5 insights we got from Uganda's mobile infographic

We've been able to draw a number of conclusions from this infographic, outlined below.

click to enlarge

1. A certain level of maturity is being reached in the African mobile space. 90% of the country is now covered by the mobile networks and the number of mobile subscribers (12.8 million) dwarfs the number of fixed lines available.

2. Despite many of it's well-publicised problems, Nokia dwarfs all other operating systems on the continent. 60% of the market is making use of the Symbian OS, with the next highest being Sony Ericcson at 7%. That's something that bodes well for the new generation of Nokia handsets carrying the well-received new Windows Mobile OS. Pundits who predict the decline of Nokia should study these figures carefully.

3. Despite Symbian's dominance, it seems that customers would welcome a better OS, which is why the partnership with Microsoft is such a good thing. Only 20% of consumers use Nokia's web browser, whereas 60% have opted to download Opera's mobile browser.

4. And Opera is clearly delivering for consumers, as we can see that 605 000 people access the internet via their mobile phones, as opposed to the 35 000 who use the more traditional fixed line methods.

5. Cost is still clearly an issue. While the amount of time that people are spending on the mobiles has increased, from 80 to 100 minutes, it's still interesting to note that nearly half of all Ugandan mobile users have more than one Simcard - a practise which is usually associated with people looking to optimize the number of free minutes available.