London, 18th March 2013 – Upstream is proud Networking Lounge Sponsor of the Innovation Africa Digital (IAD) Summit that takes place in Ethiopia, 19-21 March 2013.
If you are interested in finding out how Upstream drastically improves engagement and response rates to mobile marketing, then please come and meet us at the specially designed Networking Lounge Area located next to the Conference & Meeting Area.
You will also have the chance to take a better look at Upstream’s latest “2013 Emerging Markets Mobile Attitudes” report that points to mobile network operators as the new ‘king makers’ in emerging markets, as smartphone giants adapt their strategies and handset functionality to acquire their next billion customers from these regions.
Marco Veremis, Upstream’s CEO, will give a keynote speech on Day 3 about Mobile Monetisation and Nir Aloni, Africa Regional Sales Director, will take part in the “Rise of OTT and The Future Of VAS” panel discussion.
About IAD Summit 2013
Broadband connectivity is a complex and costly issue but governments across Africa are recognising it to be an engine for growth and an enabler of many societal benefits including Healthcare, Education, Manufacturing and Commerce along with the social benefits that a connected society can bring.
Governments must develop effective National Broadband Agendas to address the critical issues of financing, ownership, technology choice and vendor selection while establishing the goals and objectives that technology should enable. Infrastructure should be future proofed to account for the inevitable growth in bandwidth requirements and people should be encouraged to engage with technology at a basic level and learn to take full advantage of the future opportunities we have yet to understand. Innovation is presenting us with solutions we did not know we needed and improving quality of life at all levels of society.
The 11th annual IAD summit will once again bring the leading thinkers and practitioners together from across Africa and beyond, to share ideas, make connections and do business. This year’s programme will combine keynote presentations with panel discussions, master-classes, one to one business meetings and facilitated networking. Insightful conversations started at the summit, will be continued online for the following year and leading towards the 12th annual IAD Summit.
For the second year running, Extensia have partnered with MCIT Ethiopia in the delivery of the 11th annual IAD Summit. MCIT invited Extensia to host the IAD summit in Ethiopia for the second year to show their support for the sustainable development of Africa’s Telecom and ICT industries and to showcase the rapid developments within Ethiopia.
The government of Ethiopia will reach the completion of it’s 10 year growth and transformation plan within the next three years and are on plan to achieve 100% fixed line connectivity and 85% GSM connectivity. A phenomenal achievement given a population of around 90 million, 75% of which reside in rural areas
Over the past year, there has been huge interest from many international technology companies wishing to set up their regional headquarters in one of Africa’s most accessible capital cities. The State of the Art ICT Park being built on the outskirts of Addis is making rapid progress and the super-fast highway connecting it to Addis Ababa City Centre is nearing completion.
