ETHIOPIA: The Innovation Africa Digital Summit, one of Africa's largest ICT gatherings kicks off in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Summit aims to promote digital connectivity across the African continent.

Record ID: 644002

  • Title: ETHIOPIA: The Innovation Africa Digital Summit, one of Africa's largest ICT gatherings kicks off in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Summit aims to promote digital connectivity across the African continent.
  • Date: 28th March 2012
  • Summary: LOME, TOGO (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE USING MOBILE PHONES
  • Embargoed: 12th April 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ethiopia, Ethiopia
  • Country: Ethiopia
  • Topics: Business,Communications,Technology
  • Reuters ID: LVAGSSN0GMJIGWZD5IRCJP2C501
  • Story Text: Smart phones and connectivity infrastructure topped discussions at a gathering of communication technology experts and industry heads meeting to strategise Africa's growth in ICT.
    The Innovations Africa and Digital Summit kicked off in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa on Tuesday (March 27), which in its 10th year is billed as one of the continent's largest ICT gatherings.
    Africa is the fastest growing mobile market in the world and will be home to 738 million handsets by the end of this year, according to a survey by industry body GSMA.
    The rise of smartphones has also given millions of African internet access for the first time.
    "We are of the view that in order to unleash Africa's potential special attention needs to be paid to innovation and particularly ICT innovation," said Aida Opoku-Mensah, from the UN Economic Commission for Africa.
    Samsung said last week it planned to double its share of the sub-Saharan smartphone market, seeing some of its biggest opportunities on the continent from a rising demand for cheaper smartphones.
    But the hunger for the interest in the latest technologies is not lost on Africa either. Young tech-savvy bloggers and social website buffs across the continent are creating a market for even higher level IT devices like ipads and digital notebooks -- downloading and even creating new apps that hold their own internationally.
    "I think globally it is recognised now that Africa is a huge resource centre not just for physical resources like minerals but also intellectual resources, people resources," said Mark Sear chief data scientist at EMC2, who was at the meeting.
    The GSMA, which represents mobile operators last year urged African governments to give more spectrum to mobile services, saying the current allocations were much less than Europe, the Americas and Asia -- a factor it said was stopping mobile coverage getting to rural areas.
    MTN CEO, Sifiso Dabengwa said infrastructure was the biggest challenge in Africa. MTN has over 150 million subscribers in 21 countries across Africa and the Middle East.
    "I think getting infrastructure into the ground is probably the biggest challenge that we face. This is to get back hole from the cable systems but then also cross border linkages. You know up until recently, you know to actually get a call from some parts of Africa to another part you have to go via Europe but hopefully that's reducing," Dabengwa told journalists.
    Summit host, Ethiopia is currently constructing an ICT park at a cost of 45 million US dollars known as Technopolis that is expected to attract investment and stimulate growth in ICT in the region.
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