are already operating CDMA-based fixed-wireless networks which also support broadband access using EV-DO technology.

The internet sector is reasonably competitive with 15 licensed ISPs, but the limited availability and high cost of international bandwidth has held back growth and kept broadband prices high. DSL services are available, and several ISPs are rolling out WiMAX wireless broadband networks. The two incumbent mobile networks have launched third generation mobile services based on W-CDMA/HSPA technology in 2009 and 2010, respectively. A national fibre backbone is being implemented, and the country is set to gain access to international submarine fibre optic cables for the first time when a transit link via neighbouring countries is completed. Provided a suitable regulatory regime is put in place, this will bring down the cost of international bandwidth and deliver a boost to the broadband market.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive summary

2. Key statistics

3. Telecommunications market

4. Regulatory environment

5. Fixed network operators in Malawi

6. National fibre backbone infrastructure

7. International infrastructure

8. Internet market

9. Broadband market

10. Mobile communications

11. Forecasts

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/fe6f38/malawi_telecoms

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