RURAL PROFITABILITY DELIVERING MOBILE CONNECTIVITY TO RURAL COMMUNITIES ACTUALLY DELIVERS ATTRACTIVE RETURNS ON INVESTMENT. P14
SATELLITE BACKHAUL
CAN CUT COSTS WHEN EXTENDING FIBRE IS NOT FEASIBLE FOR REMOTE AREAS. P18
CREATING NEW
REVENUE STREAMS CONVERGED BILLING CAN CREATE LUCRATIVE OPPORTUNITIES. P10
THE OFFICIAL SHOW DAILY | WEDNESDAY 14th NOVEMBER 2012
Beyond connectivity: plan ahead for service partnerships
SERVICE providers in the African region have a golden opportunity: a chance to capitalise on next generation services, while opera- tors in developed markets have tried and largely failed to develop consumer services beyond con- nectivity. This was the message from
Mark Newman, chief research office at Informa Telecoms & Media, speaking to an overflowing auditorium as the event opened its doors on the pre-show day. If the crowds gathered at the
opening keynotes of the Africa Industry Outlook stream were any indication, insight into pairing
capture large revenue streams be- yond basic services like voice, data and SMS—these areas are where the big money is, and high expecta- tions of concepts like carrier billing will only deliver a five to 15 per cent revenue share at the outside. The point is that revenue share is not a significant opportunity, but neither does a business have to be all about access. “If you get into discussions early
with specialist content and service players to maximise access rev- enues was right on the money. Newman said that carriers need to accept that they are not going to
enough, you can build a 3G net- work so that it benefits both you and your partners,” said Newman. “It will not be network services that are the future, it is Over The Top services.”
But in order to fulfil this vision,
operators need to see the strong opportunity to partner with OTT players, giving dedicated access to popular services like WhatsApp and Facebook. This type of partnership model
is especially attractive in Africa due to the strong brand strength and distribution channel owned by the carrier—the very thing that gives carriers leverage against OTT play- ers hungry for more reach. “OTT providers should be seen
as partners and customers, not competitors,” said Newman. “These guys need you as much as, if not more, than you need them.”
AfricaCom bigger and better
YESTERDAY the CTICC Cape Town threw open its doors for the 15th annual AfricaCom show, welcoming many of the region’s, indeed the world’s, most innova- tive brands to network, discuss and share ideas. In line with the developing
maturity of the region, this year’s event is the biggest yet, with a total of 8,000 pre-registered visi- tors, up 25 per cent on last year, counting representatives from over 2,000 companies, up 26 per cent on last year. With so much content, the
show this year has been extended to run over three days, with 200 speakers, seven streams, and three co-located events focused on some of the key sectors with potential for rapid development. AfricaCast returns for a second
year and continues to be the premier event in Sub Saharan Africa for broadcasters. This year
the event counts the support of SABC, ABN, Endemol and Viacom among others. AfricApps is a brand new
addition to AfricaCom run for developers by developers. It is bringing together the growing community of Sub-Sahara’s mo- bile app developers to exchange ideas about how to create market leading apps and learn how they can bring to market the next Angry Birds. While ICT is undoubtedly
a major engine for growth in Africa’s business community, Enterprise ICT Africa makes its appearance this year, and is designed to deliver to enterprise CIOs and IT Directors the most up-to-date information on how to improve their companies’ ICT strategies. Kick starting the event will be a strong focus on cloud computing and data centres.
Ian Hemming, chief executive
officer for Informa Telecoms & Media, said: “We’re delighted to welcome 8,000 pre-registered attendees from 112 countries to Africa’s largest telecoms show. Digital Africa is becoming a real- ity with the region seeing strong interest in cloud services, mobile data, and the enterprise, and I hope that our show is reflecting the opportunities and innovations that make this continent such an
exciting market for our visitors.” The best and brightest in-
novators in the industry will also be recognised for their efforts at the fifth AfricaCom awards presentation at the Waterfront Lookout on Wednesday night. Top South African comedian Nik Rabinowitz is hosting the event, which promises to reward those responsible for making waves and changing lives in the region’s diverse markets.
Know your market
IT is increasingly evident that the African telecoms market has reached a new phase of maturation. During this week, many of the keynote presenta- tions and conversations attend- ees will have with their peers will focus on the effects of changes in technology, evolving consumer demands and the growing intensity of competi- tion which are driving the need for new business models. But with maturity comes
new threats and never before in Africa have communica- tions service providers felt such pressure to evolve, lest they run the risk of failing to capture revenue from the fresh opportunities that ex- ist. Key areas of focus in the region are cloud computing, data centres, machine-to- machine (M2M) applications and the growing maturity of enterprise and vertical market segments. Informa Telecoms & Media goes into great depth on these topics in a survey re- port printed in brief today on page 26 and in full tomorrow on page 8.
Awards After Party
The Waterfront Lookout, Granger Bay, Cape Town
14th November 2012 from 10.30pm Smart casual
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