The phenomenal success of the Nigerian phone industry has been re-affirmed by figures recently released by the country’s telecommunications regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission. The figures show the total number of phone connections in April 2009 was 65.5 million. Compared with just 867,000 phone lines in 2001, Nigeria has seen an average growth in phone connections of just over 70% year on year and in the process has surpassed South Africa as Africa’s largest market. Mobile phone technology has been instrumental in achieving this as mobile phones account for over 98% of the total phone connections currently in use. This has translated to bulging profits for South African based MTN with 30.2% of the market share, indigenous rival Globacom with 29.7% as well as a host of other competitors.