Africa continues to be Millicom's fastest-growing region, and the operator says that with 160 million people under licence, the region represents some 55% of Millicom's potential market, but penetration is still low in all its markets.
Millicom will face increased levels of competition in the DRCongo and Ghana, and a third operator is also expected in Senegal before the end of the year.
Millicom is also looking to expand into new African markets, and submitted an application for the third national fixed and mobile licence in Rwanda, which neighbours its operations in Tanzania and DRCongo.
The Millicom Group reported a worldwide total of 28,450,724 subscribers by 30 June 2008, a 58% increase on the 17,966,993 in the previous year. Meanwhile, the seven African operations—Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRCongo), Ghana, Mauritius, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania—reported 7,579,792 subscribers, a 92% increase on the 3,954,080 recorded by 30 June 2007.
The seven African operations reported a net increase of more than 1 million subscribers in the quarter, and in terms of growth the rate continues to increase. In the first-quarter 2008 overall subscriber growth was 72%, in fourth-quarter 2007 it was 66%, and in third-quarter 2007 it was 44%.
