Africa 2019 GCCM - Cape Town 10^th - 11^th November

Based at Lago di Como in Italy, VSC provides strategic advisory services in M&A, Business Development & Media for the telecommunication industry. Over the last 25 years, Erik developed extensive expertise and deep domain knowledge working at major telecom companies. His international career includes senior & executive level positions. Over the years, Erik has been a regular speaker & moderator at major international telecom conferences.

Melvin de Jonge is senior product manager in the Marketing division, dealing with the development and go-to-market of wholesale services for Mobile Operators worldwide, that vary from pure connectivity to disruptive solutions as Big Data reporting tools and security/protection services.

Prior to joining Sparkle, he worked for TIM Group from 1998 to 2009 gaining a deep experience in mobile value added services for retail markets in Italy and abroad. He was appointed in several marketing roles as innovation specialist, product manager and customer base analyst.

He started his career as an ICT consultant at KPN in The Netherlands.

Melvin holds an MSc in Econometrics & Operations Research from the University of Groningen (The Netherlands).

Pal has a MSC degree on Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Budapest and an MBA degree from Budapest University of Economic Sciences. He worked for 10 years at Ericsson in various positions, including the Global Installation Engineering process owner position and also different marketing, and sales managerial positions. In 2012 he moved to the operators’ side, and worked for Vivendi Telecom Hungary, Invitel International, Pantel and finally Türk Telekom International. Pal has worked for TTI since the establishment of the company and was responsible for various sales assignments, then took the position of Procurement and Pricing Director and currently he is  the Market Development Director. He  has worked in this position for more than 4 years, being responsible for the TTI Group’s major development projects new submarine cable projects, high capacity multi-regional transit routes and overall supporting the establishment of new business partnerships.

Dario Betti worked in creating new business opportunities in the fast-changing digital world.

He enjoys the cultural challenges of working in different countries it gives deeper and richer engagement. Previously he has also worked in the Middle East, for Qatar based group Ooredoo (in Qatar, Myanmar and Indonesia). For Ooredoo he was part of the launch team for its greenfield mobile operator in Myanmar and repositioned the mobile brands of Indosat in Indonesia. He has also worked for XL Axiata. finding new ideas and developing them in strong businesses in this dynamic, and unique market.

At T-Mobile International / Deutsche Telekom he brought new service concepts and proposition into life focusing on new interface for data services (from portal to mobile apps). A key aspect of my work: included the international strategy for rolling out a portfolio to the entire European portfolio of mobile operators and the focus on transforming the company into customer centric organisation.

In his previous role as a Senior Analyst at Ovum, the consulting company, he specialised in the management and regulation of new media. At Ovum he led research and consulting projects on many different topics including digital television, video on demand, mobile multimedia messaging and business models for mobile content services.

As a member of the WirelessMultimedia@Ovum group, he advised operators, regulators, network and device vendors on services and product strategies and technologies including video, gaming, adult services, music, and location-based services.

Prior to joining Ovum, he completed an MSc in Media Management from the University of Stirling and a BA in Communication Studies and Management from Leeds University. He is fluent in Italian, English and Spanish.

As Director, Sales – West Africa, Nikki is focussed on extending WIOCC’s footprint across West Africa. Nikki has been in the telecoms industry for almost 20 years and joined WIOCC in 2016 after eight years with Tata Communications, where she sold a wide range of Data services across numerous countries in Africa. Nikki also held managerial roles at Gateway Communications, where she established multiple interconnects with organisations such as Safaricom and Ethiopia Telecoms; and Cable & Wireless, for whom she sold services in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Nikki is passionate about Africa and feels privileged to have seen and taken part in the technological advances that have occurred over the years. She lives in an Oxfordshire village and loves going on country walks with her daughter and dog.

Driving Opportunity Through Creative Thinking

Anthony has over 25 years of international telecommunications experience working in Australia, Greece, Cyprus, UK, the Middle East and Africa.  Anthony founded and managed a number of technology and telecom service operators that created value through innovative voice and data products and services.

