Smartphone usage in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to surge by 40% each year until 2017, placing a strain on local networks according to research firm Frost & Sullivan.

This is according to an analysis report that notes data demand in the region is also expected to reach an average 0.45GB per month per user by 2016.

Demand for mobile broadband internet in most African countries will likely be driven by the “rise in local content,” development of new mobile applications and the “growth of social media” platforms, says the research company.

Meanwhile, Frost & Sullivan says mobile companies and internet service providers are revamping internet connectivity in most African countries, with Kenya, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa and Botswana among those making significant strides in this regard.

“This increase in smartphone penetration rates leads to the expectation that the mobile data demand per user in SSA will increase from approximately 0.08 GB per month in 2012 to 0.45 GB per month in 2016,” said Frost and Sullivan Information and Communication Technology Industry analyst, Joanita Roos.

“This translates into a mobile data growth of an average of 119% per year,” said Roos.

But Frost & Sullivan says that these developments could “overload the capacity of mobile operators” in the region.

ICT experts at Frost and Sullivan say “offloading mobile data from HSPA and LTE to Wi-Fi networks could be a viable strategy” to manage growing data demand; although, this will have to be backed by the concerned operators’ technical and financial capabilities.

“Although the adoption of LTE has helped achieve the required data rates, there are significant concerns about the quality of voice and data,” says Frost & Sullivan.

“Companies are hoping to mitigate these issues with the adoption of voice over LTE (VoLTE), an IP based multimedia system standardised… to maximise international operability,” adds the research firm.