Toure, ITU Boss Says WAFICT Timely, Vital for Region’s Growth

West African ICT Congress (WAFICT), West Africa’s leading communications event at the weekend, received strong endorsement with kind words from the International Telecommunication Union, United Nations institution in charge of telecommunications which described the event as vital for the growth of the region.
Dr. Hammadoun Toure, secretary-general of the ITU, who was reacting to news of the forthcoming second WAFICT Congress, holding over three days from June 1-3, said the conference is central to continued growth in the sub-region’s telecommunications industry.
Speaking recently in Barcelona, Spain, during the Mobile World Congress, when he granted audience to Mr. Mkpe Abang, the editor-in-chief of IT & Telecom Digest, organisers of WAFICT, Dr. Toure praised the idea and conception of the conference, which he said would become a key catalyst for growth and positive change in West Africa. WAFICT, he said, “is timely and vital” for the growth of the sub-region telecom market and the economies of the countries in general.
“The idea of such a conference is highly commendable; and coming from your magazine (IT & Telecom Digest), which has such a record of pioneering excellence and nurturing the telecom growth in West Africa – because I recall the magazine has been on for 10 years now – I have no doubt that this conference will help to drive the growth, the awareness and the penetration of telecom in the region further and higher than it is currently the case.”
With the theme: “Moving West Africa forward: policy and technology imperatives – trends, potentials and challenges,” WAFICT Congress 2010 will hold at the new, ultra modern Eko Expo Hall, Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, from June 1-3. Following an exceptional outing in 2009, this frontline Conference, will hold, like it did last year, concurrently with the 10th edition of the West African International Telecommunications and Information Communications Technology Exhibition (W.Afri.Tel), an award-winning exhibition that began in June 2001, which has held every year, without fail, with each edition surpassing the success record of the previous one.
With competition from new mobile and allied ICT entrants, a growing market that embraces and shows great potential for broadband, limitless taste for mobile, WiMAX, network solutions, computing and e-business solutions, among others, Africa’s largest market, Nigeria, is also reputed as having the most transparent and best regulatory environment supportive for telecom and IT investment and growth in Africa.
The conference agenda shows that the event will highlight such crucial topics as Broadband, Rural connectivity, Accessibility and cost-efficiency, Managed Services and Future networks, Fraud and Mobile management, Customer retention as panacea for churn, Competition and need for quality services, Policies, regulations and regulators, Licences and licence implications, Internet and ubiquity networks, Fibre optics and Long distance cables, among others.
This year’s WAFICT is organised by IT & Telecom Digest in conjunction with the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation headquartered in London, the UK, and the Global VSAT Forum.
Dr. Toure, a Malian, copiously referred to the Nigerian telecom revolution, saying what happened in Nigeria “is a very good sign that Africans can take up their own fate in their hands and achieve greatness,” adding that with such positive achievements in telecom in one decade, Nigeria has become a motivating factor and a good example for other African countries in general.
Dr. Touré was elected Secretary-General at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Antalya, Turkey, in November 2006 and took office on 1 January 2007. Previously, he served as Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) of the ITU from 1998 until 2006.
He is committed to make ITU an innovative, forward looking organization adapted to meeting the challenges created by the new ICT environment and to spearhead the Union towards implementing the resolutions of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As Director BDT he played a significant role in the WSIS process by launching numerous projects based on partnership building with International Organisations, Governments, Civil Society and the Private Sector.
More information on WAFICT and W.Afri.Tel can be found at www.westafricaictcongress.com, www.exhibitionsafrica.com, and www.ittelecomdigest.com where prospective delegates and exhibitors can get more details.