Issue 3 2018 CAF 3 2018 - Cover Layout 1 08/06/2018 10:25 ...€¦ · Africa Afrique Issue 3 2018 Édition 3 2018 features: Communications Mobile Satellites regular reports: Agenda

AfriqueAfricawww.communicationsafrica.com

Issue 3 2018Édition 3 2018

features: � Communications � Mobile � Satellitesregular reports: � Agenda � Solutions

BackhaulControlling the costs

Value-added servicesThe rise of news and

entertainment-based VAS

Monetising growthEffective end-to-end revenue

managementP17 - West Africa Com will take place inDakar, Senegal.

The challenges facing operators

Security risks in telecom networks

CAF 3 2018 - Cover_Layout 1 08/06/2018 10:25 Page 1

S01 CAF Issue 3 2018 Start_Layout 1 08/06/2018 11:33 Page 2

http://amos-spacecom.com/

AfriqueAfricawww.communicationsafrica.com

Issue 3 2018Édition 3 2018

features: � Communications � Mobile � Satellitesregular reports: � Agenda � Solutions

BackhaulControlling the costs

Value-added servicesThe rise of news and

entertainment-based VAS

Monetising growthEffective end-to-end revenue

managementP17 - West Africa Com will take place inDakar, Senegal.

The challenges facing operators

Security risks in telecom networks

A note from the EditorWE EXPLORE NEW opportunities andchallenges affecting Africa’scommunications sector in the latestissue. This edition focuses on the ICTindustry - including the growth of cloudcomputing in Botswana and the benefitsthis brings. Also in the ICT sphere, wehave an event-preview of the upcomingITU Telecom World show taking place inDurban, South Africa and a look atartifical intelligence, one of the topics tobe covered at the event, and how it canunlock scale and opportunity to dealwith challenges facing the sector.

Une note du rédacteurNOUS EXPLORONS DE nouvellesopportunités et défis affectant lesecteur des communications del'Afrique dans le dernier numéro.Cette édition se penchera sur lacroissance de l'informatique ennuage au Botswana. Toujours dans ledomaine des technologies del'information et de la communication,nous avons un aperçu del'événement ITU Telecom World quise tiendra à Durban, en Afrique duSud. Nous examinons égalementl'intelligence artificielle, l'un dessujets à traiter à l'UIT et la façon dontelle peut débloquer l'échelle et lesopportunités pour faire face auxinconvénients.

Agenda 4

Quotes 5

Events 8

Solutions 34

FEATURES

ICT 6New opportunities have arisen in cloud computing for Botswana as Internet penetration reaches an estimated 28 percent.

ITU Telecom World 11The global platform for high-level debate, networking, innovation-showcasing and knowledge-sharing across the ICTcommunity, taking place 10-13 September in Durban, South Africa.

Artifical Intelligence 14The rise of artifical intelligence is a direct response to the increased volume of data produced daily and within thetelco industry is expected to acceletate the evolution of network operator infrastructure.

Security 20Positive Technologies, a leading authority on telecoms security, discusses how deregulation, a vast increase inmobile operators (and MVNOs) and pressure from end users to use phones almost anywhere has led to the need tocreate exchanges.

Revenue Management 24Communication service providers are exploring new ways to grow profitability, however a new report looks at howmonetising growth, mainly in data transport and associated services - requires effective end-to-end revenuemanagement.

ARTICLES

Numérique 10La connectivité croissante des personnes, des machines et des entreprises a réformé les demandes du marché et,pour rester compétitives, les organisations doivent s'adapter en numérisant leurs processus et leurs modèlesd'affaires.

CONTENTS

www.communicationsafrica.com Communications Africa Issue 3 2018 3

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Head Office: Middle East Regional Office:Alain Charles Publishing Ltd Alain Charles Middle East FZ-LLCUniversity House Office L2-112, Loft Office 2,11-13 Lower Grosvenor Place Entrance B, PO Box 502207London SW1W 0EX, United Kingdom Dubai Media City, UAETelephone: +44 20 7834 7676 Telephone: +971 4 448 9260Fax: +44 20 7973 0076 Fax: +971 4 448 9261

Subscriptions: [email protected]: Derek FordhamPrinted by: Buxton Press Printed in: May 2018Communications Africa/Afrique is a bi-monthly magazine ISSN: 0962 3841 Serving the world of business

Editor: Hiriyti Bairu - [email protected]

Editorial and Design team: Prashant AP, Miriam Brtkova, Praveen CP, Manojkumar K, Deblina Roy,Rhonita Patnaik, Rahul Puthenveedu, Samantha Payne, Nicky Valsamakis and Louise Waters

Managing Editor: Georgia Lewis

Production: Srinidhi Chikkars, Eugenia Nelly Mendes, Infant Prakash and Rakshith ShivakumarEmail: [email protected]

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Country Representative Telephone Fax EmailIndia Tanmay Mishra +91 80 65700911 [email protected] Bola Olowo +234 8034349299 [email protected] Graham Brown +971 4 448 9260 +971 4 448 9261 [email protected] Michael Ferridge +44 20 7834 7676 +44 20 7973 0076 [email protected] Michael Tomashefsky +1 203 226 2882 +1 203 226 7447 [email protected]

20Botswana’sgovernment hassaid it iscommitted toaccelerating ICT skillsdevelopment.

10Globally, and on theAfrican continent,organisations mustembrace digitaltransformation


INTELSAT, OPERATOR OF the world’s first Globalised Network and leaderin integrated satellite solutions, announced that Uganda’sCommunications Commission (UCC) will utilise Intelsat satellite servicesand Gilat Satellite Network’s ground infrastructure to advance the roll outof 3G wireless communications infrastructure and expand high quality,affordable broadband access for businesses and communities in ruralareas of Uganda.

Under a pilot programme, the UCC will use IntelsatOne Mobile ReachSolar 3G satellite services delivered via the Intelsat 37e satellite andGilat’s SkyEdge II-c multi-application platform to provide high-quality,resilient and affordable broadband connectivity to two communities –Bufundi in Rubanda and Kibuku in Ntoroko. The improved performance,efficiency and lower total cost of ownership delivered by Intelsat 37e, thefifth of the Intelsat EpicNG satellites and one of three serving Africa, willenable Uganda to quickly extend broadband connectivity to rural areasof the country in a cost-efficient manner.

The aim of the remote connectivity project is to demonstrate the easeof deploying the satellite solution, while also looking at the commercialviability and sustainability of the solution. This will support theacceleration of the Uganda government’s broadband strategy,particularly its goal of achieving minimum broadband speeds of 3 Mbpsand coverage of 100 percent of Uganda’s rural areas by 2020.

The International Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (ITSO) isworking alongside member states to achieve the United Nation’sSustainable Development Goals by 2030 and has played a key role incoordinating efforts and bringing the private and public entities togetherto benefit the two communities in Uganda.

“Extending broadband connectivity and delivering fast, affordable Internet services to everyone in Ugandaremains one of the Uganda government’s primary missions,” said Godfrey Mutabazi, executive director of theUganda Communications Commission. “With more than 80 per cent of our population living in rural areas, thishas been a technological and budgetary challenge. With this combined effort and the innovative approach thecompanies are bringing, we believe citizens in some of our most isolated communities will experience the powerof reliable connectivity and the economic and social benefits it delivers.”

Communications Africa Issue 3 2018

AGENDA

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FRANCE'S INGENICO GROUPhas joined forces withpayments technologycompany Paycode to helpZambia roll out a biometricsystem which is used todistribute subsidies.

Under the governmentprogramme, called FarmerInput Support Programme(FISP), Zambia providesbeneficiary farmers withsubsidized fertilizer andhybrid maize seed.

Farmers enrolled in thesystem have theirfingerprints stored forauthentication and areissued an electronic wallet.“We are proud to haveserved the Ministry ofAgriculture by providingworld-class technology thatworks in the remotestenvironments. We lookforward to expanding oursolution so every Zambiancan have their money at theirfingertips,” said GabeRuhan, director of PaycodeZambia.

WHAT SEPARATES A good company and a great company? More often than not, great companies have astrong identity and a strong business culture. However, for companies with remote workers andindependent workers, that can be hard to achieve. The answer may be in the cloud.

Within the industrial sectors, oil and gas, and energy sectors, remote workers and smallindependent teams work everywhere for you. Particularly across the continents of Africa and theMiddle East, and those who are based offshore, a handful of people will be hundreds of miles away fromany of their colleagues. Of course, we have social media and promotional materials, but today, theseare less effective, with colleague engagement decreasing over time. This is why targeted advertisingusing information collected off social media and web browser can be so crucial.

Across many of the sectors I mentioned above, we use cloud technology to improveefficiencies, operational strategies and production flow. This can be done with smart flow metresin refineries, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) glasses and screens, and trackingand response apps on smartphones. But a business culture is harder to define, pin down, andquantify. In fact, many workers may not even realise that they are part of a business culture. Thoseisolated are in even more danger of losing sight of company goals and instilling business valuesand ethics into their own work.

