African telecom landscape looks towards high speeds:

A number of factors have contributed to Africa’s increasing adoption of mobile phones for internet use over PCs — cost and lack of ethernet infrastructure for two. The cost of computers versus the lower prices of mobile phones in addition to the lack of physical internet cable implementation has spurred the growth of mobile devices in Africa — a trend that is now of global proportion. But Africa’s mobile scene presents unique challenges, and the recently reported interest in the continent’s digital communications from Mideast and European telcos has spun a larger conversation over the future of the continent’s growth.

MidEast telcos have been developing their presence in North Africa for a while. Etisalat — an Emirates-based telco — took over France’s Vivendi’s stake in Maroc Telecom in July, heightening its presence in West Africa. (Maroc Telecom was also Morocco’s largest operator, according to reports.) And European companies such as Orange have been increasing their investments in various countries to get a foothold in the developing markets. These growing investments from operators have accumulated throughout the year, and made for conversation at AfricaCom 2013 — a telecom conference held in Cape Town, South Africa earlier in November which calls together global technology leaders.

An executive from Gemalto — a digital security company — spoke after the conference and called for operators to take advantage of the unique communications landscape in Africa in order to bypass 3G implementation and escalate quickly to 4G. While attaining high speed wireless seems unlikely in regions that have barely reliable 2G, Sherry Zameer, head of Africa and Middle East telecommunications for the company, described the lack of regulation and restrictive platforms actually make Africa ripe for the buildout of 4G.

Liquid Telecom scoops Best African Wholesale Carrier Award:

It is the second year in succession Liquid Telecom has won the gong, beating off strong competition from WIOCC, Orange and PCCW Global.

According to the panel of judges: “Liquid Telecom has again shown great promise and ambitious plans for development in Africa. It has aggressively targeted expansion of its fibre footprint in the continent and is attempting to access a range of countries where infrastructure maintenance remains the most challenging in the world.”

The judges said Liquid Telecom’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) strategy was a significant highlight to the company being recognised, with the firm having acquired four companies in 2013.

They also said the company commitment to serving the region’s communications sector was a key highlight, where Liquid Telecom has been diverting traffic as a result of multiple cuts to undersea cables to enable redundancy on a number of routes from Africa to Europe.

Nic Rudnick, Liquid Telecom’s chief executive officer (CEO), said: “At Liquid Telecom we celebrate the people who make it happen. This award is a real team effort and recognises our company’s drive and ambition to provide internet connectivity across the whole of Africa”.

It is the second week in a row Liquid Telecom has been recognised after it bagged Best Connectivity Solution in Africa at last week’s AfricaCom 2013, in Cape Town, for building the longest fibre links in Africa.

Organised by Capacity Magazine and now in its eighth year, the Global Carrier Awards have become the biggest and most prestigious awards event of the wholesale telecoms calendar.

HumanIPO reported last week Liquid Telecom had built the first fibre optic cable into Somalia, connecting the country to undersea cables by fibre for the first time.

“We are providing the people of Somalia with access to the global internet at higher speeds and with more capacity than ever before,” said Rudnick.

“Our goal is to connect every person and business in Africa to the internet and to each other.  We are an agile and entrepreneurial company which is investing heavily in building our pan-African fibre network.”

Why mobile money uptake is low in Africa:

Why is  the uptake and adoption of mobile money slow and sluggish in Africa? An expert has given insight into the reasons, stressing that unless these challenges are addressed, the situation will remain so.

Group Vice President, Executive Business Line, Mobile Authentication, Glesecke and Devrient, Wolfgang Decker identified the absence of a global regulatory standard, trust and low awareness as some of the factors inhibiting the adoption and wider penetration of mobile money services in Africa.

Speaking at the International Convention Centre, Cape Town, South Africa, venue of the just concluded annual AfricaCom, Decker said though the future of financial inclusion is hinged on mobile money, a lot still needed to be done to put the continent on the global limelight.

He spoke on Securing the Future of Mobile Money, and stressed that while banks manage cash inefficiently, there is high level of economic uncertainty arising thereto.

In what he described as impossible world, he said proactive regulation, traceability, low influence on economic uncertainty, fragmented identity were the order of the day.

He said traditional payment models, fees for payment, disoriented system for services payment and the predilection to hold liquidity were also the features of the impossible, adding that the cloud world where money moves round in real time through the internet is the best.

He said the success of mobile money services in some countries has thrown up the issue of security. "The increasing success of mobile financial services also leads to increasing fraud potential from cyber space for consumers and services providers," he said, adding that the growing number of users/mobile devices, growing number of mobile channels and growing number of mobile money solutions were challenges confronting the mobile money on the continent.

He also blamed the growing level of transaction without a concurrent growth in standards and regulation as other challenges.

