Nigeria is currently the largest market for mobile phones in Africa but penetration is still less than 50%. This suggests there is plenty of scope for expansion of the market. Canadian research firm Technology Strategies International, in partnership with BroadGroup TMT Ventures have produced a report entitled “Investment Opportunities in the ICT Sector in Nigeria: 2010”. This points to a huge opportunity to expand both fixed line and internet penetration in the country. Growth in the Nigerian ICT sector is being fuelled by the imminent implementation of two undersea cables, which will dramatically increase international bandwidth and connectivity. The study has also indicated demand for mobile services continues to increase as the mobile base widens to include poorer segments of the community.
Countries in the developing world such as Nigeria are providing ready markets for the steady flow of perfectly servicable mobile phones that are routinely discarded by consumers in the affluent Western world in search of the latest model and specification. When consumers trade in thier old mobiles to a mobile phone recycling company, they are often actually participating in mobile phone redeployment rather than recycling. The challenge will be for countries like Nigeria to encourage recycling when the phones eventually reach the end of their useful lives.