Anthony`s approach to business is to build valuable partnerships across cultural and geographical diversities, and with an emphasis on corporate responsibility, excellence in user experience and profitability objectives.

James Byaruhanga is a Ugandan national, with more than 18 years of experience in the ICT industry as a manager in several leading telecom companies and internet service providers.

James has been a principal at Roke Telkom, a leading-edge alternative ISP in Uganda, since he joined the company in 2009. He first joined as CTO with overall technical responsibility and planning for Roke’s operations both inside Uganda and in neighboring countries where Roke had a presence (Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia, DRC). Most recently, since 2012, James has been COO for Roke where he has been responsible for Roke’s regional operations, both operationally and commercially. He brings with him a wealth of experience in the region, and a vast network of enterprise and telco connections, as well as over 10 years of executive experience.

Prior to Roke, James spent 5 years at MTN Uganda, Consulting for MTN Group in various technical roles and 3 years at Africa Online in Uganda and Ghana.

A commercially experienced, business focused and innovative technologist, skilled at leading large, multi-national, multi-location teams to design, build, restructure, or manage complex technology operations in order to improve and service businesses. Track record as global CIO, leader and builder of technology based businesses. Board level executive experience, managing budgets in excess of £100m and implementing large global change programs, mergers and acquisitions. International experience gained across Europe, USA, Asia and Africa, with particularly strong recent exposure in Africa.

Farhad Omar is an entrepreneur, innovator, and forward thinker and has always been at the cutting-edge of digital transformation. Beginning with the launch of MobiBlitz in 2002, he was active in leveraging the converged media space and promoting the mobile handset as a dominant player in the media arena.
Farhad Omar has shifted his focus to current DTH platforms to fit in with a world model of regional community-focused stations. As the CEO of ITV Networks, he has taken the platform to 67 countries with strong regional viewership and high brand loyalty. In keeping with these strengths, ITV Networks launched its own OTT platform in 2013. Today it has become platform independent and is available on multiple DTH platforms and also via OTT and Livestream. All key events are available on-demand, allowing users to access content where, when and how they want.
Farhad Omar is at the forefront of driving the ongoing digital revolution in media.

Artur Mendes is the VP Sales of Angola Cables.

Artur has more than 20 years of experience within the global telecommunications industry.

Prior to joining Angola Cables in 2013, Artur spent 12 years working for Nokia, holding various positions at Nokia Mobile Phone and Nokia Multimedia Network Terminals. 

As VP Sales for Angola Cables, he is currently responsible for global strategy and business development on core company geographies plus, dealing with key customers, he drives the relationship while advising on best solutions and partnerships to achieve sales growth.

As a C-level representative he has a comprehensive understanding of the projects and global network value proposition:

The Monet subsea cable network which has been in operation since the end of 2017 that connects Santos, in São Paulo to Fortaleza, Brazil to Boca Raton in the USA.  

The recently commissioned South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) linking Luanda, Angola to Fortaleza in Brazil. The SACS cable is the first and fastest link between Africa and the Americas with the lowest latency and provides a more direct routing for internet traffic in the Southern Hemisphere.

The third project is the upgrade to the Angola Cable’s Tier III Data Centre in Praia do Futuro on the Ceará coast of Brazil. The data centre incorporates the SACS and Monet submarine cable landing stations. The advanced upgrades being made to the data and collocation centre are due to be completed in April 2019.

Paul Inglesby is a BSc and MSc Electrical Engineering graduate from University of Cape Town (UCT), Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) Professional Engineer (Pr. Eng), and a senior member of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE).

Mr. Inglesby was Telkom South Africa optical fibre, cables and systems technical specialist in the 1980’s and technology standards strategist from 1990 to 2010, actively participating and contributing at ETSI and ITU-T technology standards meetings.

Executive Board member of the Fixed Mobile Convergence Alliance (FMCA), an alliance of some 25 fixed and mobile global telecommunications operators (telcos) actively participating at board, plenary and technical working group level. One of the authors of the FMCA “Road to Full Convergence” Thought Leadership Paper (TLP) and worked on a number of Telkom / Vodacom innovative FMC projects from 2003 to 2010.

