Mobile Brands Affirms Nigeria Leadership In Mobile Lifestyle

MOBILE Brands has reaffirmed that Nigeria is Africa’s largest mobile market with 125 million mobile subscribers. It has also said that Nigeria is home to one of the most connected and engaged mobile populations on the continent. Analysts stated that as smartphones become cheaper and mobile broadband infrastructure continues to improve, the mobile phone would become even more deeply embedded in the daily lives of Nigerians.

Affirming this assertion, Managing Director of Useful & Beautiful, Lynette Hundermark, said that marketers should start thinking about the opportunities mobile will pose for them as more Nigerians spend more time on their mobile phones and join the world of mobile money and mobile broadband.

Pointing to MasterCard’s Digital Evolution Index research, Hundermark notes that just 8.1 per cent of Nigeria’s population has access to personal computers whereas mobile penetration is 94 per cent.

This offers a breakout opportunity for a market that has lagged global trends in adoption of digital payments and shopping.  On mobile money solution, Hundermark said “To date, Nigeria has faced many challenges in growing adoption of online banking and shopping, among them consumer distrust, logistical and infrastructural challenges, and poor Internet penetration.”

She further stated that “now, many companies, such as MasterCard, are bringing mobile money solutions to market that could help change that picture. With more affordable handsets driving an increase in smartphone adoption, the telecoms backbone improving, and an already large population of feature phones, Nigeria is ready to join the world of electronic payments.”  Hundermark said the paradox of the Nigerian market is that people are early adopters of technology, yet they remain more comfortable with cash payments than they are with credit card or digital transactions.