For workers to understand what the company is trying to achieve, we can continuing to usecloud technology. In particular, we can harbour elearning resources that workers can access fromanywhere in the world with collaborative tools to engage with their other colleagues. This candriven by both management and by colleagues to both promote a business culture and to engagewith it. This can be done via a learning platform.

In practice, managers can speak to their team by recommending reading, videos, audio andother content, both produced internally and externally, to allow them to have a conversation andquestion their own business culture and education and engaged with the companies businessculture. And because this is all done via the cloud, anyone, near or far, can be part of thisconversation, galvanizing your workforce.

This is important for your workers for a number of reasons. First, a colleague exuding thecompanies ethos will sell the company positively to every client they visit. Secondly, they will be moreinvolved within the company and will feel more valued, and therefore will value their employer moreand third and finally, and probably most importantly, their complicity will increase, decreasing HSErisks, saving the company money. There are also benefits such as improving staff retention throughgrowth opportunities and the ability to ‘skill up.’

Cloud learning and communication has a number of benefits for remote workers. Its relatively lowcost and potential cost savings could be vital to efficiencies. Furthermore, the inclusive mentality anda great business culture will help with staff retention, safety complicity and transparency and agreater manager employee relationship. For many businesses, this may be the answer to manypotential issues that remote workers face. By Kestell Duxbury, Knowledge Editor, BlueBottleBiz.com

UCC will use IntelsatOne Mobile ReachSolar 3G satellite services. (Photo:Intelsat)

Creating a business culture in the cloud for the remote worker

Ingencio partnerswith Paycode

Uganda Joins Forces with Intelsat, ITSO and MTN

Cloud learning and communication offers anumber of benefits for remote workers.

www.communicationsafrica.com



QUOTES

5www.communicationsafrica.com

“The AIS puts Africaninnovators front andcentre. They are thepeople working daily toidentify Africa’s challengesand develop appropriatesolutions to create thecontinent we all want tosee in the future

- Dr. Olugbenga AdesidaCo-director AIS

“It is only by workingclosely with localgovernments,partnering with otherstakeholders throughoutthe ICT landscape andsharing our knowledge

through trainingprogrammes, that we willbe in a strong position toprovide all of Africa withhigh quality, affordablebroadband connectivity.”

-Stephen SpenglerChief executive officerIntelsat

“Coding for Employmentacceleratesinvestments in Africa’smost valuable resource –its young women and men.That’s why The RockefellerFoundation is thrilled tojoin forces with the AfricanDevelopment Bank to helpevery young African reach

their full potential

-Mamadou Biteye, OBEManaging director for Africa The Rockefeller Foundation

“Our vision is a worldin which every singleperson can freely sharein the sum of allknowledge. We believe thatknowledge belongs toeveryone, and that peoplefrom diverse backgroundsshould be empowered toparticipate in thecollaborative creation ofknowledge.”

-Katherine MaherExecutive directorWikimedia Foundation

NO ONE REALLY knows what the future holds, especially when it comes tothreatening or enhancing security around current financial services systems.More importantly, are cryptocurrencies the real deal.

OneChannel CEO Bernard Ford presented a paper titled 'Impact ofcryptocurrencies on financial services and security' at the Digitisation & CyberSecurity Conference 2018, which took place at the Indaba Hotel, Fourways,Johannesburg on 16-17 May 2018.

The conference highlighted the concerns of operating in the digital sphere,especially with financial service providers’ need to ensure network and cybersecurity systems that keep up with rapidly adapting security threats facingAfrican markets.

Financial Institutions are quick to implement digital platforms withoutaccompanying cyber security as part of their focus. Often when banks

implement digital opportunities to better assist their customers, new risksemerge and banks need to adopt intelligent risk-based approaches towardscyber security.

With a focus on the Southern African perspectives surrounding bolsteringcybersecurity frameworks, developments in combating cyber-crime and keyconcepts to building a secure and resilient cyber-ecosystem, the two-dayprogramme featured more than 15 speakers who gave delegates a run down onstrategies, challenges, developments and trends affecting cyber security inthe banking industry.

The event also included a discussion panel assessing the landscape ofcybersecurity in South Africa featuring expert panellists.

This year's conference focused on the banking industry and delegates were ableto network with other industry professionals. At the same time, they could shareand gain valuable insights into elements of cyber security, how industry is reactingto the latest developments in cyber security and discover the main threats.

The Digitisation & Cyber Security conference took place in Johannesburg,South Africa.

A paper titled 'Impact of cryptocurrencies on financial services andsecurity' was presented at the event.

Impact of cryptocurrencies on financial services and security

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: Adobes

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: Adobes

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S02 CAF Issue 3 2018 Quotes, Report BF_Layout 1 08/06/2018 12:29 Page 5

With Internet penetration hovering at an estimated 28 per cent and the number of mobile subscribers showing morethan 2,000 per cent growth from 2000 to 2011, Botswana is ideally poised to benefit from the opportunities that cloudcomputing provides.

Botswana: Poised for cloud growth

INTERNET Cloud computing

THE BOTSWANA GOVERNMENT iscommitted towards developing thecountry and looking for moreefficient and modern ways to

service its citizens.An example of this are the Public Sector

Reforms designed to usher in the digital age.Part of the government's efforts includeconsolidating services and providing modernand specialised software. This will result in abetter experience for thousands of civilservants. In turn, these workers will beempowered to deliver high quality and efficientservices that will boost the economicproductivity and competitiveness of thecountry.

In 2015, the government established the ICT,Research, Innovation Science and Technologysector committee to ensure the burgeoningeconomy has the skills in place to meetdemand in the sector. However, as with manyother countries in Africa there is still asignificant disparity when it comes to urbanand rural access to ICT services. But thanks tofibre and satellite rollouts, things are alreadychanging. In a large part, this can be attributedto an increased public and private sectorunderstanding about the importance ofproviding reliable access if the country is tocompete on a continental level.

Already, the private sector led by thefinancial services industry, retail and miningsectors in Botswana have shown a willingnessto embrace technology innovation and utilise itto build momentum in a competitivemarketplace. And then there is the Nteletsa IIprogramme (designed to increase rural accessto mobile ICTs), which, according to ResearchICT Africa, has been labelled a success inbringing about a more competitivetelecommunications environment.

With improvements made in mobileconnectivity and more people accessinginformation from their devices, the stage is setfor the country to enter the next phase of ICTdevelopment and capitalise on cloudcomputing.

Drivers for growthWith the latest generation of enterprise cloudapplications, built on high-end security

technologies and based on industry bestpractices, collaboration tools, mobile apps thatenable civil servants to take actions whereverthey are using smartphones or tablets, andembedded business intelligence withthousands of reports and dashboards out-of-the-box, the government will be able toimprove the citizen experience. This is

especially the case when it comes to accessingservices such as education, healthcare, publicsafety, justice, immigration, and many others.

Having access to online storage andbackups might seem quant in an age wheremachine-learning and augmented reality arebecoming the norm. However, they present keycornerstones of the cloud journey. In turn, thisleads to more cost-effective business

solutions, being able to access virtualisedofferings, and embracing the likes of Software-as-a-Service and Infrastructure-as-a-Service(and, more recently, Everything-as-a-Service).

Couple this with the government'scommitment to accelerating ICT skillsdevelopment, and you get an empoweringenvironment that pairs international bestpractice with the unique African way ofadopting technology to suit the specific marketconditions of a country. The Botswana story isone that is shared by so many other countrieson the continent.

We have seen that once the infrastructure isin place, the solutions and services will followaround it. An increased willingness byorganisations across industry sectors tocapitalise on the cloud will result in a morecompetitive environment.

It is also important to expose the youth tothe latest cloud technologies in the earlystages of their lives. This is where educationplays a vital role in both urban and ruralenvironments, making it critical for the countryto modernise and improve its economic andsocial competitiveness. And it is not just thegovernment that is responsible for this, but theeducational institutions themselves as well asthe private sector and even the citizens of thecountry.

Botswana, much like the rest of Africa,should be viewed as a mobile-firstenvironment. And with undersea cablescontinuing to link Africa to the rest of the world,connectivity will only improve as costs start tocome down and more people have access toICT solutions. Once the public sector can fullyembrace cloud-based services, the citizens ofthe country will have an effective way ofaccessing e-citizen services.With more private sector organisationsembracing a hybrid cloud model and peoplegetting used to accessing informationremotely, the cloud environment has shownjust some of the extent at which it can changelives. Now is the time to embrace it fully andcreate an enabling environment for businessdiversification in Botswana to grow in thedigital world. �

By Ricardo Flores

Ricardo Flores, senior regional manager of SADCApplications at Oracle

Communications Africa Issue 3 20186 www.communicationsafrica.com

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: Ora

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FRANCE'S ORANGE HAS announced that it has partnered with searchengine giant Google through the company's venture capital arm,Orange Digital Ventures (ODV), to explore investment opportunities inEurope, the Middle East and Africa.

