Telecom
The Changing Dynamics of the Telecommunications Indust
They say the only constant in life, is change. In no other industry is this statement more relevant than in the telecommunications industry.
Over the last two centuries, mankind has taken gigantic leaps in technology, and these leaps have in turn enabled equally gigantic leaps in telecommunications.
When the telephone was invented in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell, it was probably difficult to envision a world of mobile phones, video calls and instant messaging.
However, the development of enabling technologies such as the integrated circuit and more recently the internet, have continued to help push the boundaries of possibility in the telecoms industry.
Early telecommunications operators were setup to provide basic voice telephony services to subscribers, by ensuring that physical cables and exchanges were setup to connect various locations across the globe.
For these operators, growth simply meant investing in equipment to connect more and more people so as to provide basic telephony services.
This connectivity served as a catalyst for technological advances which in turn led to advances in the telecoms industry. This cycle of change continues to redefine the dynamics of the industry.
We are now more connected than ever before. In some countries (for example Finland and Japan), there are now more mobile subscriptions than there are people (IDG).
More people across the globe have access to a mobile phone, than have access to a toothbrush or working toilets (UN). It now takes 26 hours for the average person to report a lost wallet, but only 68 minutes for them to report a lost phone (Unisys).
A recent market analysis by Accenture has identified the six key trends which summarize the dynamics shaping the global telecoms industry today. The first of these trends is the commoditisation of core products.
The initial products and services which built up the industry continue to decline and will continue to contribute less to telecoms operators’ profits. In other words, there will be a continued migration from wire-line to wireless telecommunications. Between 2011 and 2016, the projected compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) globally of fixed line revenues is projected to be only 2% (Ovum).
The second trend is the replacement of voice traffic with data. Data usage continues to drive growth in network traffic, and this trend will only continue as technological advances help improve the quality of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) telephony. In the near future, Cisco predicts that voice will make up less than 10% of total mobile traffic.
The third trend is the evolving demands of “always-connected” customers.
Telecoms subscribers now have much higher expectations from their providers, and telecoms operators will have to provide differentiated customer service to address the needs of their subscribers, or risk losing them to rivals especially now that technology has reduced the hurdles of switching between telecoms providers.
The fourth trend shaping the industry is disruptive competition. Telecoms operators are currently facing rapid changes in the competitive landscape due to new, non-traditional players entering the industry with lower entry costs and global reach.
The rise of these over the top (OTT) players such as skype, poses a significant challenge to existing telecoms operators. For example, the total number of mobile VoIP minutes is expected to grow from 15 billion in 2010 to 471 billion in 2015 (Juniper Research). Operators will therefore need to find other revenue streams to survive.
Now that mankind has made great strides in connecting people, the next challenge is connecting “things”. The fifth trend is the creation of new services as a result of the internet of things (IoT).
A thing in IoT, is any object that can be provided with the ability to transfer data over a network. For example, a car can be provided with connectivity to alert the owner about its location and systems status.
The worldwide market for IoT solutions is expected to grow from $1.9 trillion in 2013 to $7.1 trillion in 2020 (IDC). This trend is expected to drive growth in the telecoms industry over the next few years.
By 2027, it is estimated that emerging markets will generate two-thirds of all global telecommunications revenues. The continued explosion of demand for telecoms services in emerging markets is the sixth trend.
These six trends are just as relevant in the Nigerian context as they are globally. Over the last decade, the Nigerian telecoms industry has experienced tremendous growth.
The contribution of this industry to Nigeria’s GDP has risen from 0.3% in 2001 to 8.53% today.
However as the industry has matured, average revenue per user (ARPU) has dropped significantly, subscribers have become more demanding, and Nigerian telecoms operators have started to face the same challenges as other global operators. They must also make changes to ensure that they survive.
The changing dynamics of the telecoms industry will continue to present both challenges and opportunities to telecoms operators.
Thriving in the face of these ever changing dynamics will require operators to take a number of proactive steps.
Firstly operators must transform their businesses to become truly digital organisations, and take advantage of this to create agile and efficient operations. For example they must use real-time, predictive analytics on top of digital processes in sales, operations and decision making.
Secondly, operators must create the required partnerships and collaborations required to take advantage of existing opportunities and create efficiencies (for example active and passive network sharing could help reduce operating expenditure).
Thirdly, operators must also evaluate areas of the business (often hidden), where there exists the potential to generate additional customer value or revenue from information gathered across customer touch points.
Finally, operators must create a truly customer-centric organization – they must ensure that they understand how their customers experience their products and services (qualitatively and quantitatively), and put adequate mechanisms in place to respond accordingly.
Once thing is certain, advances in technology will continue to produce corresponding changes in the telecoms industry and vice versa.
Whilst it may be difficult to know exactly what these changes will be, it is possible for operators to identify key trends and position their businesses to benefit from them.
As Africa and MENA’s startup ecosystems transition from post-correction resilience into a new phase of disciplined growth, the Africa Startup & VC Landscape Preview (ASVLP 2026) will convene leading founders, investors, policymakers, and ecosystem builders on January 29, 2026, for its second annual, agenda-setting virtual forum.
Following a challenging global venture cycle, 2025 marked a notable rebound across the African ecosystem, with startups raising an estimated $3.2–$3.3 billion over the full year.
The recovery was accompanied by significant structural shifts: Kenya emerged as the leading destination among Africa’s “Big Four” markets for the first time, while Nigeria recorded a year-on-year funding decline, reflecting changing investor preferences, macroeconomic pressures, and a broader recalibration toward capital efficiency and sustainability.
