Digital Symposium Connecting the Next Billion

Following the success of the 2020 Digital Symposium, Connecting Africa and Africa Tech Festival are once again partnering to produce a series of special digital symposiums in 2021.

The continent’s largest tech event and the media brand dedicated to Africa’s digital transformation will bring you quarterly virtual events looking at the most pertinent and impactful issues driving the continent’s tech and innovation ecosystems.

The first symposium will comprise 3 webinars where analysts and top industry insiders will share telecoms and enterprise market forecasts for 2021, with a special focus on connectivity in Africa.

Expert keynote speakers will share insights on Africa’s connectivity landscape, from the last-mile challenge and the role of satellite to issues like affordability.

1 – Africa’s last-mile connectivity challenge – 11 am CAT: Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Millions of Africans still don’t have connectivity options. In fact, nearly half of the global adult population has never used the internet, and the majority of those live in Africa. When we drill down to the last mile, what are the connectivity challenges keeping not only the next billion but the last billion Africans offline?

In this Connecting Africa online event, local analysts and industry stakeholders provide a status check for exactly where we are when it comes to the region’s infrastructure challenge in 2021, and where we are going.

• Connectivity as a key: Unpacking the link between electrification and connectivity, particularly in poor and rural areas
• Infrastructure investment: which investment trends are shaping the sector, how is policy facilitating financial support for connectivity projects while governing the influence of private and international investment
• Affordability: Strategies to remove the barrier of high internet service costs, against the backdrop of proven benefits of connectivity for digital economies and GDP per capita growth
• Industry Spotlight: Examining scope, status and last-mile viability of the continent’s biggest private-sector connectivity projects – Equiano, 2Africa, Project Taara

2 – Space 2.0 – The role of satellite in Africa’s connectivity matrix – 12.35 pm CAT: Thursday, April 13, 2021

Rural connectivity remains a major issue across Africa. The satellite has always been a way to provide broadband options to rural and remote areas otherwise unconnected because of terrestrial service unavailability.

So, what does the continent’s satellite market look like in 2021 and what is changing? This digital symposium will provide a status check for where we are and what trends are evolving when it comes to satellite coverage across the continent.

• Status check: Examining current satellite connectivity coverage, affordability and challenges to wider adoption and looking towards near-term investment trends for the sector
• Value: Exploring the role of satellite in the wider broadband connectivity drive: serving rural areas unreachable by terrestrial transmission, telemetry and spatial planning
• Industry trends: Looking at the impact of industry strategies and trends – GEO vs MEO & LEO, NGSO projects – against the backdrop of the OneWeb, Sky & Space, and Loon project challenges