700 telecommunications professionals gather at GSM>3G North Africa in Cairo to set the trends for the region’s growing telecommunications market

GSM>3G North Africa, the region’s largest communications event, closed on Wednesday 31st November after two days of intensive debate on the optimum strategies to maintain and increase growth in the region’s telecommunications market.

In front of a 700-strong audience, telecommunications leaders from across the region, as well as Europe and the Middle East, shared their experiences of growing services in their respective markets, and expressed their views on the way ahead.
The conference opened with a keynote presentation from Amr Abdallah, Chief Strategy Officer at Vodafone Egypt. He described his company’s growth strategy, in particular in making the most of an internationally recognised brand, while developing a dedicated local workforce and services adapted to local needs. Following him in the keynote session, Eric Kerboriou from Tunisiana also pointed out the importance of a strong brand, describing how his company successfully met the challenge of building a brand as a new entrant in Tunisia’s market. As both speakers touched upon their companies’ future strategies, they were asked about 3G services, and showed different positions. Vodafone Egypt is very confident in the technology, which will allow them “to serve both the very high-end market - a key market in Egypt, and the low-end, as internet access over 3G is still cheaper than fixed-line DSL”, according to Mr Abdallah. For Tunisiana however, the position is more cautious, taking one step at a time: “Data is an important service to launch, but we will start with GPRS/EDGE”, said Mr Kerboriou.
They were followed by a panel of three of the region’s leading regulators, from Egypt, Morocco and Algeria. They all described the process of liberalisation in their countries. Egypt’s recent experience of awarding a third licence caught the attention for its smooth process, taking just a few months between the launching the tender and awarding the licence to Etisalat. Following questions from the audience, the three regulators said they were looking into the opportunities created by WiMAX technology as well as by the MVNO model, keeping in mind the consumers’ interests as a priority.
On the second day, the main focus of the keynote session was investment, and how operators are developing new business models to grab the opportunities created by new technologies and consumer demand. The day opened with a lively interview of Harri Koponen, CEO of Wataniya, and Matthieu Coutière, Vice President at Vivendi, majority shareholder in Maroc Telecom. While they both touched on the importance of technology and innovative services in improving their operations, they also insisted on workforce management and creating the right business cultures within their operations as an essential aspect of their success. On their companies’ investment and growth strategies, both interviewees said they were looking at expanding their footprint in the region, provided the markets show sufficient value.
All speakers agreed on the region’s extraordinary growth potential. As competition is increasing, operators are gearing up to the new challenges it is bringing (decreasing ARPU levels being the main concern), but also enjoying the opportunities it creates. As Guillaume Van Gaver, Mobinil’s Commercial VP, said: “We enjoy competition, it’s what makes us grow”. This optimism was echoed by Harri Koponen, who said: “We don’t believe in saturation. The game starts at 100% penetration: once everybody’s got the tool to communicate, we have to make them communicate more”.
Following these business-focused presentations, three keynote speakers looked into technology strategies to grow their operations. Representing the incumbent of one of the region’s leading markets, Elias Ramrani from Algerie Telecom showed how his company is improving its network infrastructure to develop access to both voice and broadband communications in Algeria. He was followed by Rachid Sefrioui from Wana, another operator whose core business was fixed-line services, but who is now entering the mobile arena using CDMA technology in Morocco – and looking at entering other markets too.
On both days, the afternoon session was split into two streams. They allowed participants to take a deeper look into innovative commercial strategies on the one hand (customer loyalty, MVNOs, value added services, mobile content), and technology strategies on the other (3G, WiMAX, wireless broadband).
700 telecommunications professionals from 28 countries attended the event, including representatives of over 30 different operator companies – a true testimony to the market’s dynamism. The event included a 42-stand exhibition, allowing for business partnerships to develop further in the region. Judging from the level of networking taking place over the two days, it looks like business will continue to thrive in North Africa’s telecommunications market.
For more information on GSM>3G North Africa and on future events in the series, please visit www.comworldseries.com

 Contacts:
For more information on the event, and for photos, please contact Steve Cassidy on Stephen.cassidy@informa.com
For more information on the programme, please contact Julie Rey on Julie.rey@informa.com