非洲地区贫穷落后，2011年联合国公布的48个最不发达国家中有33个在非洲，电信业投资仅占全球电信业总投资的2％。电信用户渗透率极低。
据非洲发展银行的估计，2010年非洲经济增长率为4.5%，2011的增长率有望达到5.1%。在电信领域，由于起步较晚，起点较低，非洲电信市场潜力巨大。撒哈拉以南的非洲只有60%的地区被手机信号覆盖，而非洲人口超过10亿，移动通信渗透率在41.4%左右。相比全球其他地区，非洲电信市场有着广阔发展前景。
由于非洲的地理气候及政治格局等因素，固话业务在非洲的发展远不如移动业务发展速度。2010年非洲移动电话用户数增长12.9％，达到3.33亿；互联网用户约有7700万。
表：2010年非洲部分国家电信用户数（单位：百万）
阿尔及利亚的固话市场发展平稳，近两年甚至有些下滑，与之相对应的移动市场发展良好，到2010年移动用户已超过3000万，渗透率约90%。
摩洛哥的移动市场自2007年以后开始快速提升，到2010年其渗透率超过100%。同时，摩洛哥的互联网用户数量增长也很快，特别是移动互联网用户。在2007年摩洛哥的3G网络投入商用以后，到2010年底3G用户猛增到137万，占互联网用户总数的73.2%。
肯尼亚在经济实力上与富裕的北非国家相差较多，其电信市场的建设也比较依赖外资企业投入，像法国电信、印度巴帝、中国的中兴通讯等都参与了肯尼亚的电信网络基础建设，项目包括光纤宽带、3G网络等等。 在肯尼亚固话市场逐年萎缩的同时，移动市场规模稳步攀升，到2010年移动用户已接近2500万，渗透率超过60%。
Africa is poor and underdeveloped. Among the 48 least developed
countries published by the United Nations in 2011, 33 are located in
Africa, where the telecom investment accounts for only 2% of the total
in the world, with extremely low telecom penetration.
According
to African Development Bank, the economic growth rate in Africa was
4.5% in 2010 and is expected to reach 5.1% in 2011. In the telecom
field, the late start with low positioning indicates large potential of
African telecom market. Mobile signals only cover 60% of Africa South of
the Sahara, the African population exceeds 1 billion, and the mobile
communications penetration rate is about 41.4%. Compared with other
regions, African telecom market has broad prospects.
Due to the
geographical climate and political pattern of Africa, the fixed-line
business is far less developed than the mobile business in Africa. In
2010, the mobile subscribers in Africa increased by 12.9% to 333
million; while the internet subscribers approximated 77 million.
Telecom Subscribers of Some African Countries, 2010 (Unit: mln)
Algeria
has witnessed stable development in its fixed-line market, but some
slide has emerged in recent two years while the mobile market has showed
favorable development, by 2010, the mobile subscribers have exceeded 30
million, with a penetration rate of about 90%.
Since 2007,
Morocco has experienced a rapid rising in its mobile market, with the
penetration rate surpassing 100% by 2010. Meanwhile, the internet
subscribers there have also presented quick growth, especially the
mobile Internet subscribers. Followed the commercial use of 3G networks
in 2007, the 3G subscribers surged to 1.37 million by the end of 2010,
representing 73.2% of the total Internet subscribers.
Concerning
economic strength, Kenya has a large gap with the rich North African
countries, and its telecom market’s construction also depends on the
investment from foreign enterprises, such as France Telecom, Bharti
Airtel and Chinese ZTE Corporation, all of them have participated in
Kenya’s construction of telecom network infrastructure involving
fiber-optic broadband and 3G network, etc. With the fixed-line market
shrinking year by year, Kenya’s mobile market witnessed stable climbing,
with nearly 25 million mobile subscribers and a penetration rate over
60% by 2010.