23 Dec 2011










WISHING YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS & A PROSPEROUS 2012!

It has been a great year to work on emerging markets for telecoms, media and ICT - and if we've worked with you this year, then thank you for all your support in 2011! We wish you confort and joy this festive season, and hopefully a well earned break!

It's been a long and fruitful year for us with our annual must-attends AfricaCom and Telco World Summit Middle East (to name but a couple), as well as successful launch events like VAS Africa and Enterprise ICT Africa, and whilst here at the Com team we are enjoying mulled wine and turkey, we are also looking forward to the opportunities coming in 2012, and we’re going to seize them with both hands.

We will of course keep our legacy of focusing on quality, market leadership and delivering results – and on top of these we will bring more innovation and even greater representation from the wider digital ecosystem in emerging markets - our Cloud Africa event will be the perfect example of this for 2012!

We look forward to hopefully working with you towards these goals in the coming months. So here’s to a merry Christmas and a prosperous 2012!

With warm regards,

The Com Team

21 Dec 2011

Michel Monzani, SVP at Orange, will speak at North Africa Com

Michel Monzani, Senior Vice President at Orange's Middle East & North Africa Operations, has confirmed his participation to the North Africa Com conference and exhibition to take place in Tunis in May. He will share his perspective on how operators are adapting their strategies to a new market environment.
Michel Monzani started his career at France Télécom in 1981 and has held various positions within the company. In 2008, he was appointed Senior Vice-President within France Telecom Group Africa, Middle East & Asia Division, leading the Development and Partnership department and the West Africa, Middle East & Asia geographic zone.
Michel Monzani has been a board member of several fixed-line, mobile and internet companies associated with France Telecom in various countries in Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia.
As Orange group has a presence in several markets of the region, including the event's host country Tunisia, his expertise will add great value to the discussions.

Andile Ngcaba of Convergence Partners named South Africa's Newsmaker of the Year

TechCentral published today its top 5 'Newsmakers of the Year' in South Africa, dedicated to 'individuals who had the biggest impact on SA’s technology sector in the past 12 months'.
Top of the list is Andile Ngcaba, Chairman of investment company Convergence Partners, which includes interests in Dimension Data, FibreCo and launched a US$250m satellite with Intelsat. He is described as 'a former Umkhonto we Sizwe commander and later senior government bureaucrat, who has taken to the business world like a proverbial duck to water'.
Andile is also a regular keynote speaker at AfricaCom. His presentation at the event in November covered strategies for convergence across Africa, and his expertise was greatly appreciated by the audience of senior telecoms and ICT executives.
Also in the list are Karel Pienaar, MD of MTN South Africa, Telkom Group's CEO Nombulelo Moholi, forme minister of communications Roy Padayachie, and First National Bank CEO Michael Jordaan.

20 Dec 2011

Mobile services & social media expert joins the programme of West & Central Africa Com

The 2012 West & Central Africa Com conference, taking place in Dakar, Senegal on 13-14 June, will include a strong focus on content and apps for the region. In particular, social media will feature strongly as a major trend for the region.
Sharing his expertise on the subject, Serigne Barro will be a keynote panellist at the event. Serigne is General Manager of People Input and a pioneer of web and mobile services in Africa's French speaking region.
Serigne started his career in France as a web strategy consultant before going back to Senegal to foud the country's first web agency. In 2005 he made a strategic shift to mobile services as a response to the new market trend of mobile phones as the most popular electronic tool in Africa. He recently conducted a study on trends in social media in the region and best practice for companies interested in benefiting from the opportunities they create.
At West & Central Africa com, Serigne will join representatives of operators, content providers, device manufacturers, vendors, regulators and more to discuss the trends and opportunities in the region's dynamic telecoms, media and ICT market.
For more information or to submit a speaking proposal, please contact Julie Rey on julie.rey@informa.com

19 Dec 2011

Eurasia Com 2012 Agenda is now Confirmed – Download your copy & register for your FREE or discounted pass today!

Informa Telecoms & Media are proud to announce the final programme for the 8th Annual Eurasia Com in Turkey. With brand new stakeholders within the digital landscape including content brands, OTT service providers, media professionals and more, brand new agenda topics and new networking opportunities, this is an event you cannot afford to miss!

Be the first to see the Eurasia Com conference agenda - download the brochure for full speaker line up and full conference programme. Learn from the insights of 25+ Operator CxO speakers at the helm of Eurasian digital world, including:
  • Ekrem Yener, Chief International Expansion Officer, Turkcell
  • Dmitriy Kromsky, Head of the CIS business unit, VimpelCom Ltd, Russia
  • Abduvali Vakhabov, CEO, Perfectum Mobile, Uzbekistan
  • Jayhun Mollazade, CEO, AzQTel, Azerbaijan
  • Yurij Komardin, CTO, KyivStar, Ukraine
  • Alexander Provotorov, president, Rostelecom, Russia
  • Dmitrij Shughliashvili, CIO, Caucasus Online, Georgia
  • William Kanaan, Head of New Business Development - Middle East & North Africa, Google
Click here to download conference agenda to see full speaker list

The dynamic digital world brings you a whole new choice of fresh topics to learn from:
  • Reinventing Communications – Strategies for a Changing Market – NEW
  • Bringing Convergence to Life – NEW
  • Broadband Strategies: Mobile Broadband, FTTx and NGA - NEW
  • Enterprise & Cloud Services - NEW
  • Special Focus Day: Leading VAS Innovation in Eurasia – NEW
  • Content & Apps – Delivering Attractive Services – NEW
  • Mobile Money - NEW
  • Mobile Marketing
  • Focus on the Consumer: Loyalty & Churn – NEW

Register today for your free or discounted pass!

For more information, please visit www.comworldseries.com/eurasia


16 Dec 2011

Cloud Africa organisers the Com World Series announce the CIO of Sameer Africa Ltd is to present at Cloud Africa

Cloud Africa organisers - the Com World Series - are pleased to announce that the CIO of Sameer Africa Ltd is to present at Cloud Africa, taking place in Johannesburg on the 23-24 May 2012.

This large Kenyan-based manufacturer has complex ICT systems that are benefiting from cloud services, and the CIO Shishir Saraf will share their business model for cloud with the audience at Cloud Africa 2012.

Shishir talked to the Com World Series about his company's experience of cloud in Africa and commented that ''there is an increasing awareness of cloud computing and with better internet connections, this can be converted to a reality as the demand to be always connected to the office is rising.''

You can see the rest of that interview here.

Cloud Africa is a new launch event from the Com World Series – organisers of AfricaCom, the continent’s leading telecoms, media & ICT conference & exhibition. This conference-led event, with co-located exhibition, is the premier meeting place for those looking to join the Cloud movement in Africa.

