A bi-monthly innovation dinner hosted by IT News Africa assemble business people and professionals in an intimate relaxed environment, over good food and wine to create new relationships as well as promote organizations.
This time round, Long Term Evolution (LTE) event, held late last month at the Michael Angelo Hotel and Towers Sandton, Gauteng, South Africa, touched on LTE itself and 4G in accordance with the varied challenges faced.
It was pointed out that there were clear opportunities in these sectors that could be established, if all stake holders worked together.
It also drew several significant speakers such as the Chairperson of the Independent Commissions’ Authority of South Africa (ICASA) Dr. Stephen Sipho Mncube, Chairman of the African Broadband forum, William Hearmon, Head of practice: mobile broad band for Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa Aingharan kanagaratnam; and, Business unit leader-ICT Africa at frost and Sullivan Chantel Lindeman.
Members present were engaged in discussions such as the relevance of LTE across Africa, the realities of the market, the state of broadband penetration across the continent, last mile connectivity and what the advantages of the rollout of these ideas could be.
A question and answer session was also fixed in by use of Skype with Zimbabwe’s MDC minister of Communications and Technology, Nelson Chamisa, who informed them about his country’s economic and political reform which he said, was also ready for investment, he added that their focus was mainly on connectivity and an environment that encourages growth and investment.
Dr Mncube the chairperson of ICASA repeated on his organization’s position on LTE and related technology, saying they were working on policy formulation together with industry towards the realization of objectives including universal service.
The innovation dinner is held once every two months the next one being, on the September 26 at the Michael Angelo hotel and Towers with the theme “Broadband Pricing”.
NetApp, a computer storage and data management company and MTN SA mobile network, sponsored this year’s event.
