AfricaCom Awards 2018 finalists

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According to Tom Cuthell, portfolio director at KNect365, organiser of AfricaCom and the AfricaCom Awards: “The AfricaCom Awards grow in stature each year as a direct result of the quality of the works that are submitted for consideration. The ever-evolving digital ecosphere has led to some exceptional innovation in the sector, which in turn has advanced Africa’s own digital revolution.

“It gives us great pleasure as organisers of AfricaCom and the Awards, to acknowledge those who are truly connecting the continent.”

The nominees, in no particular order, are:

Best Network Improvement

• Liquid Telecom - Completion of the Cape to Cairo fibre route
• Parallel Wireless - Enabling cost-effective 2G/3G/4G to bridge the digital divide in Africa
• Orange - MOSAÏC
• Ericsson & MTN Rwanda - The Best Performing Networks with MTN Rwanda
• Huawei Technologies - Africa 1st Lampsite Pro network
• Mauritius Telecom - Single RAN Implementation

Delivering Excellence in Customer Experience

• Huawei Technologies - Customer Experience Management (CEM) for Ghana
• Keyrus & Dassault Systemes - OmniFlow
• Nokia and MTN CEM - MTN Nigeria Deploys Nokia’s Software to Deliver a Superior Subscriber Experience
• Orange - One Customer One Offer
• Secure-D powered by Upstream - Secure-D
• Mahindra Comviva - iPACS Unified CRM and Sales and Distribution products and the MobiLytix Campaign Management and Digital Care

Fintech Innovation Award

• Econet Wireless (Cassava Fintech) and Mahindra Comviva - EcoCash Merchant Payments powered by mobiquity Money
• Famoco - Famoco QR Payment Gateway

Most Innovative use of AI Technology

• Huawei Technologies - Huawei PowerStar
• ETIYA - ETIYA Customer Service Management
• Ericsson and Orange Botswana - MATE Automation rule for Topological Correlation for Orange Botswana
• Simfony - Immediate IoT Infrastructure

Most Innovative Service

• Orange - Rural Electrification
• Ericsson - Ericsson Weather Data- Casting Rainfall
• Huawei Technologies - Huawei’s WTTx Solution
• Mauritius Telecom with Huawei - The Next Generation 4K IPTV Service
• Orange - M-VACCIN
• Orange - Orange School
• BRCK - Moja WiFi

Changing Lives Award

• Ericsson and  Wot-if? Trust - eHUB Diepsloot South Africa
• MTN & HUAWEI - RuralStar - Connecting the Unconnected
• Econet Wireless (Cassava Fintech) and Mahindra Comviva - EcoCash powered by mobiquity Money
• Liquid Telecom -  Pan-African Innovation Partnership Programme
• Famoco - Famoco digital wallets to transform Development Aid in Emerging Markets
• Spreadtrum Communications (Shanghai) Co.,Ltd. - SC7731E
• Orange - Orange School
• MTN Uganda, Intelsat and ITSO – Mobile Reach Solar 3G

IoT Product Service of the Year

• Yego Innovision Limited - Yegomoto
• SqwidNet - IoT Product or Service of the Year
• Orange - Smart Metering
• Orange - X-Agri
• UROS - UROS Smart Water Cycle
• Tata Communications - Tata Communications MOVE

Best Innovation in Digital Entertainment Solution

• Kwesé iflix - Best Innovation in Digital Entertainment
• Kwesé Play Limited - Kwesé Play (Roku Powered)
• Mauritius Telecom & Huawei - The Next Generation 4K IPTV Service
• Telecoming - Zaplium

Other Awards that form part of the 2018 line-up include:

AfricaCom Enterprise CXO of the Year Awards – public vote that recognises the outstanding achievements of CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, CDOs and others in driving innovation within the African enterprise space.

The AfricaCom CXO of the Year Award - recognises the outstanding achievements of CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, CDOs and others in driving development across telecommunications and technology in 'Digital Africa'.

Orange Social Venture Prize. The AfricaCom Awards will also see the Orange Social Venture Prize awarded to a winning innovative project based on ICT which improves the living conditions of people in Africa and the Middle East in fields such as education, healthcare, farming, mobile payments or sustainable development.

Supported by founding awards sponsor, PCCW Global, the awards will be held on 14 November at The Lookout in Granger Bay, Cape Town. ‘Mardi Gras’ is the theme for this year’s celebrations (it is also AfricaCom’s 21^st birthday), so guests are invited to dress accordingly to add to the festive occasion. Those registered delegates and visitors not participating in the Awards, can still take advantage of the festive spirit by attending the free after party.

AfricaCom 2018 will bring together 14 000 attendees, 450 speakers and 400 exhibitors showcasing technologies and solutions covering everything from 5G, AI, IoT, Fintech, Blockchain and beyond, with a host of new content and exciting developments.

AfricaCom is part of the Connecting Africa series of events that expose delegates, the media and the savvy, to the latest advancements and opportunities in technology and the digital ecosystem. Taking place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) from 13 - 15 November 2018, AfricaCom is now in its 21st year and Africa’s largest technology, media and telecommunications conference & exhibition.

The conference programme covers the most strategic issues affecting companies in Africa’s digital market - services, efficiency, profitability, customer experience, partnerships, policy and more – and features several co-located events: 5G Africa, Africa Video Forum, The AI Summit Cape Town, IoT World Africa and Mission Critical Technologies Africa.