6 Jan 2012

Tunisiana's new CEO Ken Campbell to be a keynote speaker at North Africa Com

Ken Campbell took his new role as CEO of Tunisia's leading mobile operator Tunisiana in December 2011. He is no stranger to the company, as he was Commercial Director in 2003 before taking positions at Vodafone Romania, Bite group and Wind Mobile. His expertise in customer experience management was praised by Tunisiana's owners Qtel, and he said he was excited about the opportunities there, given the company has just bought a fixed-line provider and the country is undergoing dramatic changes.
Mr Campbell will join the Leadership Summit in the opening keynote session at North Africa Com, where he will share Tunisiana's strategic objectives, particularly on adapting to changing market conditions. The session will also benefit from the perspective of Michel Monzani, Senior VP for Orange's Middle East and North Africa Operations.

5 Jan 2012

Samsung Electronics confirmed as one of the leading sponsors at AfricaCom 2012

Samsung Electronics has confirmed it will be a sponsor at AfricaCom 2012. Africa's leading teleocms, media and ICT event will take place in Cape Town, South Africa on 14th and 15th November.
Samsung Electronics is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2010 consolidated sales of US$135.8 billion. Employing approximately 190,500 people in 206 offices across 68 countries, the company consists of nine independently operated business units: Visual Display, Mobile Communications, Telecommunication Systems, Digital Appliances, IT Solutions, Digital Imaging, Memory, System LSI and LCD. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, semiconductor chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs.
At AfricaCom, Samsung Electronics will give a keynote presentation in the LTE and Mobile Broadband stream.

4 Jan 2012

Regulatory panel at North Africa Com to include Tunisiana and Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI)

The conference programme of the 2012 North Africa Com event is currently being confirmed. It will be fully announced early next month, but here's a preview of what it will include.
The overall theme of the event will be 'Transformation and Innovation for a New Dawn in Digital Communications', including the role of regulation in supporting the market's development. Two speakers have already confirmed their participation, representing opposite sides of the debate: the operator's point of view with Mohamed Abbes, Regulatory Affairs Manager at Tunisia's leading mobile operator Tunisiana, and on the regulator side Moez Chakchouk, CEO of the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI).The session will look at the different regulatory environments and authorities around the region, how operators and investors can encourage governments to create helpful regulatory climates, and methods for controlling the competitive market while advocating growth and network expansion. Other panellists to be confirmed will include representatives of operators and of telecommunications regulatory authorities from across the region.
The conference programme will include contributions from leaders of the region's telecoms, media and ICT, including Orange, Vodafone Egypt, Tunisiana, Etisalat and more.

Predicting a 2012 Full of Opportunities in Emerging Markets Telecoms, Media & ICT

2011 was a busy year for telecoms, media and ICT in emerging markets, where the full strength of the global economic storm did not completely blast away growth - especially in mobile markets.

For 2012 the telecoms, media and ICT world will continue to change quickly. Whilst economic outlooks remain bleak for many global markets, emerging markets are likely continue to successfully tread water. There are positive signs of stabilisation in many African states, with vendors building new offices here with the hope of winning early business. Even though they will avoid the main brunt of the global economic gloom, it is likely there won't be excessive risk taking in emerging markets. Cost control has always been a necessity for those working in low ARPU markets, and so 2012 will see a continued focus on increasing productivity. But it is clear that a strategy of purely surviving and doing more with less will not be good enough for those looking to claim meaningful market share.

Many businesses will be aiming for business transformation, and this will be based on the following priorities: driving the consumption of ICT, mobile/cloud technologies and social networking, and improved analytics for existing technology/services. These priorities, where completed successfully, are game changers and the foundation for innovating and transforming business models for success. Another tactic occurring among global ICT players (like IBM, SAP, and Oracle) is that they are using acquisition strategies in order to grow in the mobile, cloud, and social software and IT-services markets. With this strategy and natural market developments, the competition for market share and users will carry on growing.

Cloud will certainly shake up traditional offerings and the next 12 to 18 months will show how innovation created by new and existing local ICT companies will compete with global legacy IT vendors.

In the world of VAS any new telecoms/ICT services will need thorough business plans for medium to longterm ROI before launching.

All in all it's looking to be an exciting year! And our team is certainly looking forward to the challenge of addressing these market developments and catering for the peer to peer and B2B learning and networking. Don't miss our global series or you may just miss out....