Since 2010, Paul has worked as an independent Telecoms-ICT individual offering strategic advisory professional services covering detailed technology audits, due diligence analysis and techno-economic analysis on which technologies to invest in, when, and how. Technology skills and experience in South Africa and the Sub-Saharan African territory covering technology/network infrastructure projects on Optical Fibres, Cables and Systems, Microwave, 2G/3G/4G-LTE/5G, VSAT, Wi-Fi, Small Cells, Carrier Ethernet, IP/MPLS, SDN/NFV, Cloud Computing, Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT), Security, Quality of Service/Quality of Experience (QoS/QoE), Network Management, OSS and BSS.

End-to-end CAPEX/OPEX costing Business Analyst for a Big Data Platform (BDP), Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI) project. Plan, build, and operate new RAN sites or adding capacity to the existing network represents a significant capital and operations expense within the annual budget of a MNO’s operations. The strategic objective of the BDP project was to minimize expenses in the areas that would provide maximum returns. The Business Analysis role and responsibilities involved a detailed understanding of a fixed and mobile network technologies, network architecture, protocols, interfaces, network management, operations support and billing systems and all the products and services that are delivered over the converged fixed mobile network. Sourced all the data that was associated with the fixed mobile network CAPEX and OPEX end to end spend i.e. RAN structure, rentals and leases, electricity, transmission access, transmission core, circuit and packet switched mobile core, IMS fixed mobile core, data communications network, value added services and next generation network intelligent network products and services, etc. Prepared and presented the CAPEX/OPEX source data for input into the BDP, which in turn utilized ML and AI technologies to optimize investment decision making.

Compile and present Internet of Things (IoT) technology and business strategy for a mobile data, WAN and Cloud Services companies. Detailed analysis and assessment of Present Mode of Operation (PMO), IoT market landscape analysis, Competitive analysis and Customer needs analysis in the IoT space. Prepare and present an update of the IoT standards and applications. Indicate what are the critical IoT network and business components, Value proposition and the Principles of the framework in which to operate an IoT network. Compilation of the IoT business plan indicating Merger Acquisition options. Prepare and present the findings and strategic recommendation. Compile a detailed Implementation Plan for the companies IoT networks

Training and coaching of telecoms-ICT technology standards, network design, products and services for engineers, technologists, technicians, sales and marketing, regulatory, and procurement services colleagues. Topics covered include, but not limited to : Internet of Things Standards and Applications, Optical Fibres, Cables and Systems, Optical Transport Network (OTN), Carrier Ethernet 2.0 Standards and Applications, Cloud Computing, Broadband Access Technologies (FTTH, ADSL, LTE/LTE-A, 5G, VSAT, Small Cells, Digital Microwave, etc.), Migrating from a legacy voice system to IP Telephony and Unified Communications, etc.

Working with Fixed/Mobile/ISP telcos undertaking “as is” present mode of operation (PMO) analysis of both legacy and next generation technology and network platforms, concept design, planning and engineering of a future mode of operation (FMO) based on international standards and best practices. Undertake gap analysis and assessment of PMO versus FMO providing strategic recommendations, an implementation plan with CAPEX and OPEX budget requirements over a 5-year period.

Paul Inglesby works with international and local telecoms-ICT companies, undertaking detailed market analyses, generation of leads, opening the doors, business introductions, scheduling, and attending B2B meetings. Provide strategic advisory services during the sales qualification of leads phase up to and including the closing of deals.

Asif Valley – I joined Microsoft in 2016 in the capacity of Cloud Development Lead, my primary role is to lead the Microsoft Data Centre Project across South and Central Africa. Prior to this I was at Oracle leading the Southern and Central Africa region as the Sales Director. Prior to this I joined IBM in Nov 2000 where I fulfilled a number of different roles over the 14 years I was there, the role prior to leaving was heading up the Business Partner Organisation for IBM South Africa.