ODV and Google will look at start-up companies in areas such asnew connectivities, IoT, cybersecurity, cloud, AI and fintech. They willalso look to invest in companies with new business models in theMiddle East and Africa.

Large legacy companies are increasingly looking to invest in up andcoming products and businesses in areas such as IoT and AI, which areexpected to see fast growth in coming years.

“We are very proud to announce this partnership which will enablestart-ups supported by Orange Digital Ventures to explore potential co-investment opportunities with Google. Through this partnership, we standto reinforce Orange Digital Ventures’ "Smart Money" value-proposition byoffering entrepreneurs with whom we work much more than justfinancing," said Stéphane Richard, CEO of Orange.

"We are delighted to support Orange's ecosystem of start-ups andinnovation and to explore alongside them opportunities for co-investmentin Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Orange's ecosystem isconsistent with Google's know-how and our ability to accelerate the growthof start-ups. This partnership is a way to enhance our collectivecontribution to innovation in this region," said Carlo d'Asaro Biondo, EMEApresident of Google Partnerships.


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DIGITAL NIRVANA, A global provider of smart media monitoringand measurement solutions, announces its participation atthe upcoming AMEC, International Association forMeasurement and Evaluation of Communication, GlobalSummit. Digital Nirvana is a Summit Silver Sponsor for theAMEC Global Summit, which takes place in Barcelona, Spainfrom 12-14 June. Key emphasis of the media measurementconference will be on the 3 I’s; Insights, Innovation, andIntegration driving the future of the industry.

“For the past two decades, Digital Nirvana has beenproviding business management solutions for an increasinglymedia-centric world,” said Hiren Hindocha, CEO of DigitalNirvana. “Our solutions enable more efficient workflows forbroadcasters and content creators all over the world. TheAMEC Summit is helping to drive the trends of themeasurement industry, and we’re looking forward to being apart of the event again this year.”

Digital Nirvana will demonstrate its media monitoring andmeasurement services portfolio at the AMEC Summit, whichincludes media monitoring, media analysis and coding,broadcast logging and summary alerts, transcription, andmedia content management. Other services offered by thecompany include investment research services as well aslearning management solutions.

According to Vinay Kumar, EVP & Business head of digitalNirvana, “AI is not a replacement to human, but an enabler.

Our media monitoring and analysis team has gainedmeasurement expertise working with various mediacorporations. We have the experience of covering over 5,000corporate globally across 65+ industry verticals. We havehelped small, mid, and large media monitoring andmeasurement companies provide superior quality service totheir corporate customers and significantly optimized theiroperational expenditure. We have also helped in eliminatingwastage in the media intelligence industry by optimizingduplication of monitoring efforts.”

Now in it’s 10th year running, AMEC is the growing globaltrade body and professional institute for agencies andpractitioners who provide media evaluation andcommunication research.

Google will work together with Orange Digital Ventures toexplore potential co-investment opportunities.

Digital Nirvana showcases service offering for Insights-As-A-Serviceprovider at AMEC Global Summit

WORLD TELECOM LABS (WTL) today announced that it can now provideelectricity to villages in rural Africa. Vivada Wholesale (Village Voice andData), WTL’s multi-award winning ‘Coverage-as-a-Service’ system forbuilding wholesale networks in rural Africa. Vivada can now be poweredby solar in off-grid villages and areas with unreliable grid suppliers, addedWTL. Villagers will benefit from being able to charge devices such asphones and powerboxes at the Vivada installation. WTL has strengthenedits position as the company with the best commercially viable andsustainable system for building networks in rural villages in emergingmarkets by winning multiple awards including the Best ConnectivitySolution category at the AfricaCom awards, the Best African Projectcategory at the annual Global Carrier Awards and the Best TechnologyDeployment category at the Capacity Africa Awards.

Vivada Wholesale was developed so that wholesale carriers can buildlow OPEX, low-CAPEX networks in rural areas for use by multipleoperators. The networks support all types of pre and post-paid customerswith varying telecoms budgets including GSM for every type of handset;Wi-Fi connectivity for smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs - andconnectivity to cybercafes and hotspot call cabins.

Leigh Smith, MD of WTL, said “We have consistently been ahead of thecurve with Vivada. It provides a complete solution for wholesale carriersto build a rural network – and can now be powered by solar with excesselectricity shared with villagers.”

WTL is now working with wholesale operators in five countries in Africato build rural networks. The company said believes that the removal of theCAPEX cost of building a rural network will encourage previously reluctantoperators to start offering services in these areas.Vivada includes a microGSM and/or LTE base station, wifi routers, backhaul optimisation, billingand provisioning software, VoIP compression switches and SMS servers.The entire system runs on less than 200W which can be supplied by solarwith battery back-up.

CLOUD INTEGRATION IS quicklybecoming one of 2018’s topsoftware trends, according toAndrea Tucker, BusinessApplications Head (R&D) at e4. Sheargues that developing dataintegration is proving to be a ‘must-have’ for cloud-focused enterprisesand service providers. There is auniversal understanding that themore a software system isintegrated, the better it functions,and it is on this basis that datastrategies need to be developed.

Gartner, in its ‘Magic Quadrant forEnterprise Integration Platform as aService’ report, discusses the rise ofiPaaS (integration Platform as aService) and its boost in marketshare within the data integrationsector. “It essentially negates theneed for any hardware or softwareneeded between applications. Byapplying an iPaaS approach, thesystem and company becomes moreagile and highly scalable, says Tucker.

Integrating data for cloud-focused businesses

Orange, Google seek joint investments WTL to provide electricity to rural Africa


AMEC will take place Barcelona,Spain from 12-14 June.

Photo: Wikimedia

Photo: Adobe Stock



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JUNE/JUIN11-15 CeBIT Hannover, Germany https://www.cebit.de/en/expo/

11-13 Wire & Cable Guangzho Guangzhou, China http://www.wire-cable-china.com

11-17 London Tech Week London, UK http://www.londontechweek.com

12-14 ANGA COM Cologne, Germany http://www.angacom.de

26-28 Broadcast Asia Suntec, Singapore http://www.broadcast-asia.com

27-28 Smart Cities Global Summit Algiers, Algeria http://www.smartcityalgiers.com

27-29 Smart Tech Korea Seoul, Korea http://www.smarttechshow.co.kr/

JULY/JULLIET10-11 West AfricaCom Dakar, Senegal https://tmt.knect365.com/west-africa-com/

AUGUST/AOÛT21-25 BIRTV Beijng Beijing, China http://www.birtv.com/

29- 1 Sept Tairos Taipei, Taiwan https://www.tairos.tw/en/

SEPTEMBER/SEPTEMBRE13-18 ITU Telecom World Durban, South Africa https://telecomworld.itu.int/2018-event/

13-18 IBC 2018 Amsterdam, The Netherlands https://www.ibc.org/

23-25 Critical Communications MENA 2018 Dubai, UAE http://www.critical-communications-world.com

Events/Événements 2018


AFROBYTES, TO BE held in MEDEF Paris from 7-8 June 2018, will discuss the latesttrends in African tech industry, challenges and opportunities in Africa’s digitalecosystem and future potentials for the African start-ups in all sectors of theglobal tech world.

As Africa is continuously emerging as a global trendsetter in revitalising techenthusiasts across the world, the event is expected to unlock vast opportunitiesavailable in the continent in all fields of digitalisation such as big data, artificialintelligence, cryptocurrency, medtech, fintech, m-payments, blockchain, virtualreality and more.

Entrepreneurs, business executives, CEOs, academics, innovators, investors,venture capitalists, tech enthusiasts and media from across the world will explorebusiness opportunities between the African tech ecosystem and players in theglobal tech world during the event.

Haweya Mohamed, managing director and head of communications atAfrobytes, said that the event aims to find the starting point of the African digitalgrowth curve. It will allow the companies to address emergence and digitalempowerment in Africa and provide with a vibrant framework for sponsors,speakers and attendees to connect, network and explore new businesspossibilities.

The event will also highlight the role of African women, who are at thefrontline of education, agriculture, health and so on, in creating successful“problem solving” skills required for technological up scaling, said Mohamed.

