Connecting Africa is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 3099067.

Big Data

African Telcos Open Up on AI, Digital Transformation

Article Image
Two of Africa's leading operators have revealed their attitudes towards embracing technologically driven transformation, including the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI).

Vodacom Pty. Ltd. and Safaricom Ltd. -- two of Africa's most dominant mobile operators -- spoke of the challenges relating to organizational change in the face of digital transformation. At a roundtable discussion during the AfricaCom in Cape Town, hosted by Connecting Africa in collaboration with sister sites Light Reading and Telecoms.com, network transformation, cultural change and the introduction of AI services all came to the fore.

Vuyani Jarana, Vodacom's eterprise chief executive, made the point that operators today are facing a tipping point with regards to customer expectations, from both the managed services and consumer services perspectives.

"When it became clear that the traditional consumer business will be under pressure unless it transforms, it also became clear that the big shift has to go towards becoming the total communications provider," he said. "That's why we made big bets on the enterprise business, largely because we realized we need to diversify, we need to look at other revenue streams for the business."

Jarana went on to explain that the great challenge -- beyond the rudimentary network requirements -- is getting cultural buy-in from across the organization.

"The architectural design becomes key, otherwise you'll struggle to really share the economics of the network between consumer and enterprise and have a much more effective capex utilization model. That is what is enabling us to actually be able to do this. I think the big issue is always going to be the question of culture.

"You're coming from organizations that have always been very consumer and mobile-centric. To actually shift the culture, there needs to be a lot of engagement, a lot of advocacy. You need to be evidence based, you need to actually be able to do proper market research so that people can see and believe in the opportunity."

As part of the transformation, Safaricom's head of strategy, Ken Okweru, believes artificial intelligence will gradually become introduced into specific business functions, such as marketing, but that there's a fundamental lack of talent being able to maximize its potential.

"I believe that we're not going to have enough data scientists who will be able to analyze data as fast as we need them to," he said. "Instead, we'll use AI-as-a-service. When we look into the future we think that AI is taking the place of marketing functions. Marketers previously were the guys who felt the market and understood what consumers wanted.

"When you are looking at data for analysis from the marketing point of view, sometimes there's no opportunity. But, you put that same data to a data scientist and all of a sudden these guys are seeing the opportunities. We can take that a step further with AI so that it sees all of the opportunities."

These comments are just some of the insights that feature in the recently published Telecoms.com eBook: Tomorrow's World - What is the Future of Telecoms? -- download and read the whole book here.

— Tim Skinner, Editor, Connecting Africa

Innovation hub

Story

Hot startup of the month: Nigeria's Tech Herfrica

Connecting Africa's hot startup is Nigeria's Tech Herfrica, a social impact organization that focuses on the digital and financial inclusion of women and girls in rural areas of Nigeria.

Story

Omdia View: February 2024

Highlights in February 2024 in the Middle East and Africa included 5G launches in Senegal and 5G trials in Egypt as well as Kenya's first 5G MVNO. Airtel also launched a new wholesale connectivity business while MTN and Huawei are planning a joint Innovation Technology Lab in South Africa – that and more in this month's Omdia View.

More Innovation hub

Latest video

More videos

Partner perspectives

All Partner Perspectives

Sponsored video

More videos

Industry announcements

More Industry announcements

Upcoming events

Africa Tech Festival 2024
November 11-14, 2024
Cape Town, South Africa
More Upcoming events

Africa Tech Perspectives

Story

Uber's Marjorie Saint-Lot on inclusion and sustainability in Africa

Uber's Country Manager for Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, Marjorie Saint-Lot, shares how the ride-hailing company is approaching public-private partnerships, environmentally friendly initiatives and gender inclusion in Africa.

Story

The 100 most influential African leaders in 2023

A new report from Africa Tech Festival and Connecting Africa puts a spotlight on the top 100 African leaders in the telecoms and technology sector in 2023.

Story

Deep dive into East Africa's tech startup ecosystem

New survey reveals a lack of access to investors, reliance on international VCs and global recession trends as the biggest barriers for East African tech startups to access funds.

More Africa Tech perspectives

Guest Perspectives

Story

Omdia View: February 2024

By Omdia Analysts

Highlights in February 2024 in the Middle East and Africa included 5G launches in Senegal and 5G trials in Egypt as well as Kenya's first 5G MVNO. Airtel also launched a new wholesale connectivity business while MTN and Huawei are planning a joint Innovation Technology Lab in South Africa – that and more in this month's Omdia View.

Story

Omdia View: January 2024

By Omdia Analysts

Highlights in January 2024 in the Middle East and Africa included a $200 million fintech deal between MTN and Mastercard as well as 5G network trials by Telecom Egypt – that and more in this month's Omdia View.

More Guest Perspectives

Like us on Facebook

Newsletter Sign Up


Sign Up
Tag id test-002