Chamayou: ICT Collaboration Will Enhance Innovative Solutions in Africa
Vice President, Strategy, Marketing and Communications, Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa, Tumi Chamayou, spoke with Emma Okonji on Ericsson’s innovative ICT solutions and the need for collaboration among global companies to drive development in Africa. Excerpt
Ericsson made several announcements on its new innovative solutions on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) during the recently concluded AfricaCom Series in Cape Town, South Africa. What were the innovative solutions all about? It is all about the innovative things we did at AfricaCom 2015, which opened from Tuesday November 17 to Thursday November 19th in Cape Town, South Africa.
We carried out new and exciting things and this is important for us because we are looking at ways to impact the lives of African people, through our technology solutions. Our vision at Ericsson is to improve people’s lives by developing technology solutions that will enhance their experience through ICT.
The population of Africa is over one billion, out of which, only 630 million people are connected and that is about 70 per cent of the entire population. Five yeas ago, we had less than 30 per cent of connected people. So we are making inroads in connecting people and also changing the values of industries. What we are looking at is not just a change about connected people, but also a change among industries that will bring about huge transformation in Africa. We need a navigation transport system that will make life much more easier for people and get themselves connected to various destinations in a new way. The Uber taxi, for instance, is taking Africans by storm and it is becoming very relevant on the African continent. We are also looking at change in the agricultural sector, which is gradually increasing its contributions to the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) in Africa, through various applications that allow innovations. In the financial industry, there is also new developments through the electronic wallet (e-wallet) and the impact that MPESA is creating in East Africa, especially in Kenya. We are looking at creating such penetration in order parts of Africa, through our innovative ICT solutions.
So what is Ericsson’s involvement in the innovative ICT solutions for Africans? Ericsson is looking at how it can facilitate in helping Africans utilise ICT for faster development and to quickly tap into the benefits that ICT brings. We do not want to reinvent the wheels, but we want to be able to to utilise available infrastructure to boost African experience.
At the Mobile World Congress this year, we started discussions with industry leaders around the ecosystem, asking ourselves what is the best way people could benefit from the present ecosystem.
At the just concluded AfricaCom, we showcased new technologies and we are currently driving the Ericsson AHUB initiative, where Ericsson and other technology solution providers are showcasing new technologies. The initiative will bring about innovative solutions that will drive the innovativeness of existing users of these technologies. On the one hand, we are showcasing Ericsson solutions and on the other, we are bringing new innovative solutions. Again the Ericsson AHUB will bring in investors that will invest in new solutions and in the entrepreneurs that are developing the solutions.
The idea of Ericsson AHUB is to move from the old ways of ICT exhibitions, to a new way of organising conferences, where discussions are designed to make people more excited about technology. We are also ensuring that operators use the technology solutions to meet the needs of end users.
What are the specific innovative solutions that Ericsson showcased at the 2015 AfricaCom Series in South Africa? At AfricaCom, we showcased the Ericsson Radio System, which allows operators in the field of telecommunications, to operate efficiently and in the most profitable way, and also add value to their end users. So we designed a new solution on the Ericsson radio system that focuses on space utilisation and energy efficiency. The whole essence of the Ericsson Radio System is to ensure sustainability in terms of the design and utilisation, and to also ensure that we optimise the network performance of operators.
Another solution that we showcased is the Ericsson Volvo Connected Cars, that will assist cars to be connected to cloud solutions and it supports virtual utilisation of roads and cars and it enhances drivers’ experience on the roads.
With the connected car solution, cars will be able to communicate when it needs to be repaired, when it is due for servicing, when certain parts of the car becomes faulty and a whole lot of things that the car will be communicating to the user, the driver. It makes the car to be stable at all times. We came up with this solution in partnership with other solution providers.
Again we showcased the Ericsson clinical remote control solution, which allows Medical Doctors to attend to their patients from remote parts of the city. So it actually allows patents to have access to Medical Doctors from a distance, thereby eliminating distance barrier to good health care.
We also introduced Streamer solution that allows people to stream and share contents among their groups.
