This archive report was first published on 14 May 2020.
On May 14, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had a mixed impact on telecommunications companies in Sub-Saharan Africa. While mobile operators in Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria recorded increased internet consumption, they suffered a significant decline in voice revenue, dampening the growth in data revenue.
Kenya's Safaricom, a leading telecommunications giant, faced headwinds due to the waiver of transaction charges for certain transactions and the overall drop in volume and value of transactions.
A report by Citi Research attributed the divergence in telecommunications services spending between South Africa and other Sub-Saharan Africa countries to the higher number of formal sector workers in South Africa who use fixed data to work from home.
Conversely, other nations in the SSA region have fewer workers in the formal sector, resulting in low internet service consumption. Additionally, a higher number of workers in SSA countries rely on daily wages and have been adversely affected by government restrictions introduced to fight COVID-19.
Citi Research predicts that the demand and spending on telecommunications services from individuals and businesses could emerge as more resilient to the pandemic and yield higher earnings for telcos.