Latest tech topicsSome of the major technical points of discussion during the event will be:• The rise of African tech industry• Emerging technological trends in Africa• Mobile economy in Africa• Exploring the intersection of fashion and technology• Unlocking the potential of young African entrepreneurs

Some of the African tech industry leaders for Afrobytes 2018 are Ebele Okobi,public policy director for Africa, Facebook, the UK, Larry Madowo, business editor

at BBC Africa, Kenya, Njoki Gichinga, senior strategic partnership and businessdevelopment specialist at Safaricom, Kenya, Max Song, blockchain investor,advisor and researcher at Hkdaia, Hong Kong, Jean-Sébastien Decaux, CEO atAfrica-Israel / CEO Southern Europe, Belgium and Luxemburg, Jcdecaux, France,Adama Bari Diallo, Next Billion Users, head of business development for AfricaGoogle, the UK, Robert Greenfield, global social impact technical lead atConsensys, the USA, Tunde Ladipo, head of partnership at Stellar.org, Kenya, ViolaLlewellyn, co-founder and president at Ovamba Solutions, the USA / Cameroon,Okendo Lewis-Gayle, founder at Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance, the USA, AdeAdefeko, vice-president corporate and government relations at OlamInternational, Nigeria and many more.

Afrobytes 2018 is set to:• Increase brand recognition and stand out as a market leader among other

major industry stakeholders• Reach and network with a highly targeted international and African audience• Support young emerging professionals who will play key roles in the futureof African Tech

Bridging African tech industry with international tech ecosystem

The event will highlightemerging technological

trends that are reshapingAfrica’s digital market.

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Nigerian diaspora have an exciting opportunity to invest their money in farms back home via Farmcrowdy, a new onlinefinancial platform that aims helping to boost the £30bn agricultural sector in Nigeria.

Bringing Nigerian farmers and investorstogether online

TECHNOLOGYAgriculture

THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT isreferring to agriculture as the "newoil" and companies, such asFarmcrowdy, are taking advantage of

this new opportunity.The company's ethos is to simply bring

farmers and investors, so-called sponsors,together through the use of digital technology.Whereas in the past, investment intoagricultural projects may have gone amiss forone reason or another, stemming either frommistrust or dishonesty between partiesinvolved, Farmcrowdy is offering sponsors atransparent system through a mobile phoneapp where investors can see first-hand howtheir investment on a farm is progressingthroughout the cycle.

It is a win-win situation all round. When theyield is sold at harvest, the sponsor receivestheir original investment plus 40 per cent of theprofit while the farmer and Farmcrowdyreceives 40 per cent and 20 per centrespectively.

The main farms currently in operation acrossthe nine states in Nigeria are producing rice,cassava, poultry and maize. Already thecompany has registered 7,000 farmers since itslaunch in 2016 and aims to increase thatnumber to at least 50,000 by 2020. To reachthis goal, however, it wants more of theNigerian diaspora living across the world,notably the UK, US and UAE to become asponsor, especially those who have a passionfor agriculture and want to make a socio-economic impact in their communities backhome. To date, the Farmcrowdy platform hasamassed more than 1,000 sponsors and totalinvestments from Nigeria and its diaspora, nowreaches in excess of £1.62mn with a growingnumber of sponsors in the UK.

Sola Oyawale, VP investment and corporategovernance at Farmcrowdy, which hasheadquarters in Lagos, said he was upbeatabout the level of response he had receivedfrom some potential Nigerian investors basedin the UK. He said, "Nigerians understand howdominant the agricultural market is in thecountry, but there hasn’t been a reliable routeto market, in terms of sourcing farmers andmaking/receiving payments. This is thechallenge Farmcrowdy has set out to conquerand we’ve recorded some strong interestalready, not only from sponsors in Nigeria, butalso from the diaspora. Some people have a

genuine passion to create an impact in theircountry while others have a renewedenthusiasm for agriculture and the potential forachieving strong returns on investment.

"What makes our business different to otheragri-tech firms is that we are more sensitive tothe concerns of the farmers and wanting tomake their lives better."

Tope Omotolani, VP Operations and co-founder, and her team of specialist agents onthe ground look after 3,000 farmers in Nigeria.She said, "Rural farmers contribute the largestamount of food crops that are grown inNigeria’s economy, yet they have the leastamount of resources to cultivate important foodcrops. In order to increase food production inNigeria, we have set a goal to work with 50,000farmers by the year 2020. This is no small goalby any means but we also understand that theimpact these would create in the lives of thefarmers, their community and in the country asa whole would be remarkable."

She said the company is working hard toequip the farmer as much as it can so that theirpassion for farming will continue for years to come.

"One of our incentives is that we pay thefarmer to work on his farm so they don't have towait until the end of the cycle." She continued."We also partner with a range of companies tohelp the farmers. ASTC, for example, providestractor services for our project in Jos and a teamfrom Notore works with farmers and advisesthem about the type fertiliser that should beapplied. We also help them to sell their cropsfor a better price rather than just selling cropsfor their family to survive."

Farmers have already seen the positiveeconomic difference that Farmcrowdy hasmade to their lives.

Omotolani added, "One of our farmers toldus that she was able to put some money asideto be able to go back to school, so that for meit was a testimony that would not havehappened without our intervention."

Farmer Dayo Adeoye said, "Farmcrowdy hasmade things easy for farmers and has helpedincrease our production by 50 per cent. I likethe flexibility, transparency and integrity. Theyare also open to feedback and make necessarychanges. I am already recommendingFarmcrowdy to people and I will continue to do so."

Meanwhile, tractor manufacturer, JohnDeere and Alluvial have also boosted farmers'confidence in Nigeria after agreeing to lease upto 300 tractors to at least 100,000 farmers inthe Niger Delta region. The scheme will helpturn subsistence farming into a commercialbusiness by allowing farmers to rent tractors to plough and harvest the land at acompetitive rate.

Dimieari Von Kemedi, the founder ofAlluvial, told the Financial Times, "This deal isproviding mechanisation to smallholderswithout them having to invest in tractorthemselves. This could be an example not justfor Nigeria, but for all of Africa."

With such developments taking place, itlooks as if the future in agriculture in Nigerialooks very bright indeed. �

For more information on Farmcrowdy visitwww.farmcrowdy.com

Rural farmers contribute the largest amount of food cropsthat are grown in Nigeria’s economy.

Communications Africa Issue 3 2018 9www.communicationsafrica.com

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Vos employés sont indispensables à la réussite devotre processus de transformation.

La transformation numérique impose unevision organisationnelle claire

NUMÉRIQUE Stimuler l'innovation

LA QUESTION DE la transformationnumérique n’est pas nouvelle ; engénéral, elle est liée aux grandestendances technologiques à venir,

comme le cloud computing, la mobilité, lesBig Data, l’intelligence artificielle (IA)l’Internet des objets (IdO), la robotique et lesplates-formes sociales. Il est évident que laconnectivité grandissante entre lespersonnes, les machines et les entreprises amodifié les demandes du marché, et lesorganisations doivent, pour préserver leurcompétitivité, s’adapter en numérisant leursprocédures et leurs modèles d’entreprise.Selon Mandla Mbonambi, le PDG fondateurd’Africonology, la transformation numériqueouvre de nombreux horizons de croissance etde développement dans le reste de l’Afrique.

« Les organisations doivent adopter unenouvelle méthode pour tenir les promesses deleur marque, en garantissant un engagementefficace des clients, en déclenchant des modesde réflexion totalement nouveaux et enpermettant à l’entreprise de prendre desdécisions bien informées collectivement »,précise-t-il. « La transformation numériquen’est plus facultative. Dans le monde entier, etsur le continent africain, les organisationsdoivent adopter la transformation numériquepour dynamiser l’innovation et favoriser desprogrès continus qui se traduiront au final parune croissance de l’entreprise. »

Selon M. Mbonambi, cette transformationest particulièrement importante pour lesorganisations africaines car elle permet depénétrer sur des marchés nouveaux,d’atteindre des bases de clients nouvelles etde trouver d’autres moyens de fournir desproduits et services adaptés aux demandesdes marchés. « Par ailleurs, les organisationsafricaines ont besoin de la transformationnumérique pour stimuler leur profitabilité,améliorer la satisfaction de leurs clients etaccélérer la commercialisation de leursproduits tout en partant à la conquête denouveaux marchés ouverts au sein de la

diaspora africaine et au-delà. Cela étant dit,seule une vision organisationnelle claire peutgarantir une transformation numérique efficaceet rentable. »

Pour améliorer la compétitivité desorganisations africaines à l’échelleinternationale, celles-ci doivent tout d’abordredéfinir leurs stratégies et leurs modèlesd’entreprise afin qu’ils soient valables dans lecontexte commercial actuel et sur les marchéssur lesquels elles opèrent. « Ensuite, ellesdoivent identifier la technologie qui convient àla stratégie qu’elles ont établie par rapport àleurs produits et services, puis exploiter cettetechnologie pour renforcer leurs capacitésd’innovation et de flexibilité aussi bien auniveau des produits et services offerts qu’auniveau de la méthode employée pour livrer cesproduits par les différents canaux numériques,» précise-t-il.