The 2 day program is led by the industry, for the industry - and the exhibition will attract global players displaying world-class solutions. No other event can be relied upon to attract the diverse Cloud ecosystem with such quality learning & networking, a one-stop shop for seeing the future of cloud in Africa and forming all important business partnerships. The event will include…

  • Keynotes from the largest players in the industry
  • Case studies from businesses already succeeding with Cloud
  • Roundtables for peer to peer learning
  • Interactive panel discussions between industry thought leaders
  • Market overviews from top analysts
  • Networking opportunities; B2B speed networking, interactive roundtables, evening networking drinks, etc.

…All to ensure that key issues affecting your business, the hottest topics & your partnership needs are addressed in the most comprehensive way.

14 Dec 2011

Verone Mankou, "Africa's Steve Jobs", to discuss the first African tablet at West & Central Africa Com

Vérone Mankou has been one of the most talked-about entrepreneurs in West & Central Africa since he announced the launch of Way-C, the first tablet computer conceived and designed in Africa for emerging markets consumers.
Aged only 25, Vérone is CEO of VMK, a Congolese app developing company, who took on the likes of Apple, Samsung and RIM by developing the first African tablet. He is confident in his product's ability to rival the iPad and the Galaxy Tab, at a much more affordable price. No wonder he's been compared to Steve Jobs in the African press!
Vérone is also ICT Advisor for Congo's Ministry of Post, Telecommunications and ICT, and is part of theICT componant of the CAB (Central Africa Backbone) Project of the World Bank.
Vérone will be speaking at West & Central Africa Com, to take place in Dakar, Senegal on 13th and 14th June 2012. He will give an update on the Way-C project, share his ideas on device strategies for the region, and hopefully give inspiration to the 700+ telecoms and ICT professionals from the region attendong the event.

12 Dec 2011

Safaricom CEO at Cloud Africa event 23 - 24 May

The Cloud Africa event is taking off - taking place in Johannesburg on the 23-24 May - the CEO of Safaricom, Mr Bob Collymore, has confirmed that Safaricom will be supporting the event in a big way.

Safaricom are not only on the advisory board for the event (alongside Microsoft, Ericsson, HP, ITM and Ovum Business) but now the CEO, Bob Collymore, plans to present about the Kenyan giant's cloud strategy at the event in May.

This is the first Cloud Africa event, and follows the same great formula as other Com World Series events - like AfricaCom, the 6,000+ attendee show in Cape Town each year. The conference will include contributions from the continent's leading operators, cloud players and the rest of the digital ecosystem.





9 Dec 2011

Google to speak at West & Central Africa Com 2012

Google was the first company to confirm their participation as speakers at the 2012 West & Central Africa Com. The event will take place on 13-14 June in Dakar, Senegal, and will look at the new business models, partnerships, services and technologies in the region's market.
As in previous years, the conference will include contributions from the region's leading operators. In addition in 2012, new players will share their views on innovative ways of doing business and reaching customers in the region's telecoms, media and ICT sector.
Lola Masha, New Business Development Manager for West Africa at Google, will join the event to discuss the opportunities in cloud computing services in the region. She is responsible for driving strategic partnerships, exploring new ventures and investment opportunities for Google across the region. She engages closely with mobile telecommunications players, content owners and organizations whose business model aligns well with Google's objectives.
Her contribution will bring a new perspective, and should encourage debates.

More speakers added to the EurasiaCom 2012 programme: Google, Nokia, Telekom Serbia

The programme for the EurasiaCom 2012 event is nearly finalised, and it promises to be even bigger and better than in previous years!
The Eurasia region (from Eastern Europe to the Caspian and Central Asia), has become a leading force for emerging markets. Some of the most dynamic companies and most innovative services are to be seen in the region, seizing the new opportunities in today's converging, digital market.
EurasiaCom 2012 is the best place to discover these new trends and discuss how to generate long-term revenues for the whole sector: operators, ISPs, OTT providers, social media players, investors, broadcasters, apps developers, cloud computing providers etc.
The programme will include representatives of the major companies present in the market. In addition to keynote speakers from Vimpelcom, Turkcell, Turk Telekom and more, and the following speakers have confirmed their participation this week:
- William Kanaan, Head of New Business Development - Middle East & North Africa, Google
- Sasa Lekovic, CTO, Telekom Srbija
- Salih Ozka, Head of EDX team, Nokia Turkey
Keep an eye out for the full programme, to be published soon!

6 Dec 2011

Gameloft confirmed to speak at North Africa Com 2012, representing a content provider's perspective

Sébastien Givry of mobile games publisher Gameloft has confirmed his participation as speaker at North Africa Com, the annual telecoms, media & ICT event taking place in Tunis on 13-14 May 2012.
Sébastien's presentation will look at global trends in mobile content and multimedia consumption, the specificities of the mobile content market in North Africa, and the mobile gaming market.
Gameloft is the #2 world developer of mobile games with published revenues of €141 million in 2010, expanding its activities in all electronically distributed formats as IPTV and consoles. Through its partnerships and distribution channels, Gameloft is serving its game to over 3 billion consumers.
As Sales Director, Sébastien is in charge of developing Gameloft’s presence and overall turnover in 31 countries. Over the past 7 years Sebastien has been with Gameloft, he has gained an expertise in mobile content from the distribution of Gameloft’s games through various channels, the implementation of in-house turn-key eCommerce solutions, and the promotion of games through social networks and more traditional channels. Sebastien is also involved in the implementation of Gameloft’s IPTV gaming solutions as well as partnerships with manufacturers in the Region.

North Africa Com 2012 programme being confirmed - Get involved!

The North Africa region is experiencing exceptional socio-economic change. As the world is going through a digital revolution, now is a great time to look at the new opportunities and challenges affecting all players in the telecoms, media and ICT sector in the region.

The 8th North Africa Com conference and exhibition will take place in Tunis on 15-16 May 2012. The event will bring together companies from the whole digital ecosystem (operators, OTT players, content providers, regulators, investors, vendors etc.) to discuss all the key trends affecting the market.

The following themes have been pre-selected to be part of the programme:
- How Telcos Are Adapting to a New Digital Environment
- Making Sense of the New Digital Ecosystem: Traditional Telcos, Alternative Service Providers, New Media, Disruptive Players
- Content & Apps: Innovative Applications and New Solutions to Increase Revenues
- Mobile Broadband & LTE Developments
- Smartphone Strategies to Encourage Data Usage and Increase Revenues
- Evolving Regulations to Facilitate Greater Market Development
- Delivering Excellence in Customer Experience Management

As the programme is being developed, now is you chance to send suggestions for topics and speaking proposals. Please contact Julie Rey on julie.rey@informa.com for more information.

