Over 50% of Nigeria's web traffic is from mobile phones

http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2012/02/q4_2011_mobile.html

by dave1010uk • 14 years ago

51 19 14 years ago

quirksmode.org

angelortega2• 14 years ago

The other 50% is from Nigerian scammers.

OoTheNigerian2• 14 years ago

Take a deep breath, read your comment again, try to think and then ask yourself if it makes sense in ANY context.

angelortega2• 14 years ago

It's a non-sequitur.

spoiledtechie• 14 years ago

I got a big laugh out of this. Maybe next time I see some comment that just doesn't make sense, im going to use this quote. Thanks.

kbronson• 14 years ago

I think she tried to make a joke (not very funny, but whatever). I feel a real lack of sense of humour here.

paulhauggis• 14 years ago

well, he was trying to make a joke (people need to lighten up around here). You can't deny the fact that there are a large percentage of scams coming out of Nigeria.

I have personally phished 3 email accounts from scammers in the past couple of years (and shut them down) and they were all Nigerian.

Many say they are from the UK, China, Indonesia, but IP addresses don't lie. Neither does the money trail.

kamjam2• 14 years ago

I was about to make the same joke. b&*$#d beat me to it :)

AlexMuir• 14 years ago

The vital question: Is mobile traffic going to (proportionally) increase in the UK, or is desktop traffic going to increase in Nigeria?

Are people using mobile in Nigeria because they don't have a laptop? Will they be using their Raspberry Pi in a couple of years? Or is the UK behind in the adoption of using mobile internet? I guess it's a bit of both.

pavlov• 14 years ago

Will they be using their Raspberry Pi in a couple of years?

I don't think most Nigerian mobile users will have access to a HDMI-capable TV within the next couple of years, so the Raspberry isn't the way.

The appealing thing about mobile phones in Africa is that they are physically small: they're reasonably easy to import (legally or otherwise) and can be carried on your person, so they are less susceptible to theft. Large electronics like notebooks and TVs don't have these advantages, and so they are only accessible to the small middle class that can afford them and have a secured house in which to keep them.

kamjam2• 14 years ago

I don't think most Nigerian mobile users will have access to a HDMI-capable TV within the next couple of years, so the Raspberry isn't the way.

Raspberry Pi also has RCA and stereo output, so could quite easily connect to a any standard TV with scart socket.

jcr2• 14 years ago

Comparing the situation in the UK to the situation in Nigeria takes a good deal of study. In the UK, infrastructure generally exists and if some company invests in new infrastructure, paying for it is just a simple matter of time and attracting customers.

In Nigeria, it's different. If some company invests in installing new infrastructure like copper or fiber, it gets stolen. This also happens in the UK and the US, but to a far lesser degree, and the damages are typically covered by insurance. No insurance company is crazy enough to insure infrastructure investments in Nigeria due to the very high probability that all the expensive wires, fibers and equipment will be stolen and sold for scrap.

It's not just communications infrastructure, the problem of theft also occurs with power infrastructure. Nearly every country has a problem with theft of valuable copper power lines, but in many parts of Africa, the problem is a lot worse. In Nigeria, it results in an unreliable power grid so running computers which are not battery backed (UPS backed systems or battery powered laptop/tablet/phone) is a dodgy proposition.

As for why infrastructure theft occurs everywhere, blame greed. As for why it happens more often in some places, the answer is economic disparity. Just imagine how tempting it would be to steal wires where you live if you knew those wires were made of gold. Considering the difference between your earning potential at a job, and the earning potential of jobs for people in other places, gold power lines is roughly equivalent.

You see, all the rules change when you have to worry about crazy, desperate thieves cutting down live power lines in your neighborhood.

The other side is, of course, adoption rates and government regulations. Japan is an excellent example of high adoption rates propelling mobile data networks, and sane governance enabling advancements.

OoTheNigerian2• 14 years ago

The situation in Nigeria is unique. Because of the power situation (mobile phones have longer lasting battery), the very poor infracstructure (wired last mile is non existent), and of course pricing ($40/month is the minimum package on WiMax vs $7 on mobile). Non-mobile browsing stands no chance.

Just a thought: Are tablets considered mobile in this context? Because that is where I see major growth potential)

jcr2• 14 years ago

Yes, many tablets are "mobile" in this sense. The majority of modern tablets have support for "WiFi" (802.11?) networks and also the same cellular data networks (EVDO, GPRS, EDGE, HS?PA, LTE, ...) used in mobile phones.

icki• 14 years ago

On a similar note, Cisco predicts that "in 2015, wired devices will account for 46 percent of IP traffic, while Wi-Fi and mobile devices will account for 54 percent of IP traffic [globally]."

For more stats and figures from their Networking Index Forecast, check out http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/...

Zakuzaa• 14 years ago

For India: http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_vs_desktop-IN-monthly-2011...

trustfundbaby• 14 years ago

... And almost 80-90% of them use Opera mini.

I run a Nigerian news site here but most of our traffic is from Nigeria, we get about 1500 uniques a day, only 200-300 of them will be from the web, all the rest is mobile. I finally went and pulled up our site on opera mini using Opera's emulator and was shocked to find that our ads do not appear on those handsets ... so all our revenue is coming from 200-300 people each day.

Analytics is a lovely thing.

EREFUNDO• 14 years ago

It's amazing to see how developing countries simply jumped to wireless technologies without having the need to build expensive cable based phone networks like what developed countries had to go through. I read a story of a farmer in China who sells his crops to a shady middleman who lies to him about the market price of grain. Finally when he got a cellphone and was able to subscribe to a messaging service that gives him live updates on prices he was able to negotiate better and improve his standard of living. This is truly empowering.

ericktai• 14 years ago

information can be pretty empowering. that's a great story

impunity• 14 years ago

I've read that in some countries, a single person with a cell phone can act as a money transfer office for an entire village. Here's how:

1. A friend or family member in the U.S. wants to send $50 to someone in the village. The friend buys a $50 prepaid minutes card and transfers the minutes to the cell phone in the village.

2. The cell phone owner in the village checks his minutes, sees that he now has $50 worth of minutes and gives $50 to the person the minutes were for, minus his fee.

It's amazing how ingenious people can be when you let them.

Over 50% of Nigeria's web traffic is from mobile phones

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