With a population of 15.9 million1 people and with over half of Malawians living below the poverty line, Malawi is one of the most densely populated and least developed countries in Africa. The country is located in the south east of the continent, landlocked and surrounded by Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique. Compared to the rest of Africa, the Malawi telecommunication market is particularly under-developed. There were 5.56 million mobile subscriptions at the end of 2013, giving a low penetration rate of 35%. Relatively low subscriber growth of 2.3% is forecast for 2014, and is expected to taper off over subsequent years. More than 99% of the subscribers are prepaid users. A SIM registration programme is taking place in 2014 and, as observed in other SSA countries, this is likely to have a negative impact on subscriber figures.
Mott MacDonald,
August 11, 2014