Africom telecoms expo kicks off

The 10 fastest growing mobile businesses in Africa managed to add over 35 million subscriptions over the last year, with three countries dominating the chart: Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa.

Top 10 operators in Africa

Nigeria's Globacom is the continent's leader with just under 6 million new customers despite the presence on the market of strong players MTN, which reached 3rd position in the chart with 4.4 million new customers, and Celtel, which reaches 10th position with 2 million. In Egypt, Mobinil is winning the race against Vodafone with 4.67 million additional subscribers, putting the company in 2nd position on the continent's chart. With 3.9 million new subscribers, Vodafone still reaches 4th position.

Egypt's market is becoming even more competitive, and next year's results will be interesting following the entry of Etisalat, which only launched this spring.

In South Africa, traditionally the continent's market leader, Vodacom is leading the pack in 5th position with 3.5 million new subscribers. MTN SA, its nearest competitor, reaches 7th position with 2.85 million.

The fourth country in the list is Kenya, with Safaricom in 6th position with just over 3 million additional subscriptions. The last two companies making the chart are operating in more mature markets: Maroc Telecom with 2.79 million connections in 8th position, and Orascom Algeria, in 9th position with just over 2 million.

African expansion

Meanwhile, the top six telecommunication solutions providers have signed 28 lucrative contracts between them in Africa and the Middle East in the first half of 2007. Ericsson took the top spot, having won eight in the period, each in a different country. Huawei, which shared the top spot with Ericsson in 2H06, was in second place in 1H07, with five contracts, in the Central African Republic, Egypt, Morocco, Rwanda and Uganda. Alcatel-Lucent shared second place in 1H07, with five contracts in three countries: Botswana, Kenya and Nigeria. Lifetree Convergence was in fourth place, with contracts to provide billing systems for MTN in four countries: Cameroon, Rwanda, Swaziland and Uganda. Motorola and ZTE tied for fifth place, with three contracts each.

Such impressive numbers shows that demand of telecommunications services is strong, and that a healthy competition in Africa's market is facilitating the development of communications services. Indeed, the markets most represented in the list are regulated by an independent authority whose objectives are to create the conditions for an efficient market. However, there is still a strong, unfulfilled demand in most of Africa for not only voice telephony but also broadband access. This market is yet to boom, and international cooperation on the continent is necessary to facilitate it, both to improve international connectivity and to share best practices in the deployment of new networks and services.

GSM>3G conferences

That is why Africa's telecommunications community is gathering at AfricaCom, which is part of the renowned GSM>3G World Series. This year sees the 10 year celebration of successful events with the inauguration of a new format, which will bring together the whole telecommunications value chain: from mobile (GSM and CDMA) to fixed-line operators, internet service providers, satellite operators, regulators, investors and telecommunications solutions providers.

The conference will include over 70 speakers, of which 23 board-level representatives of operators and regulators from across the continent. With high level strategic keynote sessions, followed by 3 targeted streams on each day, the programme is designed to provide participants with a unique learning experience. This year's show is expected to attract an audience of over 3000 participants to create great networking opportunities and maximise the exchange of best practice in the development of the continent's communications market. In addition, the larger than ever exhibition will include 180 companies showing their latest solutions for operators to improve their businesses.

Conference speakers include:
• Moez Daya, CEO – Africa, Zain (formerly MTC Group)
• Tim Lowry, VP for Southern and Eastern Africa, MTN Group, and Managing Director, MTN South Africa
• Marc Rennard, EVP of International for Africa, Middle East & Asia, France Telecom Group
• Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid, Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU
• Michael Joseph, CEO, Safaricom, Kenya
• Dr Nizar Dalloul, Chairman & CEO, Comium Group
• Alieu Conteh, Chairman, Vodacom Congo
• Paul Edwards, Chairman, Starcomms, Nigeria
• Engr Ernest Ndukwe, Chief Executive, Nigerian Communications Commission
• Chris Lundh, CEO, Rwanda Terracom
• Paris Mashile, Director General, ICASA, South Africa
• And representatives of international telecom solutions providers such as: Alcatel-Lucent, Amdocs, Bercut, Detecon, Ericsson, Gateway, Gemalto, HP, Huawei, Intelsat, Nokia Siemens Networks, Oberthur, Premium Ideas, Qualcomm, Redknee, Sicap, Telesoft, ZTE

The event is supported by the GSM Association, the African CDMA Forum, the World Wide Web Consortium, the Open Mobile Alliance and the Global Mobile Suppliers Association.

For more information, visit: www.gsm-3gworldseries.com/africa