« Pour réussir sa transformation numérique,une organisation doit également cesser des’appuyer sur une technologie autonome etadopter des solutions qui lui permettront deresponsabiliser ses employés et de les aider àprendre plus rapidement des décisions mieuxinformées et plus efficaces, » indique M.Mbonambi. « Nous ne pouvons pas modifierles volumes de données qui nous parviennent,mais nous pouvons améliorer la capacité denos employés à exploiter ces données et à lestransformer rapidement et avec précision eninformations pour venir appuyer le processusdécisionnel. Bien que la transformationnumérique soit en général décidée auxéchelons supérieurs de l’organisation, il estprimordial d’impliquer vos employés tout au

long du processus. Il est donc nécessaire demodifier les mentalités et les formations afinqu’ils acceptent le modèle d’entrepriserepensé et un programme de gestion enprofondeur du changement étant donné que laculture de l’organisation sera égalementaffectée. »

On ne saurait insister suffisamment sur lesrisques liés à une absence de transformationou à l’obligation de se transformercorrectement. « Si les organisations retardentleur transformation numérique ou ne setransforment pas du tout, elles pourraient êtreévincées par la concurrence, ce qui entraîneraune perte de parts de marché, de revenus et,dans le pire des cas, une faillite, » selon M.Mbonambi. « Au sein de cet environnement oùl’amélioration et l’innovation constantes sontindispensables pour garder une longueurd’avance, il est simplement impossible deprendre un tel risque. Plusieurs organisationsont déjà fait faillite ces dernières années carelles n’ont pas réagi assez vite ou n’ont pasréagi du tout. »

Il précise qu’il ne s’agit pas de crier au loup,mais plutôt de souligner la nécessité deprocéder à une transformation stratégique ethiérarchisée. « Nous savons que lesorganisations qui ne veulent pas changerrisquent d’être dépassées ou de mettre la clésous la porte. Il faut veiller à embarquerl’organisation toute entière dans le processusde transformation. Ainsi, l’organisation pourradéployer le plein potentiel de ses produits etservices, tout en saisissant l’occasion d’attirerde nouvelles bases de clients au fil de leurévolution, » déclare M. Mbonambi. �

La transformation numérique présentede nombreuses nouvelles opportunités

de croissance et d'expansion dans lereste de l'Afrique.

Les organisations africaines ont besoin d'unetransformation numérique pour stimuler la rentabilité, la

satisfaction de la clientèle et accélérer la mise sur lemarché ainsi que l'entrée sans frontières dans de nouveaux

marchés au sein de la diaspora africaine et au-delà.


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EVENTSITU


Creativity and innovation have driven human development throughout the course ofhistory. From agriculture to industry to the information age, revolutionary innovations intechnology have marked major leaps forward in the development of our societies.

Innovation for a smarter world: ITUTelecom World 2018

AS THE PACE oft e c h n o l o g i c a linnovation increases,the gaps between

those revolutions reduce, so thattoday, just ten years after thearrival of the smart phone, we arealready on the cusp of the nextmajor leap: the smart revolution.

Two aspects of the smartrevolution stand out assignificantly different. It providesthe possibility for less developedmarkets and nations to leapfrog indevelopmental terms, not just toleap forward. And the creativityand innovation driving it will notonly be human.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is oneof the great enablers of smartsociety. AI is a blend of advancedanalytical and machine learningapplications which can performprocesses or actions that wouldtraditionally require humanintelligence – and at an oftengreatly accelerated pace. The usecases and benefits of AI aremultiple, varied - and developingrapidly, with tremendous potentialto serve purposes and providesolutions to problems we are notyet aware of, in ways we cannotyet imagine.

One key aspect is AI’s ability toswiftly and effectively analyse theever-increasing wealth of sensordata available as the growingpower and falling costs ofcomputing provides for muchfaster and richer data analysis.Practical outcomes includeidentifying and treating disease,accelerating financial andmachine to machine transactions,enhancing public safety, andimproving city services, fromprovision of utilities to driverlesspublic transport and citymanagement. The aim is to saveenergy, time and lives through AI-enabled smart solutions.

AI will not be working alone,

however. The data it feeds from isset to grow exponentially involume as the Internet of Thingscontinues to connect billions ofsensors and devices to eachother, to the Internet and tohumans. As the IoT develops andrefines, it opens the door toinnovation across all verticalsectors, including health, media,transport and energy – andmanufacturing, as the paradox ofpersonalised mass productionincreasingly becomes a reality.Innovation needs new tools tothrive, and 5G software-definednetworks promise a rich playingfield for creative minds. Theexponential increases inbandwidth, speed, reliability andflexibility offered by 5G will createa powerful critical infrastructurecapable of providing solutions tothe economic, social and

environmental needs of anexpanding and increasinglyurbanised global population.

Our smarter world will beenabled by these three keytechnological developments, inparallel and in overlap: AI, IoT and5G. Three acronyms drivinginnovation, with the potential todrive human development at agreater speed and with greaterimpact than ever before. Indeveloping markets and nationsin particular, smart can power theleapfrog effect, bypassing earlierstages of development, takingvillages in Asia or Africa straightfrom no connectivity to 3G or 4Gnetworks, from no access toeducation or health to world-classprofessionals available online,providing entry to the knowledgeeconomy for the millions ofdigitally disenfranchised.

ITU Telecom World 2018 will explore developments in the ICT industry and the drive towards a smart digital world.

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Our smarter world will be enabled by these three key technologicaldevelopments, in parallel and in overlap: AI, IoT and 5G.


But for innovation to flourish, itneeds to work in a supportive andpositive environment. And forinnovation to be fair, it – and theservices, applications andproducts it ultimately produces –must be open to all. Providingmodern and fit-for-purposeregulatory frameworks as far aspossible throughout the world oftech is critical to the success ofsmart innovation.

Taking ideas to scale andmaximising impact can onlyhappen with internationalstandardisation. Privacy, security,trust and reliability are all hugeissues when discussing ordealing with data as the life bloodof innovative products andservices. And the debate onethical and regulatory frameworksfor AI has only just begun. Makinga smarter world for all, not just forthe elite minority, is an evengreater, multi-faceted challenge.It starts, of course, withconnectivity for all as a basichuman right. Just providingaccess to the internet and thebenefits of the services,applications and knowledge itoffers, is not enough, however -

even if this can be done ataffordable prices, with availabledevices. There is an urgent needto create awareness of, anddemand for, the internet; toprovide apps and services in locallanguages, with local contextsand the needs of localcommunities at the forefront; andto train, educate and develop theskills to use the internet and bringwhole new populations andgenerations online, releasinguntapped human potential forinnovation across the world.

Exploring the innovations intechnology, policy, and strategythat are driving a smarter world –and the challenges we face ingetting there - is at the heart of ITUTelecom World 2018. The leadingtech event for governments, largebusinesses and SMEs, it is

organized each year by ITU, theUN’s key agency for ICT matters.This year’s event will be held at theDurban International ConferenceCentre, Durban, South Africa, from10 – 13 September, 2018.

The event features aninternational exhibition of techsolutions and projects, a world-class forum of interactive, expert-led debates, a networkingprogramme connectingorganizations, individuals andideas, and an acclaimed Awardsprogramme recognisinginnovative ICT-based solutionswith real social impact.

As an important regionalcommercial hub with a diverse,multicultural outlook and adynamic, growing economy,Durban offers an invaluableperspective as a venue for experts

and leaders from public andprivate sectors around the world.And given ITU’s key role inallocating spectrum andestablishing internationalconsensus on industry standards,as well as supporting the criticalrole of ICTs and smarttechnologies in meeting the UN’sSustainable Development Goals,the event is certain to provideinformed, interesting and valuableinput on the power of innovationto drive a smarter world.

ITU’s authority and expertiseenable it to convene a uniqueand influential global audience.Heads of state and governmentwill come together withministers, regulators, leadingindustry CEOs from major playersand SMEs, organizations,associations and consultants. Asa UN event, it delivers a trulyinternational perspective oninnovation in technology, policyand regulation from emergingand developed markets from allaround the world.

Visit telecomworld.itu.int tofind out more ITU Telecom World2018 and how to take part inDurban this September. �


EVENTS ITU

ITU Telecom World 2018 will take place in Durban, South Africa in September.

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As an important regional commercial hubwith a diverse, multicultural outlook and a

dynamic, growing economy, Durban offers aninvaluable perspective as a venue for

experts and leaders from public and privatesectors around the world.




http://telecomworld.itu.int/

Artificial intelligence, AI, is the next big technology to have entered mainstream consciousness. The growth ofautonomous driving and the popularity of smart speaker systems such as Alexa or Google Home – AI is everywhere.

The AI moment: preparing for therevolution

EVENTS Artifical intelligence

AND IT’S COMING for ourjobs, white collar andblue, threateningmassive social and

economic upheaval. But what is AI really? Why has it

suddenly become so popular?Why is everyone so excited aboutits tremendous potential? Will itreally replace humans – andshould we welcome it with openarms, or fear for its impact?

