South Africa will in July this year host the first LTE conference in Africa, expected to bring together telecom players from across the continent to discuss issues facing the deployment of 4G wireless network services.
Dubbed LTE Africa 2013,the conference will converge over 60 speakers and over 200 attendees. The giant firms expected include MTN Uganda, which recently announced its foray into LTE.
4G broadband is seen as the next level in Internet access for mobile devices. According to a report by Informa Telecoms and Media, some 22 percent of telecom revenue comes from mobile data. According to Informa Telecoms and Media, LTE users will spend more data than 3G users, which would mean more revenue for the companies.
Dwindling voice revenues for telecom companies have made them to look for alternatives, including data services. The prospect of VoLTE, however, pave the way for telecoms to benefit from such services.
Among the fears currently courted by major mobile network operators is that the majority of African countries have not exhausted their 3G demand, yet are ready to plunge into LTE, which would mean introducing gadgets that can receive 4G broadband.
Some of the issues to be discussed include how best to build and launch an LTE network in Africa, monetizing LTE broadband, roaming, LTE Spectrum Management and managing the migration from 2G/3G to LTE.
The conference is slated for July 16 to 17, 2013, in Cape Town, South Africa.
