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.

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.

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

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

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'.

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.

www.comworldseries.com/wcafrica

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

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.

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

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