Far from being an omnipotent,autonomous robot, AI is at heartsimply a machine programmed tomake sense of data on a scalehumans can’t deal with. It is theking of the algorithm, a machinelearning from its own experiences,objective-oriented and highlyintelligent, producing logicalconclusions based on input. Aspart of the digital technologyconnecting people, things andmachines on a big data platform,it has the potential to enablesolutions saving time, energy and

lives, opening up opportunities asyet undreamt of. And it is still in itsinfancy in its real worlddeployment.

The use of AI is growingdramatically right now in responseto extraordinary increases in theamount of data produced daily, aspowerful computing has becomeavailable at lower costs. Humansalone simply cannot process thecomplexity and ongoing volume ofdata from people, devices,sensors and machines. Inparallel, there is a growingawareness of the tremendouspotential of AI technologies tosolve problems across all industrysectors and the entire spectrum ofhuman life.

AI can unlock scale andopportunity to deal with the grandchallenges facing the world today,from ageing populations tosustainable urban living, accessto food, healthcare, water andeducation, reducing poverty and

increasing gender equality.Physical AI will be able to freehumans from mundane, routinetasks, allowing them toconcentrate on more important,higher-end work, releasingcreative potential.

In emerging markets and smartcities alike, AI can help overcomenatural limitations to growth suchas geographic size or lack ofnatural resources, creating newmarkets and new value, ratherthan merely improving on existingmodels.

Improvements on currentmodels will, however, be wherethe power of AI is first felt, in itspromise of enormous costsavings, increased productivity,lower production cycles andimproved back end or internalprocesses. Within the telcoindustry itself, AI will acceleratethe evolution of network operatorinfrastructure into intelligentnetworks able to offer smarter,It is predicted that up to 75 per cent of all jobs will be impacted by AI over the

next ten years.

The use of AI is growing dramatically right now in response to extraordinaryincreases in the amount of data produced daily.

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AI can unlock scale and opportunity to dealwith the grand challenges facing the worldtoday, from ageing populations tosustainable urban living.


S04 CAF Issue 3 2018 West Africa Com_Layout 1 08/06/2018 11:52 Page 14

Communications Africa Issue 3 2018 15

EVENTSArtifical intelligence

faster and more scalable services.Using the engine of big data, AIwill enable multiple, diverse andoften sector-specific demands tobe met through highly-tailorednetwork slices managed in realtime.

In the financial services sector,for example, AI can reduce thehundreds of thousands of hoursneeded to carry out regulatorycompliance to a matter ofseconds; or the time, effort andinvestment necessary for amortgage to a few minutes. Newfinancial services may includemass market personalisedservices, opening an enormousmarket of lower earners, ormicrofinancing for the unbanked.In call centres across a range ofindustries, AI can work eitheralongside humans analysingcomplex data sets in parallel tothe human customer-facingcontact, or take calls as a co-worker as far as possible beforepassing on to human expertise.

In all cases, AI is a tool toaugment human abilities ratherthan replace them. And it is onlyas good as the person inputtinginformation and parameters intoits system.

This is one of the principalchallenges: ensuring that AI isprovided with initial information ina way that does not reflect andperpetuate inherent bias,unconscious or not. It is critical tobe aware of, and work to avoid,replication of existing divides andinequalities: on gender, race,geography, the urban/rural split,access to education, investmentin infrastructure, the availability oftalent, the provision of adequatecyber security. Without action, AIwill prolong or deepen thesedivides. There is a very real dangerthat the powerful impact ofalgorithms actuated by AI willremain limited to the developedworld due to a lack ofinfrastructure, advancednetworks, open data or datascientists.

Providing open public data andopen APIs to allow privatecompanies and individual

developers to create solutions forpublic and commercial services iskey to democratising AI – and fast-tracking its deployment.Accessing large data sets in theecosystem to improve quality oflife must be balanced against dataprotection, privacy and securityissues.

Preparation in general – andeducation - is critical. Theinternational community,government, businesses andindividuals should be as ready aspossible for the seismic changesthat the widespread adoption anddeployment of AI will bring with it.

The big one, of course, is thetransformation of the existinglabour market. It is estimated thatup to 75 per cent of all jobs will beimpacted by AI over the next tenyears – and these will not just beroutine, low-skilled jobs, but alsotraditional blue collar sectors suchas journalism, law or financialservices. Productivity and revenueshould rise as costs are cut, butthe societal disruption will beenormous.

AI is often invisible, raisingissues of transparency andaccountability. It is itself a neutral

tool, without morality, but theethics of its use are complex.Establishing codes of conduct andsocial norms as the first step toany regulation is urgentlynecessary at intergovernmental,international level. Regulation –as well as the standardisationnecessary for it to function in amulti-vendor ecosystemenvironment - is furthercomplicated by AI’s inherentstructure as an active machine,learning in real time with real data.

AI is here – and growing fast.There is an increasingly urgentneed to bring together keystakeholders from government,industry and academia to debateits impact on a neutral platformsuch as ITU Telecom World 2018,the leading tech event organisedby ITU, the UN lead agency forICTs. Making AI democratic, fairand equitable is a challenge thatcannot be met by any one singlestakeholder.

Experts at ITU Telecom World2017 last year felt that its first usecases and greatest impact wouldbe economic rather than social: AIwill go where the money is, or canbe made. In some sectors, if you

are not yet using AI, you are twoyears behind the curve. But thesize of the opportunity is so great,the potential so huge, that it is farfrom too late.

The potential negative effectsof AI include social and economicdisruption, in particular in the job market; the deepening of inequality; the danger ofinherent bias; major issues oftransparency, security andaccountability; the lack of aninternationally-agreed ethicalcode. Now is the time forcontingency plans, for preparationand education throughoutgovernments, industries andsocieties.

There is downside, after all, toboth deploying AI and notdeploying it.

AI will be a key component of discussions at ITU Telecom World 2018 in Durban, South Africa, 10 -13September, providing the diverseperspectives of internationalexperts from government,industry, SMEs and academia. �

Find out more athttp://telecomworld.itu.int/

AI can unlock scale and opportunity to deal with challenges facing the world such as healthcare.

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AI is a tool to augment human abilities rather than replace them.And it is only as good as the person inputting information and

parameters into its system.



It’s well known in the logistics and supply chain game that the last mile of a shipment’s journey is inevitably the mostexpensive – possibly accounting for more than 50 per cent of total delivery costs, according to a 2016 report byMcKinsey.

Building a better supply chain in Africa

LOGISTICS Data

IT’S WELL KNOWN in thelogistics and supply chaingame that the last mile of ashipment’s journey is

inevitably the most expensive –possibly accounting for morethan 50 per cent of total deliverycosts, according to a 2016 reportby McKinsey.

Now imagine that last mile is inAfrica. It may very well be a pot-holed dirt road, set in the middleof one of the continent’s manyinformal, low income areas, whereeven a ballpark guesstimate ofconsumer demand is incrediblyhard to come by. Many companiesare already pushing their productsinto these emerging markets, yetmost experience expensive blindspots in understanding exactlywho they are reaching and wheretheir markets lie. This lack oftransparency can see distributionoperations sink to new lows whenit comes to supply chaininefficiency.

While companies expend muchtime, energy and resources infinding better ways to reduceexcess inventory and maintaindesirable stock turnover,understanding and managingdemand remains a problem.Refining the supply chain to itsmost effective form is an ongoingchallenge for logisticspractitioners, and in today’shyper-competitive and globalisedbusiness landscape, finding a wayto do so will likely mean thedifference between success andfailure for many businesses.

And yet, despite these costlyfrustrations, there’s hardly aglobal business (especially in theretail and FMCG sectors) thatdoesn’t have at least one eyecautiously trained on thecontinent and its fast-risingpotential. Africa already has morecities of more than one millionpeople than North America does,

and despite widespread poverty,spending power on the continentis in the midst of a rapid rise thatcan’t be ignored by theinternational businesscommunity. Africa is home to1.1bn people and will account forone-fifth of the world’s populationby 2025. Critically, more and morecitizens are entering the consumerclass, with tens of millions onlyrecently emerging from povertyand flexing their discretionaryincome for the first time.

But how do the Unilevers andProcter & Gambles of this worldmitigate the challenges oflogistics in Africa? How do theyassess the size of a certaincatchment area, which productsare in high demand, and howmuch people are willing to pay?How do they ensure that just theright amount of that product isdelivered to the rightcommunities, at the right times,and at the right prices, to make amove into Africa worth their while?It all comes down to having asmuch consumer and retailer dataas possible – and that’s anotherarea where most of Africa presentsa tangled conundrum.