5 Dec 2011

OTT PROVIDERS DEFINE THE FUTURE OF THE COMMUNICATIONS LANDSCAPE IN THE MIDDLE EAST


Last week’s Middle East Telco World Summit in Dubai was a buzzy affair with over 1,400 executives drawn from the entire Middle Eastern telecoms ecosystem in attendance.

Reflecting the changing landscape of the telecoms industry, the keynote panel discussion questioned “How are OTT Providers Disrupting the Operator Business Model?”. CEOs and Vice Presidents from operators and OTT providers debated the next step in competition or collaboration to maximise the potential of OTT service provision for all parties.

A packed conference room heard the views of Google’s Vice President Emerging Markets , Mohammad Gawdat, Ahmed Nassef, VP and Managing Director Middle East Yahoo!, Osman Sultan, CEO, du, Nawras’ CEO Ross Cormack, Khalifa Al-Fora SVP Technology and Network Strategy, Etisalat, Medhat Amer, CIO Mobily , Andrew Hanna, CCO VIVA Bahrain, Jigar Budhdev, General Manager MENA, Nimbuzz and Areeba Areeba’s CEO Ayman Irshaid.

Delegates were invited to join the launch of a report by the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women. . With the growth of the mobile tech industry comes opportunity. It makes social & economic sense to include women and the report, prepared by the Foundation in collaboration with STC, provides an in-depth study on the opportunities for women entrepreneurs in the mobile industry report provided an in-depth study of the opportunities available.


The 2nd day focus on LTE highlighted the region’s recent commercial launches. Case studies from Etisalat, du and STC demonstrated the reality of LTE, the impact on the consumer experience and the challenges and opportunities that remain for the operator.


The country focus sessions enabled delegates to gain a deeper understanding of the highlighted markets. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and Pakistan/Afghanistan were examined in detail with keynote presentations and panel discussions drawing out the successes and opportunities in each market.

The summit concluded, as it opened, with a panel discussion on OTT – this debate asking “Should OTT Players Pay for their Data?” With representation from the vendor, operator and OTT communities the lively discussion was a fitting end to a conference that demonstrated the need for operators to adapt to the changing communications world.

1 Dec 2011

African Cloud Providers Face an Uphill Battle

Another month, another cloud launch in Africa – at the end of October we saw Safaricom's George Makori announce the largest native African cloud launched in Kenya, and in November a similar press releases emerged from Vodacom claiming the first cloud launch in South Africa – so is this the Golden Age for the popular ICT service in Africa?

Clearly Safaricom and Vodacom South Africa think so – I’d say that many Africans understand that virtualisation and the growth of data centres in the continent have been a form of cloud computing for years. So why are some naysayers emerging to claim that South African cloud providers will not be able to challenge international players...

They say that South African hosting is not a competitive option, and that these African service providers are going to be priced out of the cloud services market by global heavyweights. However, this overlooks one important thing – Africa has always produced the best solutions for Africans. International aid is not the most effective solution for alleviating African hunger – yet Kenya’s mPesa is raising millions if US$ to help famine victims in East Africa – outstripping event the efforts of the Red Cross – and proudly raising the slogan Kenyans for Kenya. African apps for mHealth & mEducation are successfully aiding those without access to information or treatment, arguably more effectively and durably than international campaigns.

So why should cloud be any different? African governments are ready to lead by example; they know cloud and in particular SaaS will boost local economies, and there’s no reason African service providers shouldn't succeed in providing the hosting service.

I do agree with one point in that article though, local cloud service providers could face an uphill battle in competing with foreign providers, and each other. Any company looking to gain a foot hold in the African market needs to act and needs to act fast, market share and reputation will be everything, so get a cloud offering soon and get it right.


To learn more about Cloud in Africa register for the Cloud Africa event (part of the Com World Series) taking place in Johannesburg 23-24 May 2012 http://cloudafricasummit.com/

22 Nov 2011

Anthony Smith-Chaigneau of Alticast gives feedback on Africa's TV market following successful launch of AfricaCast

The TV market in Africa offers tremendous opportunities, as was evident at the new AfricaCast conference and exhibition launched in Cape Town earlier this month. The event gathered leading companies from the broadcasting world such as Multichoice and SABC, as well as alternative players such as Southtel and YouTube. The event was co-located with AfricaCom, allowing participants to mix with the players from the telecoms and ICT world.

One of AfricaCast's leading panellists was Anthony Smith-Chaigneau, Managing Director and Senior Vice-President of Business Development at Alticast, a provider of Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) solutions to the interactive TV industry. He answered questions on the overall market trends after the event.

What major developments have you witnessed in Africa's broadcasting industry in the past 12 months?
Clearly the development of the broadband sector with huge investment in fibre across the continent, juxtaposed with the development of a better understanding by the African industry of the importance of the broadcast sector for hybrid opportunities is driving Africa rapidly forward.

What challenges have you encountered as a result of this progress?
There are many challenges as it is a huge, diverse and multi-faceted market. In a market that is developing very rapidly, there are many aspects of technology choices that need to be coherent with the word 'advanced'. Technology selection has to be carefully considered and future thinking is paramount to creating the environment for developing services.

For example South Africa has chosen DTT and Uganda has selected DVB-T2 - described as the 'World's Best Digital Terrestrial Technology' at recent seminars; yet these two countries have chosen the 'oldest and outmoded' interactive middleware (MHEG5) for interactive TV services.

This does not make sense! Why open a super-highway and then ride a bicycle down it? Africa has the chance to leap-frog the rest of the world with systems that offer the best that the market can offer.

How do you believe new technologies can improve viewer engagement?
New technologies are designed with the viewer in mind, by providing better picture quality, better sound, more channels and value-added services. It is up to the broadcaster and operators to exploit these in order to engender viewer loyalty.

The experience of Mediaset in Italy with their advanced terrestrial services using DVB-MHP-HBB is a clear example of the broadcaster offering viewers the opportunity to engage in social media, catch-up TV, enhanced programming, play-along (prize-driven) quizzes and much much more. They have maximised their use of the right technologies for a comprehensible offer that sees receivers at affordable prices in the market.

What role do you think online video will eventually take within the overall mix of television technologies in Africa?
Online video requires a solid infrastructure and a sure-fire Quality of Service which entails a lot of back-office investment and the need to find a business model that supports this infrastructure. Lessons have been learned across the globe regarding the mix of technologies, and many partnerships have been formed between broadcasters and telcos/ISPs to try to balance the weaknesses of the Internet.

