This week, at the 2023 Africa 5G Summit (held in conjunction with the sixth Southern Africa Mobile Broadband [MBB] VIP Salon), the significance of 5G for the continent’s commercial prosperity was emphasized. The largest technology conference on the continent, AfricaCom, coincided with the summit, which was hosted by Huawei. To exchange 5G development ideas and industry experience, it gathered together experts in the industry, regional government regulators, and representatives from industry organizations.
“5G Lights Up Africa Together Towards Business Success” was this year’s summit theme. Among the subjects covered were how Southern African operators can consistently construct 5G networks with additional value, enhance the 5G network user experience, quicken the growth of the fixed wireless access (FWA) sector, and succeed commercially with 5G.
Dream Africa’s 5G Prosperity, Build an Inclusive Digital Cornerstone was the theme of Richard Liu’s keynote address, which kicked off the conference. Richard Liu is the president of Huawei’s Global Carrier Marketing & Solution Sales Department. Throughout the address, he urged participants in the industry to collaborate in order to create a digital Africa, and he advocated for ongoing localized innovation in Africa.
“Our lives and society are being changed by the tremendous intergenerational capabilities of 5G networks, which are also driving significant innovation momentum and quickening the growth of the ICT industry,” the speaker stated.
He continued, “Global operators have achieved business success with a firm 5G strategy.” “It is advised to create a digital Africa through three inclusive innovations: inclusive networks, inclusive ecosystems, and inclusive services in order to realize Africa’s 5G prosperity dream.
By creating a 4G/5G synergy network, improving FWA services, and maturing the 5G terminal ecosystem, these breakthroughs can be realized and a strong digital foundation for Africa can be established.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) Director and Chairman of the 5G Council Committee, Thabisa Faye, gave a perceptive address about the importance of spectrum in Africa.
“They claim that the mobile industry can generate 3.6 million jobs, either directly or indirectly,” the speaker stated. “We can see that traffic has grown quite significantly when we look quite closely at the African scenario, and more specifically, the sub-Saharan region.”
MTN South Africa’s General Manager of Architecture and Access, Zoltan Miklos, presented the network’s Ambition 2025 development plan. He made the point that the foundation of the ambitious 2025 plan is 5G, which is the essential strength to overcome the macro and industry context. MTN South Africa will implement digital solutions that drive advancement in Africa, endeavor to create the greatest 5G network possible, and offer top-notch customer service. Specifically, he referred to the necessity of developing solutions that address the real-world experiences of African clients.
“A significant percentage of users in the 5G system are on post-paid plans,” he stated. We have taken a significant step and that is to not differentiate 5G service between post-paid and prepaid plans. From the standpoint of the network, each user on this network is provisioned for 5G.”
In addition to discussing Safaricom’s wireless home broadband strategy, James Langat, Director of Regional Network Implementation and Operations at Safaricom, also discussed the prospects that come with 5G.
“The first opportunity is, of course, that we are able to provide our users with 5G mobile broadband, and a growing percentage of our users are adopting 5G,” he stated.
Alan Loh, Zain Saudi Arabia’s Executive General Manager of Innovative Solutions, presented the company’s 5G commercial success stories. He clarified that by concentrating on three key areas—leading services, leading network experience, and leading technology in the 5G era—Zain has emerged as a worldwide leader in 5G FWA.
The “Own THE HOME” wireless home broadband strategy from MTN Nigeria, which includes FWA/FTTx technology and future network construction plans, was presented by Abdul Malik Ahmed, Senior Manager of the Fixed Broadband Marketing Department. He claimed that the primary factor propelling the expansion of home broadband is FWA. In order to attract home broadband users, the “Own THE HOME” wireless home broadband plan will keep advancing 4G/5G FWA and FTTH services. He continued by saying that MTN Nigeria will use 5G to support Nigeria’s upcoming digital revolution.
Lastly, a keynote address titled “5G Accelerating Digital Transformation in South Africa” was given by Calvin Govender, EBU General Manager of MTN South Africa. He described in the address the revolutionary nature of 5G along the whole value chain, including for customers.
He stated, “5G looks at a rich experience across the segments.” “You will experience the 5G speed at the consumer level. Applications and services that you were unable to access over the 4G network will again be available to you.
The director of GSMA Intelligence’s regional, social, and policy research, Kenechi Okeleke, gave views on the prospects for 5G FWA services in Africa as well as future development patterns. The GSMA Intelligence white paper, “5G FWA in Africa, Emerging Trends and Opportunities,” was released as the Africa 5G Summit came to a finish.