[AfricaCom 2013] Day one

13 Nov 2013

The 16th annual AfricaCom conference kicked off yesterday, 12 November 2013, at the CTICC. Here are just a few of the highlights from the opening day.

The keynote panel, discussing where revenues will come from next, consisted of Brett St Clair, head of new products sub-Sahara, Google South Africa; Romeo Kumalo, COO: International Business, Vodacom Group; Anthony Masunga, CEO of Botswana Telecommunications Corporation; Jose Dos Santos, CCO, Cell C; and Marc Rennard, EVP, Africa, Middle East & Asia, Orange Group and was moderated by Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx.

Highlights

Cost efficient networks
The keynote session highlighted the requirement for increased investment in the networks, to cope with the data explosion. The cost-efficient networks stream identified strategies for increasing the quality of the network to the highest standard without excessive spend.
Delegates in the stream focussed in how to reduce capex and opex in a data hungry environment.
Entrepreneurs Incubator Hub
"All entrepreneurs need support and we need to drive education as a basis for fostering entrepreneurs, this is as, if not more, important that financing for an entrepreneur." This is the message offered by the incubator, investment and start-up experts who shared their insight at today's Entrepreneurs' Incubator Hub at AfricaCom.
Mobile Money
Mobile Money at AfricaCom focussed on what exactly mobile money is and should be, offering a tentative conclusion that "Mobile money is emotional - it should be quick and easy, turning each individual into an agent, into an ATM". The debate also covered interoperability and customer service, as well as regulation and cross-border transactions.
Digital Music Africa
A highlight of the Digital Music stream was the opening panel featuring AfriCori, Spice Africa, Etisalat, X5 Music Group and Warner Music. Moderated by editor-in-chief of Rolling Stone magazine Miles Keylock, panellists debated the level of piracy in the industry, and the revenue split between the key parties in the ecosystem. Is there enough transparency? Is the value add from the labels clear? Do the labels take too big a share of the revenue? Over 120 attendees enjoyed the debate and networking at the first Digital Music Africa event.
AfricApps
The first day of this year's AfricApps has been focussed on the impact of mobile advertising and marketing, assessing how this is changing the consumer experience. Central to this is the innovation of major brands with a key case study coming from Andre de Wet, general manager of Price Check.
AfricaCast
The multiplatform focus day brought fantastic insights into the VOD and OTT opportunities that are growing in the African sub-continent. Central to this has been the rise of two new OTT platforms in sub-Saharan Africa Buni TV, and iROKOtv. The two CEOs of these global innovators presented their findings at the show.
With Cloud taking centre stage in many AfricaCom meetings this year, the dedicated Cloud @ AfricaCom stream is bound to attract interest from Africa's telcos looking to increase their revenues through Cloud services.