The mobile telecommunications market in Nigeria, Africas largest economy, is set to continue expanding over the next five years, with 182m mobile subscribers expected by the end of 2019.

The Nigerian telecoms market is predicted to generate $10.9bn (£7.1bn) in 2019, up 18 per cent from 2013s figures. While growth is expected to slow slightly this year, as the market recovers from a large number of fixed-line disconnections, the long term growth is expected to be strong, especially in mobile, with data volumes growing 16 per cent year-on-year.

The figures come from a report by Pyramid Research, which notes that while currency devaluations are likely to result in slower growth in US dollar terms, in local currency growth will remain consistent throughout the rest of the decade.

“Political instability and low oil prices have led to a depreciation of the Naira against the US dollar, but the telecommunications market will remain an integral part of the countrys efforts to diversify its sources of growth,” said Severin Luebke, analyst at Pyramid Research. “Other countries in Africa are likely to follow Nigeria when it comes to mobile technology developments. The increasing demand for mobile data will offer service providers, as well as new entrants to the market, ample opportunity to test and grow their service offerings in Nigeria.”