AFRICA TELECOM 98 was opened by President Nelson Mandela on Monday 4 May 1998. The event was hailed as a triumph by many of Africa’s leaders.

20,000 Attend the AFRICA TELECOM 98 Exhibition
The Exhibition at AFRICA TELECOM 98 was more than twice as big as that at the previous AFRICA TELECOM, and attracted nearly 20,000 telecommunications professionals, who came to see the latest technology on display from 443 exhibitors from the telecommunications, information technology and audio-visual entertainment fields. Industry leaders at the highest level, from ambassadors and government ministers, to the CEOs of the front-ranked market players, participated, along with some of the most respected industry analysts and commentators. All of Africa’s 55 countries were represented on a Pan-African Renaissance stand.

Standing Room Only at the AFRICA TELECOM 98 Forum
The Forum at AFRICA TELECOM 98 was especially well attended, with standing room only available at some sessions such as those concerned with financing, regulation, and technology and women – a session which was opened by Mary Robinson, the United Nations’ Commissioner for Human Rights, speaking live via videoconference from New York. Altogether more than a thousand people attended the Forum, which encompassed a Strategies and a Technology Summit, billed together under the single theme Strategies for Sustainable Development. The Forum was a milestone event for ITU TELECOM, in that it was telecast to Africa and around the world on the Internet.

A TELECOM Development Symposium was also organized, in conjunction with the Forum, which brought 92 telecommunications specialists from 46 countries to AFRICA TELECOM 98 on a fellowship to discuss the principal factors that governments, regulatory bodies and operators need to bear in mind in order to be customer and business oriented, to provide services within their own countries and, in the case of operators, to survive in a liberalized market.