Article
Piotr Labuszewski, East Africa area manager for handset maker Nokia would seem to have the sales territory from hell. In some of the countries for which he’s responsible, such as Somalia, AK-47s are as ubiquitous as cell phones. Even the more stable countries such as Kenya or Tanzania offer little in the way of modern infrastructure outside the big cities. Yet Labuszewski is not alone in his enthusiasm for the potential of the local market. “The cell phone market is exploding” he says. That’s no exaggeration. The number of subscribers in Africa has grown an average of 50% a year since 2001, to some 200 million. And with the penetration rate still only about 20%, industry players see plenty of growth ahead.