"Operators are facing gradually slowing revenue growth while at the same time having to continue maintaining networks, innovating and remaining competitive; it makes sense to share costs across operators, network equipment manufacturers and government," added Hook.

In Africa, there is no uniformity in 4G rollouts, with some countries like Nigeria and South Africa yet to choose between auction or public-private partnership. The issue of migration to digital TV seems to be complicating policy discussions because analog TV is on 700MHz, which is also used for LTE deployments. In South Africa and Nigeria, 4G is in a pilot phase.

"In Nigeria, MTN together with Ericsson have already announced plans to roll out a 4G network,  notwithstanding the fact that Nigeria Communications Commission has yet to resolve the issue of spectrum; Ericsson is doing the same with Vodafone in Egypt," Hook said.

Hook is expecting other countries in Africa to follow the open access model, as smaller ISPs, community networks and content carriers look for ways to deliver services at more affordable rates.