Others believe the Internet is ONLY way forward and therefore there is disruption in the market as each and every player tries to obtain the same loyalty from the same customers. At the Recent Future of Broadcast Television Summit in China it was declared that 'the transmission of information to an unlimited number of listeners and viewers is the most spectrum-efficient means for wireless delivery of popular real-time and file-based content'.

In online TV we have a long way to go to serve the population as efficiently as broadcast, especially in countries that have geographic, economic and technological challenges.

How do you believe content providers can best tap these new opportunities?
Content providers throughout Africa will have to beware of fragmentation. Standardisation and ubiquity is primordial for the content industry to be able to create their product once and have it deployed everywhere. If Africa, as in Europe, sees massive fragmentation of receiver middleware and interactive systems this will pose more challenges and add costs to the content industry.

Which markets do you think offer some key insights into the future direction of Africa's broadcast market?

There are many markets that can offer good and bad examples to Africa. They have a great experience in satellite, which is clearly seen as a continual growth market considering SES Astra is launching new satellites to further cover the region. The telcos have concentrated on the huge mobile market and this has been at the best shaky in other markets. The particularity of Africa and mobile phones may lead to a profitable mobile TV market where others have failed.

Terrestrial Broadcasting is clearly going to benefit from previous global experience. I firmly believe that Italy is the best benchmark for the implementation, management and deployment of advanced digital terrestrial services, and not the UK as many people imagine. Since 2004, Italy has successfully grown its DTT market to around 12 million advanced receivers and iDTVs. A very cohesive, interactive and OTT plan driven by the collaboration of the broadcasters under the guise of the DGTVi.

France has seen a badly conceived digital terrestrial market rollout, which saw radical short-term changes of technology from analogue, to terrestrial SD and then to HD, followed by the addition of interactive with the threat of more changes to come in the near term. This has cost the consumer heavily in replacement Receivers. A recent TV Documentary called the 'French Digital Terrestrial War' aired in the last few days; if they are making TV Programmes about it it must have had issues, and been controversial!

21 Nov 2011

News round-up

We'd not normally put in a post that simply re-posts other's efforts, but in the aftermath of AfricaCom we thought we'd make an exception.  The event has drawn nearly univeral praise - 96.5% of respondents to our evaluation survey have indicated they'd recommend the event to a colleague! - and we thought some kind of precis of the event reviews would be in order.

So for your edification, a selection of the event coverage:

http://www.it-online.co.za/2011/09/29/africacom-2011-focuses-on-infrastructure/
http://www.itnewsafrica.com/2011/11/kenya-leading-with-mobile-government-implementation/
http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Developing-nations-vital-to-wireless-broadband-20111031
http://www.telecoms.com/zones/africacom/

http://www.abndigital.com/page/multimedia/video/tech-at-work/1102700-14th-AfricaCom-Conference-and-Exhibition
http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/223/19/66665.html
http://www.africanews.com/site/SA_Cloud_computing_gaining_prominence/list_messages/40230

A lot of it echoing the issues we've been talking about here ..

17 Nov 2011

Some thoughts from last week's AfricaCom

Last week's AfricaCom attracted a huge audience of 6000 participants from across the continent and the world (with in particular a strong presence from India and China).
It may be hard to pick the most talked-about topics at the event, as there were so many varied strands of discussion.
In no particular order, here are some topics that stood out for me:
- There is still a massive growth potential in Africa, as was presented by Africa's leading operators at the event: MTN, Vodacom, Orange, Etisalat / Atlantique Telecom and more
- As the market is maturing, operators focus more and more on customer loyalty strategies
- Networks are improving; international connectivity projects are enabling the provision of internet access that is very much needed on the continent
- Africa is ready for a boom in new content and apps, thanks to the better access to mobile data services; social media brands and content providers had a stronger presence than in previous years at the event, with speakers from Mxit, Motribe, Universal Music, and the participation of broadcasters such as Multichoice, SABC and the BBC to the new AfricaCast session.
- Services for the enterprise segments as well as m-health, m-money and m-government were a big subject
- the new Enterprise ICT session attracted CIOs and IT directors from non-telecom companies interested in learning how to improve their ICT strategies; this is proving to be a major new revenue stream for operators and vendors alike
- Cloud services were discussed in several sessions, and were being pushed by a large number of exhibitors
- Infrastructure sharing and managed services will play an important part in improving operators’ efficiencies and cost management
- Regulators and governments have an important role to play in encouraging innovation in Africa
I must have left out a lot of ideas and topics of discussions, so your feedback is welcome!

3 Nov 2011

Cloud takes Africa by storm...

Increasingly industry commentators are talking about Africa as the perfect market for cloud.... Whereas lack of capacity and unreliable connectivity had previously been seen as detrimental to the launching of cloud services, it now seems that the tide has turned and these characteristics actually make the African markets an ideal Cloud launch pad.

Safaricom launched the ‘’largest native Cloud’’ in the past week, and they intend to lead not only the Kenyan market, but the rest of the continent as well. They’re putting their money where their mouth is and have joined the Cloud Africa conference & exhibition’s Advisory Board. This event is the first of its kind – bringing together the telecom operators and enterprise CIOs, offering the full story around Cloud in Africa.  No other event organisers can offer 19 years of successful learning and networking in Africa – as the Com Series can.  What is more Safaricom’s George Makori, Senior Manager for Cloud and Managed Services is joined on the Advisory Board by other experts and Gurus from Microsoft, HP, Ericsson, Ovum & CxO Advisors, and TM  Analysts.  No other conference and exhibition will bring advice and case studies at this critical point, where Cloud has the potential to take off in Africa./

2 Nov 2011

The Biggest Show on Earth ... well Africa, anyway

Next week sees our 17th Annual Africa Com take place in South Africa.  We are welcoming thousands of speakers, exhibitors, press, delegates and visitors from all over Africa and the world and it is hugely exciting to see representatives of the entire digital ecosystem flocking to beautiful Cape Town in their hordes.

The weather outlook, so far, is predicted to be sunny & bright and I'm sure this will be echoed in the speakers' visions of how they see the development of the African Digital economy.

Our colleagues in the Informa Telecoms & Media analyst division have long been heralding the impending explosion in African internet connectivity.  Describing Africa’s internet age as largely a "nomadic experience" they talk of the 2nd decade of the 2nd millenium as the age where the internet reaches the people.  By 2015,  20% of internet traffic in Africa will be carried by cellular networks, as compared to a global equivalent of just 3%. 

One of the key drivers of this growth will be highly valued and relevant content - there are plenty of international offerings - adpated for local consumers or otherwise - on the scence but the domestic African content provider market is still nascent.  But as we'll no doubt hear next week this will change rapidly.