With the exception of SouthAfrica (whose citizens purchasearound 75 per cent of theirgroceries from supermarkets),most retail throughout thecontinent is informal. Tradingoccurs at kiosks and in communitymarkets with precious littlecomputing power to gather thepoint-of-sale and stock-controlinformation that is so essential toan efficient supply chain. Ourexperience working on thecontinent has taught us that it is acombination of traditional andalternate data collection thatcreates the most completeconsumer picture.

What can you tell about apopulation by analysing a photo

taken from space? If you knowwhat you’re looking for, plenty.Satellite imagery is one of the dataforms that has the most to offerregarding informal areas. Levels ofnight-time illumination, roadaccess, traffic patterns, buildingdensity, and even the materialsused to roof the houses in aparticular area, can all formvaluable pieces of the consumerpuzzle – and help businessesmore accurately paint a picture oftheir potential customers. Viewedin combination with traditionalhousehold survey methods, aswell as some digital input in theform of access to mobile phonesand online spending behaviours,the picture becomes clearer still.Fed into machine learning modelsas a series of data layers,previously unnoticed associations,patterns and trends begin toemerge, all of which can be used toensure speed, accuracy andefficient use of resources along theentire length of a globalised supplychain. This is especially useful asboth traditional and digital retailcontinue to boom on thecontinent.

Africa’s historic legacy oflimited or incomplete consumerdata has often temptedorganisations into making do withmarket research based only on theinhabitants of its largest cities, buta more granular view is needed ifmarkets are to be carved upaccurately – and to maximumprofit for international businesses.Disparate languages and cultures,poor infrastructure, widespreadinequality, and a rapidlyexpanding middle class meansthat data needs to be sharp andrefined down to the squarekilometre if the supply chain isever to be fully optimised. Allbusinesses need to do so is toknow where to look – and what tolook out for. �



EVENTS

With consumers and enterprises embracing new digital innovations toboost business, West Africa Com is all set to make sense of how thetelco value chain can leverage its assets to deliver low costbroadband connectivity and digital services across West Africa.

Exploring WestAfrica's digitalecosystem

West Africa Com

AS THE CALL for connecting West Africato a new digital market increases,investment into telecom, broadbandinfrastructure and related sectors are

on a rapid pace, with major players racing forposition to meet this rising demand for dataacross the region.

This has led to the creation of mergers,acquisitions, IPOs, investment and financingactivity, to expand broadband connectivity aswell as new digital market trends to developinfrastructures and services that will connectWest Africans to the digital economy. Asbroadband becomes much more reliable andcost-effective, West Africa continues to adaptnew and advanced infrastructure facilities tohave access to a fast Internet service, allowingindividuals and families to use opportunitiesthat are not otherwise possible.

In light of this and in order to addresschallenges and opportunities in digitaleconomy sector in West Africa, Informa PLC,is going to organise West Africa Com in Dakarfrom 10-11 July 2018. The event will discussincreasing trends towards embracing digitaleconomy in the region and also play a vitalrole in bridging the digital divide among theWest African nations to achieve sustainabledevelop agenda.

Creating a Sustainable Digital InfrastructureWest Africa Com aims to make sense of howthe telco value chain can leverage its assetsto deliver low cost broadband connectivityand digital services to the consumers andenterprises of West Africa.

The event is all set to bring togetherindustry leaders across Francophone and

Anglophone Technology, Media andTelecoms, all focused on bridging the digitaldivide and boosting their bottom line. It isdesigned to enable operator attendees todevelop their commercial strategies,technical operations and consumer facingbusinesses across all segments of the ever-evolving digital ecosystem.

As the decision in IT infrastructure thatcustomers make can greatly impact businessefficiencies, security and value addedservices, the CIO strategy content in the event will equip the businesses to makethese critical decisions smarter and faster,said the organiser.

Hot New TopicsStrategic insights into the latest TMT trendswill enable the visitors and businesses toidentify new opportunities and stay aheadof the game.

Some of the up-to-the-minute trends inglobal digital market will be the centre ofattraction during the event. These include

driving innovation and entrepreneurship inWest Africa’s digital sector, the fintechrevolution, impact of cloud-based servicesto transform enterprises across the region,building regulatory frameworks toaccelerate digital transformation and manymore.

Furthermore, the event will also focus onthe cybersecurity challenges as networkintegration and cloud services transformenterprise, financing fibre backbone andother new infrastructure projects,developing an effective know your customer(KYC) strategy etc.

Some of the speakers attending the eventinclude: Bitilokho NDIAYE, technical advisor at Ministry of Posts andTelecommunications in the Republic ofSenegal, Amadou Makhtar Fall, generalmanager and head of economic regulation,products and services, compliance at AirtelAfrica, Souleymane Diallo, CEO of ATEL Mali,Sasha Rubel Diamanka, regional advisor forcommunication and information at UNESCO,Sam Koranteng, senior manager, regulatoryand compliance at MTN Ghana, Malick Sylla,head of service quality monitoring andoperators at telecommunications and postalregulatory agency (ARTP) and many more.

Speaking ahead of the event, KhadimRassoul Diop, field operation director atExpresso Senegal, said, “As a telecomoperator, it’ll be very beneficial for us to getinvolved with the local vendors as we havedone in Speed Networking. Presenting andworking with the providers in the telecomfield will help us to continuously keep theconnection between the companies.” �

There is an increasing trend in WestAfrican businesses adopting digital

infrastructure.

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Fintech revolution, impactof cloud-based services to

transform enterprisesacross the region and

building regulatoryframeworks to acceleratedigital transformation will

be centre of attraction



A leading communications services and solutions provider, Liquid Telecom is activeacross 13 countries in eastern, central and southern Africa that serves carrier, enterpriseand retail customers with high-speed, reliable connectivity and digital services.

ETL Systems reduces signal loss for Liquid Telecom teleports

EQUIPMENT Satellites

LIQUID TELECOM HAS builtAfrica’s largest independentfibre network, spanningmore than 50,000 km, and

operates state-of-the-art datacentres in Johannesburg, CapeTown and Nairobi, with a combined6,800 sq m of rack space. This is inaddition to delivering leadingcloud-based services, such asMicrosoft Office365 and MicrosoftAzure, and innovative digitalcontent provision, including Netflix,NBA, TED and Kwese Play. Throughthis combined offering, LiquidTelecom is enhancing customers’experience on their digital journey.

Liquid Telecom has continued toinvest and innovate in satelliteservices to complement its fibrenetwork, ensuring it utilises thelatest satellite technology in orderto deliver a seamless and high-speed service to all of itscustomers.

The challenge of signal lossLiquid Telecom was challengedwith cross-site signal loss over longdistances within its two earthstation facilities at Teraco andKrugersdorp in Johannesburg. Witha high priority on quality, it wasnaturally keen to implement signallinks with resilience and reliability,ultimately ensuring the feeddelivered to consumers was thebest it could be.

VSAT hubs supporting 2500+remote terminalsAt Teraco, Johannesburg, LiquidTelecom’s teleport is being used tosupport more than 2,500 remoteVSAT terminals. The hub isproviding Africa to Africaconnectivity, delivering muchneeded broadband connections toconsumers across the region. Witha distance of 80 metres betweenthe teleport cabin and thetransmitting antenna locations, the

potential for signal loss was high.

Kwese TVAlso at Teraco, Liquid Telecom’steleport is downlinking broadcastcontent for contribution to KweseTV, Africa’s first truly convergedmedia company. Kwese TV isdisrupting the African TV industry,providing affordable, premiumcontent to the globally connectedAfrican viewer. Ensuring a goodquality feed at all times wasextremely important for thisteleport, giving African consumersan uninterrupted viewingexperience.

The African gateway to Intelsat EPICAt Liquid Telecom’s wholly ownedand operated teleport inKrugersdorp, Johannesburg, thisfacility is providing the Africangateway to the Intelsat EPICsatellite IS33e. Intelsat EPICsatellite is a next generationsatellite technology that delivershigh-performance connectivity.

Liquid Telecom contacted ETLSystems, whom they have a long-standing relationship with, todiscuss their StingRay RF over Fibresolutions. After consultation todiscuss key requirements andspecifications, Liquid Telecomimplemented 24 links across theirtwo sites. A selection of indoor andoutdoor chassis were installed,with the added resilience of 1+1redundancy for uplinks anddownlinks.

Keeping Africa connected: the outcomeThe deployment of the ETL SystemsStingRay units resulted in higherquality, resilient signal links andprovided uninterrupted broadcastsfor African consumers.

The versatility of the StingRay RFover Fibre allowed it to be used in a

multitude of applications withLiquid Telecom, providing apremium service to its customersregardless of weather, powerfailures or other issues.

Tom Gleaves, group head ofsatellite engineering, LiquidTelecom, said: “We’re extremelysatisfied with the adaptability ofETL’s Stingray products, signal

performance is exceptional overmultiple implementations acrossour teleports. Whether transportingMF-TDMA or DVBS-2X the featuresavailable mean easy setup andoptimised transmission lines. Withthe reassurance of direct access toa responsive support team who arecontinually improving theirproducts.”�

ETL Systems is working alongside Liquid Telecom to implementsatellite equipment to reduce signal loss in Africa.

