Rural areas tend be underserved by operators and towercos because of low ARPUs and high opex. The trend has been for towercos and MNOs to prioritise urban areas, however rural connectivity represents a huge opportunity, as a somewhat untapped market, however the challenges differ from country to country. TowerXchange Meetup MENA 2020’s panel on rural connectivity featured Akbar Shaukat, CEO, AWAL Telecom, Hussein Abdulkader, COO, Asia Consultancy Group (ACG) and Akbar Ladak, CEO, Smart East Africa, who addressed some the key developments and challenges in this untapped market.
Market conditions
Market conditions for rural connectivity vary from country to country within the MENA region.