Leveraging Wi-Fi to meet Africa’s broadband demands:

The prevalence of Wi-Fi in Africa and around the world is increasing, with more and more mobile operators looking to deploy it as part of their overall networks, according to Ruckus Wireless, Inc. , an exhibitor at this year’s AfricaCom, running from 12 - 14 November 2013 at the CTICC, in Cape Town, South Africa. As the role for Wi-Fi in mobile networks becomes clearer, and carrier-grade Wi-Fi solutions such as Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi become more readily available, the monetisation options are becoming clearer as well.

“The vast majority of the world is still waiting for broadband service. In the well-populated parts of developed countries, existing fixed phone and infrastructure has made broadband relatively easy to offer, and availability is now very high,” says Michael Fletcher, sales director for Ruckus Wireless sub-Saharan Africa. “Everywhere else, though, especially across regions in Africa, the high costs of current options, such as deploying new fixed infrastructure or large-scale macro-cellular wireless models like WiMAX, are big barriers to further broadband subscriber growth, yet the demand for Wi-Fi is there, and that’s where we come in.”

According to the Broadband Commission’s ‘State of Broadband 2013’ report, mobile broadband is the fastest growing technology in human history. Mobile broadband subscriptions, which allow users to access the web via smartphones, tablets and Wi-Fi-connected laptops, are growing at a rate of 30% per year. In fact, by the end of 2013 there will be more than three times as many mobile broadband connections as there are conventional fixed broadband subscriptions, with 2.1 billion mobile broadband subscriptions worldwide, which is equivalent to one third of the total global stock of mobile cellular subscriptions.

AfricaCom 2013 Award winners announced:

The winners of the AfricaCom 2013 awards have been named at a glittering gala event in Cape Town.

The winners are:

Best Network Improvement
Huawei Technologies 
Huawei FMC Solution  - Huawei’s partnership with Telkom which saw a fixed line and mobile switch solution to bring Telkom up to speed in South Africa allowing it to offer fixed voice and broadband services to its customers.

Best Quality User Experience
Ericsson
Ericsson Multiscreen Self-care - This enables communication service providers to put the user in full control of their multi-screen experience and empowers the user to take charge of and maximize their user experience. The portal makes it quick and simple for subscribers to make purchases and monitor spending. It enables them to buy credit, access new services and watch spending.

Best Cost Efficiency Solution for Africa
Liquid Telecom
Liquid Telecom - the longest fibre links in Africa Connecting the continent and ensuring that millions of people now have access to communication that is also affordable as Liquid Telecom have also worked hard to keep costs down.

Rural Telecoms Award
Safaricom limited
VUMA online - Affording off-grid customers the ability to have lighting and charging for their mobile phones while paying through the easy mobile payment system of M-PESA.

Best Connectivity Solution for Africa
Seacom
Remote Peering - Enabling pan-African connectivity for small to medium operators whose growth to date has been constrained by capital expenditure and lack of infrastructure

MTN speakers gear up for AfricaCom 2013:

MTN Group Chief Commercial Officer Pieter Verkade will lead a team of MTN speakers who are expected to share insights and exchange ideas with their peers from across the world at the 16^th annual AfricaCom Conference in Cape Town next week. 

Verkade will join a panel of speakers to deliberate on“unleashing Africa’s creativity for digital consumers” on the second day of the conference, which takes place from 12-14 November at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

Other MTN speakers include Shaibu Haruna, General Manager for Sales and Customer Service at MTN Uganda, Jemima Kotei, Executive for Customer Service at MTN Ghana and Lambo Kanagaratnam, Chief Enterprise Business Officer at MTN South Africa.

Haruna will participate in a panel discussion on how mobile money strategies fit within mobile operators’ strategies, when the conference opens on 12 November. The next day, Kotei will join the Customer Experience Management panel to discuss the “do’s and don’ts of CEM strategies in Africa”. Kanagaratnam will deliver a presentation on “guaranteeing quality connectivity across the African continent” on the last day of the conference. 

MTN has been participating in the AfricaCom conference for the past seven years.

“MTN is looking to the future. And in keeping with our mission “to make our customers’ lives a whole lot brighter”, the conference is a platform for MTN to share ideas with like-minded leaders in our industry on how best we can serve the needs of our customers," says Rich Mkhondo, Executive for Group Corporate Affairs at MTN.  

The MTN exhibition stand at this year’s event will showcase some of MTN’s products and services such as MTN Mobile Money. In addition, the stand will feature the Bloodhound Super Sonic Car (Bloodhound SSC) model.

MTN partnered with Bloodhound Engineering Adventure, a company in the United Kingdom last year to support the Bloodhound SSC initiative. The Bloodhound SSC is a jet and rocket powered car which aims to break the land speed record.  Through the MTN Foundation, the partnership aims to inspire students to take up careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.