Social networking in Latin America and Africa is set to increase ten-fold to 527 million users by 2015, according to research by Frost & Sullivan and Colibria. Within six years, the research company estimates the combined market will be worth almost $2.4 billion, with growth being driven by increased availability of the mobile internet.
In Africa, there are ten times more mobiles than landlines. Similarly, in South America, 80% of the population have a mobile phone compared to just 25% with regular fixed internet access.
Not surprisingly, mobile is the channel of choice for many social networks to get more customers. On that note, Colibria’s CEO Keith Gibson said: “The specific conditions in these markets have led to an increased need for solutions that make Mobilised Social Networking affordable and easy to implement. This is why we developed the Social Center – to provide operators with a reliable and cost-effective solution that provides all of their subscribers with access to social networks. With the growing consumer interest in social networks, it is important for operators to be able to deliver these services on top of the basic offerings to attract new customers.”
At the end, Colibria talks about its Social Center, which is presented in more details at their website.
[Via: CellularNews]