What kind of partnership has Ericsson developed with other solution providers to drive the initiative on innovative solution for Africa? In the area of partnership, we are partnering a lot of companies such as Intel, IBM, MTN and we have also showcased some of the solutions we are releasing in partnership with these companies. With Intel, we are looking at collaboration on the utilisation of cloud solution, and with IBM, we are looking at collaboration on access management solution as well as inventory management solution. With MTN, we are looking at water solution that will be able to alert users on when the water in their water reservoirs and water tanks are running low.
What is the nature of the partnership deal, will it be a one off thing or it is marriage that will be for eternity? Ericsson views innovation as a global issue that needs global collaboration that will last as long as challenges of man persist. For example, our partnership with Cisco is about two global and leading organisations, coming together to aggregate our different solutions for a more effective result and user experience. So it is a new development that is bringing about change in the way we do things. Ericsson has its own solutions addressing different areas of needs, but collaboration will certainly bring about further acceleration in the technology space.
What kind of value will the Ericsson Radio System solution add to telecoms operators? In Africa, we find ourselves with legacy systems and operators are looking for ways to become much more efficient in their operations. Voice has been one of the main drivers of revenues for the telecoms operators, but today, it is shifting to data. So as data applications are being created, operators are looking for ways to be more efficient in their service deliveries, and there are couple of ways to create efficiency in data applications business. Some systems are on-grid, while some others are off-grid and both operational systems require efficiency. So based on the need for efficiency, Ericsson came up with a Radio System solution that is of two folds and requires lesser space for the on-grid infrastructure and builds energy efficiency for the operators. The Ericsson Radio System solution will also help operators in optimising their networks in other to give better customer experience.
How effective will the Ericsson Connected Car solution be in a city like Lagos, where there are lots of vehicular movement and traffic congestion, including low speed of broadband connectivity? What Ericsson did was to identify the challenges of heavy vehicular movement on the roads of African continent and then provided solutions to address the challenges. We should not always look at constraints and impossibility but should always focus our minds on innovations and possibilities and that is what Ericsson stands for. Yes, there are congestions and low bandwidth connectivity in Lagos and Ericsson has developed solutions that will address all of that. For us at Ericsson, we believe there are certain basic issues that Africans need to solve and that is why Ericsson is always innovative. For example, the Uber taxi app solution is helping motorists to do some forms of navigation on our roads and it is addressing some key challenges.
What Ericsson is doing is to use data analytics to do some forms of predictions and come up with solutions that will address the needs of people.
How have the solutions that were showcased at the previous edition of AfricaCom, impacted the lives of people and economies? Yes, the previous solutions displayed at the previous editions of AfricaCom have been impacting the economies in different ways. Challenges are evolving and so are these solutions evolving every year to address the challenges. The ICT sector alone has impacted every other sectors of the global economies through its innovative solutions, in such a way that no other sector has done. From the global financial sector to health, education, aviation, agriculture, among others, ICT has impacted on them in various ways, through connectivity.
In the area of global collaboration, which of the solution companies will be responsible for driving the combined ICT solution? The truth is that we are not coming together as one global body to provide global solutions, but we will collaborate in areas were we have similarity in our solutions and thereby think of better ways to improve business agility among end users of our solutions. We are engaging in different areas and in so doing, we think about how we can come together and use our individual solutions to better the lives of people.
MPESA, which is a mobile financial service, is gaining a lot of traction and adoption level in East Africa, especially in Kenya, but we are not seeing such massive adoption and impact in Nigeria in terms of mobile payment solution. What could be the reason for this? The Kenya mobile payment system took off fast and it is gaining so much acceptance and adoption levels in Kenya for various reasons, but that is not to say it is not working in Nigeria, because it is already working in Nigeria, even though at a different speed level. Environmental and regulatory factors and the level of orientation, helped MPESA to pick up fast in East Africa. For West Africa, Nigeria in particular, I will say the mobile payment system is also working and it has the potential to penetrate deeper, provided the issue of regulation is promptly addressed. For me, I think that the regulatory environment is one obstacle that is affecting the speedy growth of mobile money among West Africa countries.