If you have any questions you'd like to put to any of the panel sessions at AfricaCom do email them to us and we'll endeavour to get them put before the experts...

27 Oct 2011

Adapting to a changing ecosystem is key for operators' future success

The telecoms value chain used to be relatively simple: vendors would sell infrastructure equipment and software solutions to operators, who would build networks and offer services to end-users. Nowadays, the picture is more complex: the new ecosystem includes many more stakeholders from the whole telecoms, media and ICT world, and the traditional client-supplier relation is being replaced by more inclusive partnerships.
This topic of the changing ecosystem was discussed at the ITU summit this week in Geneva, with AT&T’s VP of International Affairs Eric Loeb saying: “Significant changes are coming from the traditional telecoms environment, including how people communicate, how they pay, how they work together. Two-way traditional, voice and email now co-exists with social media that enables many to many communications. It is not always supplemental, it is sometimes an alternative. Service providers need to be agile and forward-looking in terms of the platforms they provide.” This agility and innovation is essential if operators want to retain their relevance in a world where consumers’ expectations of services has changed so radically. As Johan Denneling, CEO of International at Vodacom said in an interview this week, “creativity is just as important as technology when it comes to developing useful, practical solutions to customer needs”.
That is why the Com World Series is embracing the changing ecosystem by providing platforms to discuss the changes in the telecoms, media and ICT ecosystem. The conferences no longer focus solely on the traditional telcos but cater for the whole digital ecosystem, including alternative service players, OTT players, social media brands, content providers and more. The objective is to facilitate exchanges between the stakeholders to promote new models, partnerships and services to engage with the consumers in a more effective way.
AfricaCom, taking place in Cape Town in two weeks, includes new sessions dedicated to service innovation, social media, content and apps, broadcasting, enterprise services, cloud computing and more. In addition to the region’s traditional operators (MTN, Vodacom, Orange, Atlantique, Airtel etc.), new brands will contribute to the programme: Google, Mxit, Motribe, Multichoice, SABC, Universal Music and more.
The Middle East Teclo World Summit, coming up at the end of November, will open with a debate on the role of OTT players and whether they’re disrupting the operator business model. The session will include contributions from Google, Nimbuzz, Yahoo, Areeba Areeba, as well as operators Du, Nawras, Viva and Mobily.
The 2012 programme will continue expanding its scope with more sessions focusing on telco transformation, innovation, ecosystem evolution and new services for different segments.

30 Jul 2011

AfricaCom 2011 programme embraces the new Digital Africa

We’re just over three months away from the 14th AfricaCom event, and the programme is now ready. How it has evolved from a GSM-focused conference to a large congress and exhibition involving the whole telecoms, media and ICT market! African consumers and businesses have fully embraced the new services and opportunities brought by mobile and ICT technologies; they have shown initiative and innovation to create new uses that are suited to local needs. For those who haven't experienced this first-hand in Africa, here's an interesting article giving a good idea of why this year’s AfricaCom is all about Africa’s digital market as the engine for the continent’s economic growth.
The conference keynote sessions will bring expert speakers from the whole digital ecosystem to discuss the evolution of the market:
- mobile operator groups (MTN, Vodacom, Orange, Atlantique, Expresso) will discuss how they’re transforming their business models and encouraging innovation to adapt to a new landscape and new customer needs
- sub-sea cable companies (such as ACE Consortium), satellite operators (Intelsat, O3B) and fibre companies (Corning) will share how they’re working to improve international connectivity and capacity in order to deliver the new services
- alternative brands will share their perspective on how they deliver attractive services to the end-users in partnership with operators - with two of the most talked-about companies in the market: facebook and Google
More than ever before, the past year has been about innovation and new services to deliver beyond voice. That is why the event includes new sessions to cover mobile value-added services (with a panel discussion on content and apps), social media services (with the participation of African brands Mxit, Motribe, Africanplanet.com and Afrigator), TV services (a new co-located event, AfricaCast, with contributions from Multichoice, SABC, ABN, Multimesh and more), and enterprise ICT services (supported by HP, IBM, MTN Business and more).
We are looking forward to welcoming more new participants this year, and to debating the evolution of Africa’s digital landscape. For more information, visit our website.

7 Jul 2011

Mobile Money and Content the Major Talking Points at VAS Africa Yesterday

The first VAS Africa event closed yesterday in Johannesburg after two days of rich debate, best practice sharing and networking between over 250 VAS specialists: mobile operators, solutions vendors, content owners and aggregators, applications developers, consultants and more.

All participants agreed that such an event was long needed in Africa: as the market is developing, it is crucial that all stakeholders get together and discuss how to make it work for everyone, and in particular for the end-user.

The service that dominated the debates was mobile money. Mayank Sharma of Comviva compared Africa to a Silicon Valley in terms of its leadership in mobile financial services.  Content was a major talkingpoint on the second day: speakers discussed partnerships between operators, content providers and applications developers, as well as the optimum pricing and revenue sharing models. The need for relevant local content was highlighted by most speakers, and of course social networking was mentioned as a great opportunity.

However speakers pointed out that the success of value-added services will not be down only to the attractiveness of the services: affordability and simplicity of use will be crucial to seize the potential of value-added services in Africa.

The event was attended by VAS specialists from the major players in Africa: pan-african operator groups (Airtel, MTN, Orange, Vodacom, Econet Wireless, Etisalat), local operators (Cell C, TNM, Mcell, 8ta and more), content providers (BBC, SABC, Multimesh), VAS solutions suppliers (Comviva, Ericsson, Huawei, GandD, SSD-Tech, DSG, Buongiorno), and many more companies or individuals with an interest in sharing ideas and networking with their peers.

This was the first event dedicated to value-added services in the Com World Series, and it met a need in the market. "The atmosphere throughout the event was very inspiring", says Julie Rey, Research Director at organisers Informa Telecoms and Media; "what we saw was a community of like-minded professionals getting together to ensure the success of their market".  
VAS Africa will return in 2012 with an expanded programme of discussion to make the debates most fruitful for all the players in the market. Before then, VAS specialist can meet at AfricaCom in Cape Town on 9-10 November, where the programme includes special sessions on VAS, innovation, social media, mobile money and marketing and pricing.

Find out more about attending next year: www.comworldseries.com/vasafrica

24 Jun 2011

Orange shows support for Africa's most prestigious telecoms awards

The AfricaCom Awards, Africa’s premier telecoms award gala, is now being sponsored by pan-African giant Orange.  This unique event is the only gala of its kind, and it recognises companies’ progress and achievements in the continent’s telecoms industry over the past year.

