Africa: African governments half-heartedly liberalise telecom industries

African governments are half-heartedly liberalising their telecom industries and will stymie investment and innovation in the world's fastest-growing markets unless they change their ways, industry experts said. Africa's cell phone industry is booming, with subscriber numbers expected to hit 100 million by the end of the year from 40 million in 2002, and is arguably the continent's biggest business success story since gold was discovered in the 19th century. But with less than one in 10 people owning a phone and much fewer surfing the web, the poorest continent still lags behind the rest of the world and experts say fully-fledged competition is crucial to bridge the gap.