Detecon showcases expertise at Mobile World Congress in Kigali

This year’s Africa-focused Mobile World Congress in Kigali was a resounding success, bringing together policymakers, business leaders, investors and industry experts to shape the future of Africa’s rapidly evolving connectivity ecosystem. At the event, Detecon showcased its leading expertise in the field – we spoke with the company’s Cairo Managing Director Amir Abdelazim to find out more.

How do you look back at the Africa-edition of the Mobile World Congress?

While Africa currently has the fastest-growing mobile penetration rate globally, the continent still has a long way to go. At the Mobile World Congress, the largest and most influential connectivity event on the continent, players from across the landscape came together to drive the agenda for a successful future and address problems.

Notably, more and more practical use of future technologies have been introduced specially 5G and non-terrestrial communications.

The Mobile World Congress provided a forum for policymakers and leaders in connectivity to deliver actionable agendas that help accelerate the digital transformation of Africa, closing the usage gap and, ultimately, ensuring everybody in the region benefits.

From Detecon’s perspective, how did the firm contribute?

As a leading global digital consultancy and network engineering company, the Mobile World Congress provided us the platform to showcase our services and state-of-the-art digital solutions. In doing so, we demonstrated our long track record in the African continent and our commitment to pioneering forward-looking technologies and solutions tailored for the specifics of the African market.

At Detecon, we’re also proud that the event provided us the opportunity to highlight our strong commitment to driving digital transformation in Africa. This goes beyond doing business, we also have a keen interest in supporting local technology, empowerment, and community initiatives.

As an example, in South Africa we support disabled students from disadvantaged communities in skills training and development, varying from technology and IT-related to general management training.

You were a panellist on the 5G Summit, bringing over two decades of consulting and industry experience to the discussion. What were the main insights you shared?

The topic of 5G use cases enterprise and consumers specifically for Africa can take days to discuss not just in a single panel session however, we tried.

One of the main insights shared on the panel is how to make the 5G business case profitable, the answer to which is enterprise solutions, by using B2C and B2B2C use cases to overcome the shortfalls of handset affordability.

5G can help the African continent make the best use of its natural resources and convert it into products. 5G private networks will be a catalyst to overcome the technological and skills shortages in Africa, by transforming the continent’s natural resources into products, thereby boosting job creation.

Use cases of the agricultural, mining and logistics industries will be good drivers for the African 5G economy, and the specifics thereof are to be defined country by country, as part of the national 5G strategy. 5G and its uses cases are important to be specified within a more holistic strategy for a 5G economy. 

In our discussion, we also touched on non-terrestrial communications and how best these can be utilised with the 5G use cases.

How did the congress help Detecon forge new partnerships?

The event in Kigali was an excellent opportunity for Detecon to engage with existing clients, potential new clients, and partners in our ecosystem. We’ve been able to forge several essential connections that we have already started to realise, as well as avenues for future collaborations we’re currently exploring further.

Detecon serves the African continent through its offices in Johannesburg (South Africa) and Cairo (Egypt). The two offices are supported by the company’s international footprint in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, the Americas, and parents T-Systems and Deutsche Telekom.