Orange has been there all 3 years so far, and last year ran away with a storming 12 shortlisted entries and 2 wins. They have been one of the many service providers in Africa that have entered, attended, and won at the AfricaCom Awards ceremony, and this year they will take a more active role as sponsors of the Orange African Social Venture Prize.   They join Founding Sponsor, Gateway and Category Sponsor, Comviva as 2011’s headline endorsers.

In fact, there has never been a better occasion to enter. There’s a new glamorous water front venue at the V&A Water Front in Cape Town, as well as a few fresh new judges that have been recruited, and of course the award categories themselves are more pertinent and exciting with 6 new categories. The final 2011 category list is:
  • Best Network Improvement
  • Best New Service
  • Best Cost Efficiency Initiative for Africa
  • Rural Telecoms Award *NEW
  • Best Backhaul Solution for Africa *NEW
  • Customer Service Excellence Award *NEW
  • Best Marketing Campaign
  • Satellite Service Provider of the Year *NEW
  • Best ICT Solution Provider for Enterprise Markets in Africa *NEW
  • Best Pan African Initiative
  • Changing Lives Award
And
Orange African Social Venture Prize *NEW

The deadline for entries is 2 September 2011.  Don’t miss your chance to enter!
www.africacomawards.com

20 Jun 2011

Operators must adapt to new market conditions, say participants at West & Central Africa Com in Senegal last week

The telecommunications and ICT sector is changing, and operators must adapt to new market conditions in order to meet the needs of the customers and to ensure future profitability. That is the overall message coming out of 2 days of debate and networking at West and Central Africa Com, held on 16th and 16th June in Dakar, Senegal.
Senior representatives of the major regional operators (Orange, MTN, Airtel, Sonatel, Expresso Telecom, Globacom, Vodafone and more), and their suppliers shared their strategic visions for future growth in the conference.
Innovation was a key word. As Alain Kahasha, MD of Airtel Niger said: 'investment in innovation is a matter of life or death; in a market where voice revenues are decreasing, operators have to innovate to ensure revenues for their shareholders'. To deliver on it, operators and their partners are focusing on improving access for the unconnected, developing internet services, and m-banking. In addition, they must put in place initiatives to improve margins; as such, infrastructure sharing was a major topic of discussion. Bernard Ghillebaert, VP of West Africa and Asia at Orange Group said: 'this conference is a great occasion to meet telecoms experts from all the countries in the region, and to find out that our partners are interested in infrastructure sharing'.
Now in its 8th year, the event has indeed become a key forum for operators, regulators, equipment and solutions vendors, and all stakeholders in the telecommunications and ICT sector to network in their region. Ahmad Farroukh, Vice President for West and Central Africa at MTN Group - and a regular keynote speaker - said he was happy with this year's event: 'the conference topics were good and the level of participation was up to our expectations'. A first-time speaker, Saiful Alam, CCO of Expresso Telecom Group, said he 'thoroughly enjoyed it; it was extremely well organised, I have already committed to attend next year and I would recommend anyone in ICT doing business in Africa to participate'.
The conference was co-located with an exhibition of 34 companies showcasing their latest products and solutions to support operators' business in the region. For all participants, it has been a busy two days, hopefully bringing more ideas and prospects for their businesses in the coming year. One of them was Niyi Olujimi, Managing Director of Multi Dimension Technology in Nigeria, who said: 'I'm very impressed with this event. Our company has been transformed by the events put together by Informa Telecoms and Media in Senegal, Nigeria and South Africa, and we appreciate every bit of the good work'.

14 Jun 2011

Telecom Leaders to Meet and Set Strategies for Evolving Networks and Services in Dakar Tomorrow

Tomorrow, over 600 telecom leaders from across West & Central Africa will gather in Dakar at West & Central Africa Com conference.  Their agenda for the 2 days is to establish strategies, set best practice benchmarks and find innovative ways of evolving networks and services to capture growth potential in the fiercely competitive West & Central African market.

The West & Central African telecoms sector has entered a new phase in its evolution.  Thanks to improved connectivity, operators are looking more seriously into upgrading their networks to launch new value added services.  New entrants to the market have made for a more crowded arena, as operators compete fiercely to offer new services that will secure them more market share.

The challenge for Operators, lies in determining what to invest in and understanding the market well enough to deliver new services that the consumer will buy into.  It is for this purpose that 600 telecom leaders will meet tomorrow at West & Central Africa Com conference, 15-16 June.  Representatives will include mobile, fixed, satellite and WiMAX operators, ISPs, regulators, ministers, solutions and technology providers, investors and consultants to ensure a truly 360 degree perspective of the market.  Attendees will pool their different perspectives, ideas and experiences to set strategies around Operator Strategies, Networks and Infrastructure, Value Added Services, Leadership Innovation, Rural Telecoms and more. 

The 2 days of discussions will be led by a panel of 40+ speakers representing leaders of the region’s most dynamic operators, from pan-regional investors (Orange represented by Vice President Bernard Ghillebaert, MTN with Vice President of West & Central Africa Ahmad Farroukh, Airtel Africa with Director for Francophone Markets Tiemoko Coulibaly, and Expresso Telecom with Commercial Director Saiful Alam), incumbent operators (Sonatel with Marketing Director Thérèse Tounkara, Sotelgui with Director of Studies and Development Mohamed Sylla), alternative service providers and more. The conference will be officially opened by the Senegalese Minister for Telecommunications and ITC and spokesperson for the government, Moustapha Guirassy.

24 May 2011

Mobile data sparks a revolution

In the Middle East and Africa, mobile value-added services are having a powerful transformational effect on the businesses of mobile operators and the lives of their customers.

With voice-service revenues in the region forecast to record relatively little increase over the next few years, data services offer the best growth prospects.

It is clear that data services – especially access to the Internet – have had a profoundly transformative effect in the region, as the use of online social networking has played an important part in the big political developments that have occurred in the region in the past few months, notably the overthrow of governments in Egypt and Tunisia.

Egyptian operator Mobinil said in its 1Q11 results that “data appetite is exploding,” as has been demonstrated in recent months, when “social networking, particularly via mobile, has been playing a critical role in political mobilization.” Mobinil said that it plans to launch new digital applications and form new partnerships in order to take advantage of the opportunity in mobile data.

However, one should not overstate the links between mobile data and political change. Internet connectivity and social-networking services were important as facilitators and catalysts in the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions. But a high level of connectivity does not necessarily lead to revolution. And political upheaval can take place where connectivity is low. Syria and Yemen have among the lowest rates of mobile and broadband penetration in the Middle East but have recently experienced sustained protests, though the outcome of these remain uncertain.

