"Advantage Africa"
Forum at ITU TELECOM AFRICA 2004 to Highlight Areas Central to Region’s ICT Growth

Geneva, 20 April 2004 — Building on ITU's longstanding and unrivalled reputation for facilitating constructive, industry-wide debate, the Forum at ITU TELECOM AFRICA 2004 will provide a unique arena for industry and government leaders to examine key policy and development issues, share ideas and discuss strategies for development.

Through a three-day programme built around plenary and workshop sessions, Forum participants will address the challenges and opportunities for the region presented by today's telecommunication industry and look toward the factors shaping the future structure. Forum Speakers are drawn from across the spectrum of the information and communication technologies (ICT) industry, comprising prestigious figures who are shaping Africa’s market environment and outlook. They include Conny Kullman, CEO of Intelsat, Marc Mesle, Vice President Africa of Orange, Michael Kutschenreuter, Chief Financial Officer at Siemens, Naguib Sawiris, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Orascom Telecom, Cheikh Tidiane Mbaye, Director General of Senegal’s Sonatel or Rein Zwolsman, CEO of Nigeria’s Nitel. Providing an intergovernmental perspective will be His Excellency Dr Mahmoud Nazif, Minister of Communications and Information Technology and Dr Jabulani Dhliwayo of the NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development).

"In the few years since the start of the new millennium, more users have been added to Africa’s networks than in the whole of the previous century" says Dr Tim Kelly, Head of the ITU TELECOM Forum. "Africa is changing fast, and the Forum provides a chance to take stock of progress and to keep the momentum of growth going."

Africa was the first region in the world where the number of mobile phones overtook the number of fixed lines, and mobile telephony is now firmly entrenched as the predominant mode of telephony in almost every African nation. Future growth on the region’s mobile markets will depend on services becoming affordable to a greater range of the population. Wireless communications could also provide a platform for ‘portable’ Internet access for a broader target market. The Forum will look at these areas crucial to the development of mobile, and how these can be utilized for instance to provide broadband Internet access to larger numbers of Africans.

As deregulation continues across Africa, the need for active regulatory bodies to assist in implementing investment-friendly policies is paramount, and the Forum will be examining the challenges faced by new regulatory bodies and what new policies are needed to ensure continued market growth.

As the first major ITU event to be held since the first phase of the WSIS (World Summit of the Information Society) — and on the same continent where the second phase is to be held in November 2005 — the Forum will provide the perfect opportunity for lively follow up debate on the Summit, and an assessment of the digital solidarity agenda. This will be of particular relevance to Africa, the region where the need to bridge the digital divide is most urgent.

Plenary Session Topics on the AFRICA 2004 Agenda include:

• Policy Visions: An examination of what kind of policies are best suited to a region where mobile use far outstrips that of fixed line networks, and how international cooperation in this area should best be pursued.
• New Challenges, New Institutions: This session will focus on some of the new private sector and intergovernmental partnerships which have been formed within Africa’s telecommunication industry in recent years. How have these new initiatives changed the telecommunications environment in Africa? And what new governance structures are emerging?
• Mobile Africa: This session will focus on areas crucial to the development of the region’s mobile market, such as what are the most appropriate wireless technologies and what policies and regulatory actions will help support the market. Given the lack of fixed line infrastructure across the continent, the session will also examine whether mobile and wireless technologies are viable alternatives for promoting the information society in Africa.
• Building the Infrastructure: This session will examine different infrastructure solutions and assess their viability for African markets, looking at areas such as whether existing wireless infrastructure could support a migration to next generation networks, or what other access technologies could be used for rolling out high speed Internet services.
• Creating Successful Business Models: Using a range of examples from firms which operate in different sectors of the telecommunication industry, and are building successful business models for the African market, this session will seek to show the "dos" and "don’ts" of doing business in Africa.
• Using ICTs to Achieve NEPAD Objectives: NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development) represents a new chapter in the history of the continent and a commitment to development, by Africans for Africans. This session will examine NEPAD’s progress to date and its future work programme.
• Digital Solidarity (WSIS): At the first phase of the WSIS, held in Geneva in December 2003, a Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action for a ‘Digital Solidarity Agenda’ was established. This closing session will bring together speakers representing the first phase of WSIS (Switzerland), the host country of the second phase (Tunisia), the lead proponent of the Digital Solidarity Fund (Senegal), and the United Nations regional arm in Africa — the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) — amongst others. This session will explore the achievements of the first phase of WSIS, and promises a lively follow up debate to the Summit.

Running in parallel to the plenary sessions, workshop sessions will delve deeper into issues such as Voice over IP, Internet Governance, E-readiness indicators and fostering local content and software development.

The Forum will also feature the acclaimed Youth Forum, an event which will give the floor to Africa’s future ICT leaders. Some 80 university students across the African region will participate as Youth Fellows, and gain the opportunity to further their knowledge of the ICT sector by taking part in Forum sessions, visiting the Exhibition and participating in Youth Forum sessions. The Youth Forum will target three key areas: Technology and Applications, Policy and Regulations and Financing and Opportunities. Sessions are chaired by experts who are primarily from the Africa region and are drawn from a range of industry, governmental and regulatory backgrounds.

In a competitive process limited to university students aged 18-23 from across the African region, an ITU steering committee selects two Youth Fellows — one female and one male. The ITU Steering committee, chaired by Ms Walda Roseman, President and CEO of CompassRose International, consists of representatives from Member States, the private sector and ITU.

In order to maintain momentum between Telecom Youth Forum events, ITU provides support to deserving young people who wish to carve out a career in telecommunications under an ongoing Youth Programme. Under this programme, three schemes are available:

• YES (Youth Education Scheme) —which provides scholarships for deserving students in developing countries in order to complete their tertiary education. YES is offered in partnership with leading companies such as Vodafone. For further information click here
• Youth Incentive Programme —which recruits young experts to assist in project work under the mentorship of staff from the ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau at Headquarters or from ITU regional offices. For further information see here
• Youth Initiative —which assists young graduates of the YES or TELECOM Fora Alumni with the creation and implementation of community oriented projects.

The ITU TELECOM AFRICA 2004, which takes place in Cairo, Egypt from 4 to 8 May 2004, will be a key meeting place for Africa’s policy and decision makers, industry leaders and innovators to access, explore and build upon the region’s untapped potential and shape its telecommunications industry of tomorrow.

For more information on the event, please click here

Media information can be found here

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