The release of the digital dividend contained within analogue broadcasting frequencies could bolster the mobile industry’s contribution to sub-Saharan Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) by billions of dollars, GSM Association director for spectrum and public policy in Africa Mortimer Hope said on Tuesday.

Speaking on the first day of the Commonwealth Digital Broadcasting Switchover Forum 2015, in Fourways, he said the dividend could unlock a further $49-billion contribution to GDP by 2020, which would be “transformational” for the region.

This emerged as many African countries moved to transition from analogue broadcasting to digital terrestrial television (DTT), which would provide higher-quality broadcasting and more capacity for broadcasters, in addition to a “wider ecosystem” for the mobile industry as the analogue spectrum was released.

Hope said that, in 2013, the mobile industry contributed $75-billion to sub-Saharan Africa’s aggregate GDP. This was expected to increase – without the benefit of the analogue spectrum – to $104-billion by 2020.

The successful migration of analogue broadcasting to DTT, and the successful transfer and licensing of the spectrum to mobile operators, within the five years to 2020, would see a nearly 50% rise in GDP contribution, as well as the addition of 500 000 new jobs and the creation of 26 000 new businesses across the region.

The digital dividend would enable mobile operators to do more with less – and at significantly lower costs – as the lower frequencies currently allocated to analogue broadcasting enabled wider coverage and in-building coverage, compared with the spectrum currently available to mobile operators.