WafriTel, Wafict Begin this Week

The 10th West African International Telecommunications and Information Communications Technology exhibition (W.Afri.Tel 2010) and West African
Information Communications Technology (Wafict) Congress 2010 begin this Tuesday June 1 to 3, 2010.  Wafict congress 2010 is expected to attract some of the most sophisticated line up of international speakers and participants from across the sub-region and other parts of the world. WAFICT 2010 is being co-hosted by Africa’s foremost ICT magazine, IT & Telecom Digest, which is also the sole Nigeria Agent for W.Afri.Tel and the London, UK-based Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO).
Among major participants at WafeiTel is Indian delegation, made up of several companies that will be exhibiting. Coming under the auspices of the Telecom Export Promotion Council (TEPC) of India, with the full backing of the Indian Government, the delegation has already secured prime spots at the 10th W.Afri.Tel exhibition holding at the New Eko Expo Hall, Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
A statement from the Indian High Commission in Nigeria, signed by the Head of Chancery, Mr. Raj Kumar, underscoring the importance of the delegation’s visit, read in part: “We are pleased to inform you that Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Council, Government of India will be bringing a high-level telecom trade delegation for exclusively promoting telecommunications and related services from India to Lagos from 1st to 3rd June, 2010.
“The delegation will be participating in the 10th West African International Telecommunications Exhibition amd Conference holding at Eko Hotels, Victoria Island, Lagos. This delegation represents a very major area of focus of our bilateral trade and economic relations which will eventually lead to a mutual beneficial cooperation.”
Confirming the participation of the Indian delegation in W.Afri.Tel 2010, Mr. Mkpe Abang, Editor-in-Chief of IT & Telecom Digest, sole Nigeria agent for the show, said the delegation has since booked several a very impressive and sizeable space, which will serve as a pavilion specifically for their members to exhibit during the expo.
“I am pleased to confirm that the TEPC of India, has indeed booked a very impressive space to exhibit at this year’s W.Afri.Tel; and it is quite clear that the Indians mean business by making this visit at such an opportune moment, to exhibit in West Africa’s premier ICT show,” Abang commented.
He added that coming at a time when Bharti has just consummated the deal to purchase Zain’s Africa operations, of which the Zain Nigerian operation is the largest, the Indian trade mission’s visit and exhibition at W.Afri.Tel 2010 is a clear demonstration and testimony to the fact that any investment made in the Nigerian telecom industry is high-income yielding both in the short and long term.
Bharti, India’s biggest mobile operator recently concluded a deal to acquire Zain Africa operations, the final lap of which is still being awaited to formally announce its full entry into the African market.