“Evolving Africa’s Broadband” is the theme of the first iBurst Global Forum to be held in Africa. Hosted by Wireless Business Solutions (WBS), it takes place from 8 March to 10 March 2006 at the Hilton Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg.
Whereas the economic spin-offs from world sporting events hosted in South Africa are inevitably short-lived, the fifth annual iBurst Global Forum is aimed at furthering the deployment of technology proven by a recent Australian study to lift a country’s GDP by between 0.5 and 2.5%.
WBS is the provider of the iBurst mobile broadband system in South Africa and will preside over a conference attracting such global ICT heavyweights as Dr Martin Cooper, Arraycomm Chairman and inventor of the world’s first handheld cellphone and Yasuo Nishiguchi, Chairman and CEO of Kyocera Corporation.
“A major aim of the iBurst Global Forum is to facilitate interaction between companies such as Kyocera & ArrayComm and African ICT stakeholders with a view to determining how these major international corporations can help Africa bridge the digital divide,” said Thami Mtshali, CEO of WBS.
“South African operators have provided many African countries with their first taste of efficient and reliable access to mobile voice telecommunications in the absence of any viable fixed line alternatives. The iBurst Global Forum will look at ways in which we can replicate these achievements but with a focus on mobile broadband in the form of the fast and reliable iBurst broadband technology,” said Mr Mtshali.
Local speakers will include representatives from the Ministry of Communications and ICASA (The Independent Communications Authority of SA). WBS CEO Thami Mtshali and WBS Managing Director Alan Knott-Craig, Jnr will also address the Forum. Representatives from organisations such as NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development), DBSA (Development Bank of Southern Africa) and the IDC (Industrial Development Corporation) will speak about the positive impact that broadband in general and mobile broadband in particular will have on the greater African continent.
Delegates attending are from countries as diverse as France, Lebanon, Egypt, Australia, Russia, Kenya, Ghana, Japan, Canada and Malaysia.
According to Alan Knott-Craig, Jnr, WBS Managing Director, “As we look at ways to reach and even exceed the 6% GDP growth target set by President Mbeki, it’s clear from international experience that a massive uptake of broadband by hundreds of thousands of individual users will do the trick.
“It is fortuitous that the upcoming iBurst Global Forum is taking place in South Africa because this country will emerge as iBurst’s gateway to the opportunities that exist on the vast and underserviced African continent.”
The Forum will see the unveiling of Kyocera’s revolutionary mobile VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) handset aimed at making affordable voice communications accessible to all. Kyocera has a mission to deliver world-class products that can be used on the iBurst system to the most marginalized of continents. While many people talk about Africa leapfrogging the developed world, Kyocera is one of the few organizations to provide the practical means of doing this.
The iBurst system is being deployed nationwide in the two regional powerhouses of Australia and South Africa as well as in Kenya and Canada. Several large-scale deployments are planned in other countries.
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