Sectorally, fintech remained the most funded vertical, while climate & energy, AI-enabled solutions, healthtech, and infrastructure-adjacent businesses gained increasing attention. Across Africa and MENA, development finance institutions (DFIs) and family offices played a more pronounced role in anchoring funds, deploying catalytic capital, and supporting blended-finance structures, reshaping how early-stage and growth capital is mobilized.
ASVLP 2026 is designed to translate these data points into forward-looking strategy.
The forum will bring together venture capitalists, angel investors, LPs, DFIs, family offices, founders, corporate leaders, and regulators from Africa, MENA, Europe, and North America to assess 2025 outcomes and chart priorities for 2026.
The program will feature keynotes, fireside chats, panels, and deep-dive roundtables, including discussions on:
· The 2026 Africa & MENA FinTech Landscape, focusing on security, profitability, regulation, and growth frontiers
· Emerging Fund Managers, capital formation, and LP alignment
· Talent, operator depth, and institutional capacity as constraints to scale
· Regulatory evolution and cross-border market integration
A major highlight of ASVLP 2026 will be the Final DealRoom Pitch Session, where a curated group of high-potential startups will present to an experienced panel of investors.
• Founders can apply to pitch via: bit.ly/ASVLP-DR-Founders
• Investors seeking DealRoom access can request entry via: bit.ly/ASVLP-DR-Investors
Confirmed speakers for ASVLP 2026 include Khaled Ismail (HIMangel), Idris Ayodeji Bello (LoftyInc Capital), Zachariah George (Launch Africa), Tosin Faniro-Dada (Breega), Selma Ribica (FirstCircle Capital), Maha Mandour (COREangels MEA), Joe Kinvi (Borderless), Remi Prunier (Orange Ventures MEA), Karima El Hakim (Plug and Play Tech Center), Souheil Guessoum (President, The Confederation of Citizen Employers – Algeria (CAPC)), Remi Prunier (Partner, Orange Ventures, MEA), Maha Mandour (COREAngels MEA), Ali Hussein (President, Kenyan FinTech Association), Patrick Okebu (CIO, Interswitch Group) among other leading voices shaping capital, policy, and innovation across the region.
“The conversation has shifted,” said Uche Aniche, Convener of ASVLP. “It’s no longer about whether capital will return to Africa and MENA, but what kind of capital, deployed with what discipline, and in service of which long-term outcomes. ASVLP exists to help the ecosystem make sense of that transition.”
Participation in ASVLP 2026 is free but strictly by invitation.
Interested participants are encouraged to repost the official announcement on LinkedIn and comment #ASVLP2026 to receive a private registration link. They could also email [email protected] and request invite.
Major social media giants Meta Platforms, TikTok and Alphabet’s YouTube will face a landmark jury trial this week in Los Angeles County Superior Court over allegations that their addictive designs have fuelled a youth mental health crisis, marking the first such case to reach this stage.
Social Media
The pivotal personal injury lawsuit centres on a 19-year-old Californian woman identified as K.G.M., who claims her childhood immersion in Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok—engineered with endless scrolls, autoplay videos, notifications and algorithms—sparked severe anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts.
Dozens of similar suits have surged since 2022 from families, schools and states, accusing the firms of burying internal research on teen harms while prioritising ad revenue through youth-targeted engagement hooks, despite Section 230 protections for user content.
Plaintiffs seek damages and design overhauls, arguing platforms bypassed parents and preyed on vulnerable kids; defendants counter there’s no clinical “social media addiction” diagnosis, no proven causation—kids with issues often use less—and they’ve added safeguards like parental controls and time limits.
Echoing Australia’s under-16 bans, the trial will scrutinise thousands of internal documents, expert testimonies and K.G.M.’s story, potentially expanding tech liability amid debates where studies show complex links, not direct causation, between screen time and disorders like eating issues or self-harm.
A win could mandate warning labels, age gates or algorithm tweaks, reshaping global platforms as U.S. Surgeon General advisories and global scrutiny intensify pressure on Big Tech to prioritise child safety over profits.
Meta is gearing up to trial paid subscription services on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, aiming to diversify revenue streams beyond advertising while maintaining free core access for all users.
Meta
The subscriptions will offer enhanced tools tailored for everyday users, creators, and businesses, including advanced content creation, sharing, and workflow features distinct from the existing Meta Verified verification program. Unlike a uniform rollout, Meta plans varied testing formats per app to match diverse audiences, experimenting with feature bundles based on user feedback to refine the model.
A key element involves integrating Manus, the autonomous agent firm Meta acquired for $2 billion in December, into these apps alongside its enterprise sales. Manus enables complex task automation with minimal input, with early signs like Instagram shortcuts already spotted by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi.
Video tools feature prominently: Meta’s Vibes short-form video generator in the Meta AI app shifts to freemium, where paid tiers unlock higher monthly creation limits beyond the free baseline. On Instagram, subscriptions could enable unlimited audience lists, non-follower tracking, and anonymous Story views, though specifics for Facebook and WhatsApp remain under wraps.
Drawing from Meta Verified’s 2023 launch—which provides badges, support, and protection mainly for creators—these broader plans target wider appeal amid industry shifts. Ad growth slows against TikTok competition, while Snapchat+ boasts 16 million subscribers at $3.99 monthly, proving demand for value-driven paid perks despite subscription fatigue risks from streaming and storage fees.
Meta will phase tests gradually, prioritizing feedback to shape long-term viability without alienating free users.
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