We’re currently building the conference agenda for this year’s North Africa Com conference which will address data across the region.  Find out more about joining the speaker panel http://nafrica.comworldseries.com/conference/Call_For_Speakers

13 Apr 2011

Where will profitability come from next for African operators?

Following years of network deployments, fast growth, improvements in international satellite and cable links, Africa’s telecommunications markets are facing new challenges: how to make the most of the improved access to continue growing revenues in a market where subscription growth is slowing down?
On the one hand, operators are looking at reducing their costs in order to maximise profitability on their existing revenues. While they are still investing in their networks (particularly for mobile broadband), they needs to be more efficient. All major operators on the continent have attempted to deploy low-cost operations and outsourcing strategies but it may be Bharti Airtel’s expertise of the low-cost model that will make a difference in how operations are run optimally in Africa. In addition, the increasingly popular tower sharing model may be the key for operators to reach the under-served (and so far not profitable) rural areas.
On the other hand, companies are looking to creating new revenue sources. Improved networks, innovative models and wider access to better devices mean operators can develop innovative services to generate additional revenues from their customers or from new segments. Value-added services such as content, social networking or mobile money are attracting the attention of operators. Those services can prove profitable, but they mean having to partner with third companies to provide the content or the access to the customers; ‘OTT’ service providers such as Google and Facebook can offer either opportunities or challenges for operators who don’t want to become ‘dumb pipes’. In terms of customer segments, vertical enterprise markets may bring the best opportunities. Major operators have created special divisions within their companies to target these customers, such as Orange Business Services or more recently MTN Business. With dedicated teams, they will be better able to serve the needs of segments such as the public sector (health, education, government), oil, gas and mining, or the financial sectors. However in this field too, they will have to work with partners (such as network equipment vendors or cloud computing providers) to deliver services that answer the needs of the enterprises.
All these issues and more will be addressed at the AfricaCom event which will be held for the 14th time this year in Cape Town on 9th and 10th November. The conference programme is currently being written, with new sessions and features to bring the latest trends to the audience: special focus sessions on customer focus, mobile broadband, convergence, VAS, social networking, rural telecoms, cost management, and more. In addition, the congress will include 2 new co-located events: Enterprise ICT (covering ICT strategies and services for enterprises in Africa), and AfricaCast (addressing the trends and opportunities for the African broadcasting industry). So, now is a chance to have your say on the key topics to include in the programme and companies to invite to speak.

7 Apr 2011

Mobile subscriptions in West & Central Africa predicted to increase 68% over next 5 years to reach 310m+

The West and Central Africa region has consistently been the fastest-growing in Africa in the past few years. Mobile subscriptions in West & Central Africa are predicted to increase another 68% over the next 5 years to reach in excess of 310m.  Over this period, the strongest subscriber growth is expected in the telecom markets of DRC, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire and Togo.   Competition for these new customers is fierce though, as operators compete with new entrants in a more crowded environment.

Unlike East Africa, where competition has been fought mainly on price, West & Central African operators in the region’s more developed markets have harnessed improved connectivity as a way of increasing customers.  They have invested in their networks to offer value added services such as mobile money transfer, which are regarded as a customer retention tool and way to increase rural coverage.  Data services, in particular mobile broadband is now offered in 7 of the region’s 24 markets.

Despite these clear developments, it’s still early days in the provision of these new services in West & Central Africa, and the companies which will succeed in seizing the best opportunities will have to move fast and be innovative. 

This June, 700+ telcos from across the region will meet at West & Central Africa Com conference and exhibition to discuss how to seize these opportunities.  Find out more at www.comworldseries.com/wcafrica

4 Apr 2011

Regional Telecom Leaders Prepare to Set Strategies for Capitalising on New Networks and Services at East Africa Com Conference in Nairobi Tomorrow

Tomorrow, over 650 telecom leaders from across East Africa will gather in Nairobi at East Africa Com conference (www.comworldseries.com/eafrica).  Their agenda for the 2 days is to establish strategies, set best practice benchmarks and find innovative ways of capitalising on the new networks and services in the fiercely competitive East African market.

Subscription growth remains high in East Africa, but this is not driven by an increase in customers, rather multiple SIM usage as a result of fierce price wars amongst the operators.  This has had a negative impact on ARPU which has declined to reach just US$7.13.  New players, the imminent introduction of mobile number portability and improved connectivity has forced operators to look beyond price as a winning competitive tool. 

New opportunities for operators now lie in the provision of value added services and mobile broadband but services are still evolving and an optimum business model is still to be established.  It is for this purpose that 650 telecom leaders will meet tomorrow at East Africa Com conference, 5-6 April.  Representatives will include mobile, fixed, satellite and WiMAX operators, ISPs, MVNOs, regulators, ministers, solutions and technology providers, investors and consultants to ensure a truly 360 degree perspective of the market.  Attendees will pool their different perspectives, ideas and experiences to set strategies around convergence, broadband, LTE, value added services, telecoms Fraud and connecting rural areas. 

The 2 days of discussions will be led by a panel of 45+ speakers representing leaders of the region’s most dynamic operators, from pan-regional investors (Pan-regional players Orange France-Telecom and Airtel Africa, represented by Vice President Michel Barré and Group Director of Networks Bayan Moadjem respectively), incumbent operators (such as Telkom Kenya and their CEO Mikhail Ghossein), competitive mobile operators (with CxOs from Safaricom, Vivacell Southern Sudan, Zantel Tanzania, Airtel Kenya, amongst others), the self proclaimed original triple play provider in Africa, Wananchi (represented by Group CEO Richard Bell, and Kenya’s Country Manager Peter Reinartz), alternative service providers (Jamii Telecom, Roke Telkom Uganda) and more.

For more information on East Africa Com and to attend please visit www.comworldseries.com/eafrica

25 Mar 2011

Where will VAS innovation come from in Africa's market?

