AITEC MOZAMBIQUE ICT CONGRESS: Mozambique ICT Congress to showcase new ICT era

Mozambique ICT Congress to showcase new ICT era

With undersea fibre cables now delivering extensive international bandwidth, a national growth rate of 9.5% over the first half of this year, a third mobile operator’s licence about to be announced and peaceful elections recently competed, Mozambique is poised to become a rapid growth market, says Sean Moroney, Chairman of AITEC Africa, organizers of the Mozambique ICT Congress, to be held in Maputo over 13-14 October.  With the theme “Visions for a new era of ICT development in Mozambique”, the Congress is being held under the auspices of the Ministry of Science & Technology and will be opened by the Minister, Dr Venancio Massingue. Lead sponsor of the event is MCel, the country’s leading mobile operator.

“Mozambique’s huge landmass represents a huge communications challenge – but it is also a great business opportunity. Now that the country has so much international bandwidth the private sector and the government need to work together imaginatively to tackle the national network, last mile and backhaul challenges to spread Internet access across the country,” said Moroney, announcing the Congress programme. “That is why we have created a programme that addresses these issues, drawing on local and international expertise to share knowledge and best practice over an intensive two-day education programme, to provide the skills and ideas needed for the country’s new ICT era.”

The Congress includes a Telecommunications Roundtable under the auspices of the Postal & Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (INCM), which will provide a forum for telecom operators, ISPs, policy-makers and the regulator to discuss ideas to accelerate communications development across the country.

The main conference programme also includes stimulating presentations by international experts with extensive experience of telecommunications development in Africa. Ike Nnamani, a leading communications innovator from Nigeria, will speak on the role of telecommunications clearing-houses to promote competition and efficiency and reduce costs for users. Yossi Barkan from Israel, a pioneer of telecommunications development in Africa, will speak on “A telecommunications tier system to maximise service efficiency and delivery”.  James Wekesa from Kenya, Chief Commercial Officer of the West Indian Ocean Cable Company, will make a presentation highlighting Mozambique’s increased international communication options.

Keynote speaker in the Congress is Arthur Goldstuck, South Africa’s leading analyst of Internet development, who will speak on “Internet and technology trends shaping 21st Century business in Africa”. He will also lead a workshop entitled “The New Internet: Threat, opportunity, challenge”. Another speaker from South Africa is Lucienne Abrahams, Director of the LINK Centre at Wits University, who will speak on “How a universal household broadband service can contribute to reducing social exclusion”.

Over 40 international and local speakers will make presentations over the two days. Other sessions will cover key subject areas for the country’s ICT leaders:
• Banking systems to serve the country as well as the banks
• Customer service & contact centres
• Human capacity development
• Corporate systems for productivity & competitiveness
• Risk Management, data security and business continuity

The AITEC Mozambique ICT Congress is now in its third year and is established as the leading computing and communications industry event for the country’s rapidly growing sector, attended each year by over 500 managers, professionals and other decision-makers in government and business. For further details email info@aitecafrica.com or log on to www.aitecafrica.com