The Africa 5G Pioneer Roundtable with the theme of "5G Lighting up Digital Africa" was held in Istanbul, Türkiye. The summit brought together industry organizations, government regulators, and global and regional operators.
Experiences were shared and exchanged on important topics such as 5G industry trends, successful 5G business practices and 5G industry ecosystem development to help Africa's 5G industry launch steadily and develop healthily, and accelerate the release of Africa's digital economy development potential.
Cao Ming, Vice President of Huawei and the President of Huawei Wireless Solution, said in his opening speech：5G is developing rapidly around the world. More than 330 5G commercial networks have been deployed, and the number of 5G users worldwide has reached 1.9 billion. In China, more than 300 cities will upgrade to 5.5G this year. Meanwhile, the potential of 5G development in Africa is exciting. Huawei will continue to innovate leading 5G solutions, and work together with operators to leverage Africa's 5G for the development of the digital economy.
Joe Barrett, Chairman of GSA, mentioned in his speech on global 5G industry progress and trends：“5G is accelerating in Africa. 35 operators in 21 countries across Africa have launched 5G networks. And Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) has proven to be the most effective way to achieve business success. 16 operators in 11 African countries have launched 5G FWA.”
Senior Director of Swiss Sunrise shared their success experience in 5G and said : ”Sunrise best 5G network and user experience fuels revenue growth and brand value.”
Senior Vice President of UAE Du Said：”UAE is the most developed FTTH market with 99% fiber penetration. However, du has achieved great in home broadband by 5G FWA, by differentiation with FTTH via deploying a fiber-like 5G network experience, as well as via attractive offers for connecting the unconnected, flexible and affordable and 4/5G FWA user migration.”
Senior Manager of Omantel said：“As the first HBB operator in Oman, Omantel owned 71% copper user. In order to compete with other providers, Omantel use 5G network to rapidly migrate low speed home broadband users from ADSL to 5G less than 2 years. Now 5G FWA supported Omantel Home broadband Sustainable growth, which reached 45% ratio out of HBB base.”
Executive Vice President of AIS Thailand said:“AIS achieved 5G ARPU uplift by different monetization, in which AIS builds No.1 5G network in Thailand and provides different segments 5G tariff package.”
Chris Meng, President of Huawei Northern Africa ICT Marketing & Solution Sales said in his closing speech: “Huawei will continue to adhere to the concept of "in Africa, for Africa", continuously increase investment in the African market, and collaborate closely with operators and industry partners to promote the high-quality development of the regional 5G industry and light up a new era of Digital Africa.”
