Finnish technology companies view Africa as fertile soil

10 Nov 2016

Eight Finnish technology companies are joining AfricaCom 2016 in Cape Town, South Africa on November 15 - 17, 2016, through Finnish trade promotion agency Finpro's 'Connectivity from Finland' program. The purpose of their visit is to connect with potential clients and present their offering, to eventually form beneficial and value-adding business relationships.

Finnish technology companies view Africa as fertile soil for future business thanks to considerable mobile communications investments throughout the continent. The expertise of the Finnish tech companies is well suited to answer the current needs of African telecom operators.

Finland is known for its long history and track record in telecommunications innovation. After the success of Nokia, Finnish telecom businesses have introduced several new technologies and digital services to the global market.

“Finland is one of the world’s leading developers of new mobile communications technology, but Finnish companies also have plenty of know-how in existing telecom technologies. The companies we are bringing along have plenty of specialised expertise to offer to several promising markets in Africa,” says Kimmo Aura, Finpro’s Connectivity from Finland program director.

Joining AfricaCom, are network performance and data transfer optimisation specialists Creanord, Exomi and Cumucore, software companies JL-Soft, Methics and Pajat Solutions, as well as data roaming specialist Uros and operator platform developer Tecnotree.

The participating companies offer a versatile selection of future proof technologies for the digitalised world. They enable operators to improve their operational efficiency and come up with new business models and offerings, which in turn benefit end-users and boost their customer satisfaction.

New investments generate new needs

Emerging foreign interest in the African telecom sector stems largely from sizeable mobile communications development projects happening throughout the continent. The mobile markets in South Africa and Kenya, for example, are already highly developed, but reliable data transfer capabilities will become increasingly crucial in the future as mobile Internet access grows more commonplace.

“Faced by the challenge of increasing mobile internet use, operators are striving to find new ways to make the most of their existing network infrastructure in order to support the future growth of data traffic. This calls for new ways of monetising data traffic as well as improving the capacity of existing networks,” Aura says.

“Finnish telecom expertise covers the entire operator value chain from core and access network solutions to value adding services and applications.”

Connectivity from Finland has had a strong focus on Africa since its start in 2015, and it has previously organised similar trade missions to select African markets.