Consolidation of mobile operators in some markets will have to take place to ensure the sustainability of the telecoms industry, says MTN Group chief executive officer, Sifiso Dabengwa.

Dabengwa made the comments at the GSMA Mobile 360 Africa conference in Cape Town, South Africa and said consolidation is one of a few things that will ensure that the industry remains viable.

According to Dabengwa the industry needs to make sure that market and company failure is avoided.

"We should not allow companies to fail and what we should do is make sure the industry is sustainable, said Dabengwa.

He explained that consolidation in some markets is going to have to be a reality that takes place because of the difficulty in sustaining five, six, seven or eight operators.

"When one looks at the ecosystem as it is today, it is quite clear that unless either consolidation or significant changes in terms of the cost structures (take place) there will definitely be some company failures," he stated.

"I believe that consolidation is going to have to be allowed to take place in order to ensure that those failures are not catastrophic but well managed and the industry is able to be sustainable," he added.

Although Dabengwa did not state which operators would have to merge, nations like Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria feature as many as five mobile operators.

In most countries, probably number one and number two are actually making money - making money meaning they are actually returning a meaningful return to the shareholders; and you'd find that number three, four and five are not making money, he said.

"We think that instead of allowing such companies to fail – the regulators should allow them either to team up with others so they become bigger and able to survive or allow them to be acquired," said Dabengwa.

On whether consolidation would stifle competition and therefore create monopolies in the mobile sector, Anne Bouverot, GSMA director general said that competition should definitely be kept.

It's about the balance between competition and the ability to invest into future networks, Bouverot noted.

Recent M&A activity on the continent has included the sale of yuMobile to Safaricom and Airtel in Kenya, and in Uganda struggling operator Warid Telecom was acquired by Airtel.