Photo

: Liquid Teleco

m


S05 CAF Issue 3 2018 Report 02_Layout 1 08/06/2018 12:04 Page 18

For a third year running, Africa Tech Summit London provided insight, networking andbusiness opportunities for African and international technology leaders and investorswho want to drive growth in Africa.

Africa Tech Summit: Unlocking investment opportunities

EVENTSAfrica Tech Summit

FOR A THIRD year running Africa TechSummit London (ATSL) providedinsight, networking and businessopportunities for African and

international technology leaders andinvestors who want to drive growth in Africa.The summit launched in 2016 to shareglobally the growth in the tech ecosystemacross Africa. The vision for the first AfricaTech Summit London was simply to bringtogether these great companies andinitiatives across the continent and connectthem with international ventures, investorsand entrepreneurs who were truly focused onbusiness and investment in Africa.

This year’s event, held at Grange St. Paul’sHotel, explored the latest trends, connectingmore than 250 key stakholders from across thecontinent through keynotes, breakout sessionsand networking events. ATSL welcomed a hostof speakers from MTN, YouTube, Ecobank,Draper Dark Flow, TPG Africa, Iroko, EchoVC,Ventures Platform, Uprise Africa, Cairo Angels,Kato Global, Yego Moto, Techpoint Nigeria,aKoma, Hope Tec Plus, Redsand Partners, HiveColab and many more.

One of the speakers at the event wasKaranvir Singh, CEO and MD of YegoInnovision, which has rolled out a cashlesstransport service called YegoMoto in Rwandadesigned to address the challenges, which waslaunched in Kigali.

630 Moto Taxis were fitted with a rugged,waterproof and dust proof Yegomoto Meter.

The Meters are constantly connected to theYegomoto cloud-based IoT Platform, whichmonitors and controls the entire ecosystem. Inthe first four months Yegomoto delivered42,382 trips and covered 1,591,659 km.

Besides bringing ease and transparency tothe moto taxi experience by providing haggle-free rides and facilitating cashless payments,Yegomoto will revolutionise m-commerce byutilising Moto Taxis as a comprehensivelogistics network to deliver goods, services andpassengers at their doorstep.

A slideshow presentation from Dr. EdwardGeorge, country head UK representative office& head of group research at Ecobank exploredhow blockchain can transform the continent.He explained that blockchain is a type ofdistributed ledger technology. In thepresentation he noted that by design theblockchain cannot be hacked. Howeverexchanges that hold cryptos in e-wallets andtransact them can be hacked - and have beenrepeatedly. According to George, since 2014more than US$1.4bn worth of cryptos havebeen stolen from exchanges by hackers,including Coincheck, MT.Gox and BitGrail.

He also looked at Know Your Customer(KYC) and digital identity on the blockchain.Ghana has introduced ‘Inclusive ID’, a singleidentity verification API that connectsunbanked Africans to the global economy andenables digital KYC AML compliance.

Bitrika, the latest FDI Digital Currencycreated by Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of

Bitcoin Digital Currency and BlockchainTechnology, has a pilot project in Ethiopia tocreate digital identifies for first-time Internetand e-commerce users, safeguarding theirpersonal data digitally on the blockchain.

The event also welecomed a new launch byNigeria-based firm VConnect. The provider ofan online platform that allows users to hirelocal professionals for all service needs is nowlaunching into Ghana with VConnect Ghana.Speaking to Africa Tech Summit organisers,VConnect founder Deepanker Rustagi said:“We are rolling out VConnect platform inGhana. This has really helped as in scaling up -we have enabled users from Ghana to addbusinesses and grow the platform VConnect.So the key is the platform will now be availablein more Anglophone countries, and to startwith we are rolling it out in Ghana.

The Africa Tech Summit was an opportunityto discuss opportunities and challenges,Michael Simeon, CEO of payment processingcompany Vogue Pay told Africa Tech Summitorganisers. He said: “I feel like it’s a bigopportunity for all the African focusedtechnology companies to gather together,share ideas, celebrate our successes anddiscuss our challenges.” �

By Hiriyti Bairu

The next summit will be held in Kigali, Rwanda14-15 February 2019. For more information visithttps://www.africatechsummit.com/kigali/

Africa Tech Summit took place atGrange St Paul’s Hotel in London.



Once there were very few telecoms networks and hacking into them was nearlyimpossible. Today neither situation applies. A major player* in security solutions explainswhat that means for the mobile networks of today – and tomorrow.

Taking on the hackers

SOLUTIONS Security

INITIALLY TELECOMS NETWORKS wereclosed, ring-fenced networks – very largetelcos just talking to each other. Themove to IP this century was necessary for

cost and efficiency reasons but it brought thenetwork’s SS7 protocol – used to pass callsbetween networks – into an IP network,where it was much more exposed.

Then, as Jimmy Jones, sales engineer –telecoms, with Positive Technologies, a leadingauthority on telecoms security, explains,deregulation, a vast increase in mobileoperators (and MVNOs) and pressure from endusers to use phones almost anywhere, led tothe need to create exchanges. Thus, saysJones, “the protocols are on IP. There are alsohubs. If you access those IP exchanges – thosehubs – you've got access to potentially everymobile operator in the world. That – and theinherent lack of security in SS7 – is the reasonthat the whole industry has changed.”

It’s the hubs that criminals usually attackfrom, often by mimicking a roamingconnection. If the operator doesn’t spot thethreat the hacker has a number of options. Firstthey try to understand a device’s ID. Jones says:“There’s something called an IMSI[International Mobile Subscriber Identity]; onceyou have that you have access to a mobilephone or device. From that I can craft differentattacks – gather all your locations, interceptyour SMSs or calls and so forth.”

That information may then be used or soldon the dark web to criminals who can craftmore complex attacks. Alternatively,interception can be allied to a so-called

phishing attack, which tricks subscribers intorevealing their bank account details. Then, if abank sends an SMS authentication for moneytransfer and if that SMS can be hijacked, thehacker can simply transfer money to his or heraccount. Another profitable trick, where ajurisdiction permits premium rate numbers,involves the hacker forwarding a call to one ofhis or her own high-rate numbers andpocketing the money.

And those are only a few of the optionsopen to attackers. Luckily, says Jones,operators have invested, in firewalls and SMShome routing equipment “and that hasimproved security”. But every network isdifferent, with different mixtures of subscriberofferings, so it's still possible to circumventthose defences. When it comes to threatlevels, one of Positive Technologies’sspecialities, “We’ve always found something.The levels are going down, but there’s stillwork to be done.”

The point is, he says, that “there’s no silverbullet. You can’t just go and buy device X and itwill secure your network.” His company offers amonitoring product that allows an operator tosee exactly what’s going on in its network andbudget accordingly. For a smaller outlay anoperator can purchase an assessment thatgives operators a clear view of exactly wherethey’re vulnerable.

Positive Technologies can then help with thenext steps – such as blocking functions. Or itcan simply offer recommendations after anassessment. “We’ve discovered that over athird of all the problems we find are just

configurational issues, so thoserecommendations are normally able to clear athird of the issues we find just by getting one ofthe guys within the network to change asetting,” says Jones. He adds: “Ourrecommendation isn’t “Buy PositiveTechnologies equipment”; it’s particular advicefor that particular operator.”

Different regions have different securityproblems, he adds. Africa’s big money transferbusiness that could appeal to hackers. “We’retalking to a lot of operators there and they’retaking [security] very seriously – particularlythe large multi-nationals. I think it’ll besomewhere we’ll be looking to grow ourbusiness a lot in the future.”

Meanwhile the global threat is, if anything,likely to grow. Take IoT. “Everything that has aSIM is potentially vulnerable and a lot of thoseSIMs are on 2G; they’re quite easy to attack. Ifthat IoT device is monitoring the pressure of apipe or the heat in a furnace in some factorysomewhere and I’m able to corrupt that andtake that off line then potentially the problemscould be disastrous.”

Still, as a company that works in bothtelecoms and industrial cyber-securityPositive Technologies may be betterequipped than most to take on the IoThackers of the future. �

*Positive Technologies is a leading globalprovider of enterprise security solutions forvulnerability and compliance management,incident and threat analysis, and applicationprotection. https: www.ptsecurity.com/ww-en/

Criminals usually attack telecomnetworks from hubs, often by

mimicking a roaming connection.

Photo

: Adobe sto

ck




http://www.africanreview.com/

Good governance has been identified as a cross-cutting issue and powerful enabler of the development agenda in theworld. There has been a paradigm shift with governments realising the importance of e-government as a strong tool forresponsive governance.

The adoption of e-government in Zambia

INTERNET E-government


ZAMBIA HAS ‘JUMPED onthe bandwagon’ with theprog

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