Africa has become the second largest and fastest-growing mobile market in the world. The GSMA Africa Mobile Observatory 2011 report revealed that the continent now has 649 million connections – just behind Asia and ahead of Latin America – and is growing at almost 20 percent annually, meaning there will be more than 735 million connections by the end of 2012. The mobile industry association has called on governments in the region to allocate spectrum and lower taxes to boost network expansion across the continent.