Until recently most of the efforts on the part of telecoms operators and their partners in Africa have been focused on building and improving networks, first to deliver services to the growing customer base, and then to enable them to access new services including internet access.
Now that most of the population is connected and that submarine cables and new satellites are improving international connectivity and capacity, operators can turn their focus to how to best serve their customers and increase their revenues. Innovation in value-added services services is key to improve customer choice (and spending) and to differentiate from competitors. Until now, mobile money has been the great African-pioneered service, with sucessful offers such as Safaricom and Vodacom's M-Pesa, Zain's Zap and Orange Money. These are perfect for the African market, in that the offers are easy to use, fulfill a need that is specific to low-income segments, and improve customer loyalty.
But what is next? For the more advanced markets or segments, operators can look at mobile content or social networking, but they face the issue of sharing the customer's loyalty (and spending) with third parties. Targeting a different category of subscribers, telcos can look at services for specific sectors such as education, health or corporate verticals such as the oil and gas industry; the continent's major operators are busy targeting the potentially lucrative enterprise market by developing specific divisions such as MTN Business or Orange Business Services. But what about the 'ordinary' consumers, the generally low-income users who cannot spend much on new services? Operators need to be innovative in order to deliver attractive services that fit their lifestyles, while keeping their costs low to achieve reasonable margins. Airtel Africa, with its experience from India, may bring interesting ideas to the African markets, but its model may not be straightforward to transpose.
All those topics will form a recurrent theme in Com World Series events this year, with sessions covering VAS in all conferences, a special keynote on 'Serving the Customers' at AfricaCom as well as a co-located event on Entreprise ICT, and a new event dedicated to Value-Added Services in Africa to be held in Johannesburg in July.

17 Mar 2011

Kenyan Operators Unlikely to Meet Deadline to Launch Mobile Number Portability

Operator price wars in East Africa have blighted operators’ efforts to ensure quality of service, meet customers’ expectations and retain their loyalty.  As consumers buy up multiple SIM cards to take advantage of the best deals, subscription rates have been artificially increased 19% year-on-year whilst ARPU has declined to a mere 12% to reach just US$7.13 at the end of 2010. 
 
All of this is set to change with the impending introduction of Mobile Number Portability in East Africa.  It’s well accepted that consumers elsewhere are loyal to their mobile number, not their operator, so for the first time East African consumers will benefit.  It is likely the consumer will now look to network quality and value added service offerings when choosing their service provider, triggering fresh competition between the operators on quality, and away from the dirty price wars.  As the artificial buffer of multiple SIM cards is knocked back, Safaricom - as the dominant incumbent so far - is expected to be the biggest loser, and competition will heat up further.


But there has been disappointing news in local press reports this week, that mobile operators in Kenya may not be ready for the adoption of the Mobile Number Portability which is scheduled to take effect from 1 April 2011. The four operators are yet to start test-runs on the switch platform dubbed, the ‘All Call Query System’ and insist that they need at least four weeks to perform the tests. The industry regulator, CCK has reiterated that the deadline for the switch-over will not be extended.  For the sake of the consumer, we hope this doesn’t end in deadlock.

East African operator leaders will be meeting in Nairobi, 5-6 April to discuss implementation of new networks and services across the region at East Africa Com conference.  Find out more online www.comworldseries.com/eafrica   

14 Mar 2011

West Africa region sees Africa's major operators compete for growth opportunities

As for most of African telecommunications market, the West Africa region seems to be entering a new phase of its growth. Until recently it was characterised by low ARPU, low penetration, and countries with a high number of operators for a relatively small population. However, since the arrival of new international connections (new submarine cables and satellite links) and some dynamic initiatives from ECOWAS's main regulators, the region has now become a ground for Africa's major operator groups to compete.
Among the region's international strategic investors are France’s Orange, South Africa’s MTN, India’s Airtel, Etisalat (owners of Atlantique Telecom)and Expresso Telecom of the UAE, who all have significant footprints in the region. All these commpanies have expressed their interest in growing their presence in the region and increase their positions within their existing markets, where data and other value-added services such as mobile money offer considerable growth opportunities.
Thses groups will all be present at West & Central Africa Com, the region's annual event which will take place in Dakar, Senegal on 15th and 16th June. They will be represented by senior executives with a wealth of experience in those promising markets: Bernard Ghillebaert (Head of West Africa & Asia, Orange Group), Tiemoko Coulibaly (CEO, Francophone Africa Region, Airtel Africa), Ahmad Farroukh (Acting VP for the WECA region, MTN Group), Juan Jose De La Torre Chamy (Group Strategy & Planning Director,Etisalat Group), and Saiful Alam (CCO, Expresso Telecoms Group)
and more.
They will join 700+ telecommunications professionals from the region and beyond to discuss how to seize the changing opportunities in this region's dynamic market. With mobile subscriptions forecasted by Informa Telecoms & Media to increase by 68% over the next 5 years, and mobile broadband launches enabling the growth of mobile data services, this region is definitely the place to be for international investors.

3 Mar 2011

Airtel Africa & East African Operators Ensure against Fraud and Revenue Loss in Telecoms Business

Risk of fraud & revenue loss in telecoms continues to be a major priority for big businesses in East Africa.  Whilst the region’s telecommunications industry has seen a quantum leap in the past decade – with markets like Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda being some of the most competitive & lucrative in the whole continent – there remains this shadowy side of telecoms in Africa. 

Operators often compete at a cut-throat level when it comes to pricing, OPEX, CAPEX, distribution models, etc.  But service providers like Airtel realise that there is money to be saved by committing to fraud and risk avoidance as well.

In Nairobi on the 6th April, the Kenyatta International Conference Centre will provide a hub and platform for learning, debating and networking around this important issue of Fraud.  In particular, 2 exclusive Master Classes will take place.  The first to be run by Airtel Africa’s Group Revenue Assurance & Fraud Manager, Hawas Garba Matta.  The second by an international expert – Patrick Gitau of Globacom Nigeria.  The whole session will be opened and chaired by Ade Banjoko, Chair of the GSM Africa Fraud Forum.

Topics and discussions in these classes will include:
  • effectively integrating risk, fraud & revenue assurance into your corporate strategy
  • telecoms enterprise risk management
  • optimizing end-to-end fraud & revenue assurance strategies
  • implementing risk based fraud & revenue assurance framework with essential “from the top policy”
  • bridging the GAPs by assessing & monitoring product life-cycle processes to identify the sources of fraud & revenue loss
  • focus on optimised fraud detection through real-time capabilities
  • how to tackle telecom fraud typologies in East Africa - bad debt management, process flows and inefficiencies, and capacity deficiencies problems in your network
  • how to get value from RAMS and FMS
  • vendor valuation criteria and considerations, and working closely with suppliers to minimise revenue leakages
“The market has responded very positively to this brand new feature to East Africa Com conference and exhibition,” says Emily Cottam, Senior Conference Producer, East Africa Com “Fraud is a topic that East African operators can’t afford to overlook if they are to remain profitable in this increasingly competitive market.  These master classes are a one-stop-shop for operators looking to understand and implement effective fraud prevention strategies.”

What’s more, these master classes form just one segment of the East Africa Com 2011 conference & exhibition, now in its 7th year.

For more information about East Africa Com, and the Fraud & Revenue Assurance master classes visit www.comworldseries.com/eafrica or contact Emily Cottam on emily.cottam@informa.com or call on +44 (0)207 017 5610