The WSJ reports a surge of outside interest in the African telecommunications firms. With a population of nearly 1 billion people and a mobile phone penetration below 30%, the potentials for growth are astounding. Many non-African players are recognizing this including American hedge funds, British telecom giant Vodafone and Indian investors. Notably absent are American carriers including Verizon who today announced the purchase of Alltel to become America’s largest mobile-phone company.

In a way, I’m happy that AT&T et al. are not getting involved in Africa. They have shown a failure to innovate in the USA and using their billions to buy a stake in a quickly evolving market would likely lead to stagnation. I hope that the new players, regardless of location, recognize the need for investment to build out the networks and technologies in Africa.