It is an honour and privilege to address all the distinguished delegates and congratulate the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) and the Wireless World Research Forum (WWRF) for co-hosting the fifth 5G Hurdle conference for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere. We warmly welcome you to Durban during the year our nation is celebrating the centenary of the illustrious lives of President Nelson Mandela and Mama Albertina Sisulu.
We are excited that this two-day conference is focusing on the countdown to the commercial rollout of 5G technologies and what needs to be done from policy, regulator and business perspective to meet the objective of delivering an all-inclussive 5G infrastructure in both cities and rural areas in order not to leave anyone behind and ensure meaningful participation of developing countries.
The principle of inclusivity is fundamental in ensuring that global humanity embrace the benefits of power of evolving technologies keeping the eyes on bridging the emerging digital divide. President Mandela was an outspoken advocate of bridging the digital gap between “information haves and information have nots”. We should also encourage and enable women to participate actively in the opportunities created by the Fourth Industrial Revolution which will be thriving on these 5G networks.
In most developing countries the majority of the workforce is low skilled. It is therefore very important to consider the potential impact of these new technologies that will provide platforms to build smart factories with plant automation, artificial intelligence and use of augmented reality to control stationary equipment such as welding, painting and assembly using robotics. I invite you to look at different digital skill requirements for different people including basic, intermediate and sector skills. For an example, what would be the needs of users from rural, urban and informal areas which are prevalent in our continent? The challenge is how to leap frog communities that have less formal education.
In order to stimulate demand and usage of 5G services, it will be crucial that content providers develop relevant local content that will appeal to even to the most vulnerable groups such as the elderly, women and people living with disability.
Laptops, smart phones, sensors on machines, all generate huge amounts of data for the Internet of Things (IoT), which will require growth in demand for data analysts and scientists using cloud services.
The cybersecurity industry is a rapidly changing beast in which good and bad guys are constantly trying to one up each other. Malicious cyber-attacks will open up due to a huge number of connected devices. This will become crucial as many mission critical applications such as energy, water and including safety of life such as moving trains will rely on communication between connected devices.
We are excited that this two-day conference is focusing on the countdown to the commercial rollout of 5G technologies and what needs to be done from policy, regulator and business perspective to meet the objective of delivering an all-inclussive 5G infrastructure in both cities and rural areas in order not to leave anyone behind and ensure meaningful participation of developing countries.
The principle of inclusivity is fundamental in ensuring that global humanity embrace the benefits of power of evolving technologies keeping the eyes on bridging the emerging digital divide. President Mandela was an outspoken advocate of bridging the digital gap between “information haves and information have nots”. We should also encourage and enable women to participate actively in the opportunities created by the Fourth Industrial Revolution which will be thriving on these 5G networks.
In most developing countries the majority of the workforce is low skilled. It is therefore very important to consider the potential impact of these new technologies that will provide platforms to build smart factories with plant automation, artificial intelligence and use of augmented reality to control stationary equipment such as welding, painting and assembly using robotics. I invite you to look at different digital skill requirements for different people including basic, intermediate and sector skills. For an example, what would be the needs of users from rural, urban and informal areas which are prevalent in our continent? The challenge is how to leap frog communities that have less formal education.
In order to stimulate demand and usage of 5G services, it will be crucial that content providers develop relevant local content that will appeal to even to the most vulnerable groups such as the elderly, women and people living with disability.
Laptops, smart phones, sensors on machines, all generate huge amounts of data for the Internet of Things (IoT), which will require growth in demand for data analysts and scientists using cloud services.
The cybersecurity industry is a rapidly changing beast in which good and bad guys are constantly trying to one up each other. Malicious cyber-attacks will open up due to a huge number of connected devices. This will become crucial as many mission critical applications such as energy, water and including safety of life such as moving trains will rely on communication between connected devices.