[Connecting West Africa] It's all about data

Day one highlights

Maty Sene of host operator Sonatel gave a presentation on operators' strategies to develop profitable data-ready networks. He predicted that the proportion of data revenue will go from 10% to 40% by 2018, making it crucial for operators to embrace innovation in order to maximise those revenues.

Mark Pritchard from Microsoft said West Africa was "blessed in terms of submarine cable landings", making "broadband internet connectivity at superfast speed a reality". Samba Sene of the Orange Technocentre in Abidjan and Yann Le Guen of Yoomee Cote d'Ivoire addressed the LTE opportunity for the region.

Dominique Baron of Horus Telecom looked at how to serve rural areas more effectively and Lare Atcha of Intelsat looked at new satellite technologies.

The debates covered commercial strategies, cost-efficiency, quality of service challenges, LTE deployments and technologies to ensure operators maximise the revenue opportunity from data. The event was focused on networking and sharing experiences, with a busy exhibition, a speed networking session and networking drinks.

Day two of the event will include more interactive sessions to discuss various aspects of cost-efficiency (power management, infrastructure sharing, outsourcing), the role of regulators and governments in promoting broadband access in the region, and value-added services.