Nigeria telecommunication operators will be competing to upgrade their big data technologies over the next few years to ensure they will effectively predict consumer behaviour, buying habits and choices of their customers.

According to a recent article in Leadership, the big data market is valued at more than $200 billion. MTN Nigeria, Globacom, Airtel Nigeria and Etisalat Nigeria — a total subscriber list of over 100 million —  are all deploying next generation networks (NGN) and BI software tools to analyse consumer behaviour. Airtel and Etisalat, for example, are spending $3 billion collectively to “retool” their networks in order to take advantage of big data opportunities.

Moreover, the article claims that MTN is spending $1 billion a year on its own network, and continues to extend its “footprints” into telecommunications, information technology, cloud-based services, and web hosting. MTN currently has the largest data centre in Africa.

Globacom is also following suit, with estimates suggesting that the company is spending $1.25 billion to build an IP network. Mohammed Jameel, group chief operating officer of Globacom said, “With the investments we have made, wherever you are you will be able to connect to the broadband internet”…”With Big data and connected devices emerging, we have to keep developing applications that will thrive on broadband.”

Although Africa is still developing its network infrastructure, it will be interesting to see how companies respond to emerging technologies and leverage tools like big data to gain a competitive advantage.

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(Image Credit: josef.stuefer)