The annual AfricaCom Awards shortlist has been released, with an overwhelming number of excellent entries having been submitted this year.
Tom Cuthell (Portfolio Director at KNect365, organizer of AfricaCom and the AfricaCom Awards) said: “The AfricaCom Awards grow in stature each year as a direct result of the quality of the works that are submitted for consideration.
“The ever-evolving digital ecosphere has led to some exceptional innovation in the sector, which in turn has advanced Africa’s own digital revolution.
“It gives us great pleasure as organizers of AfricaCom and the awards to acknowledge those who are truly connecting the continent.”
The nominees – in no particular order – are:
Best Network Improvement
- Liquid Telecom – Completion of the Cape to Cairo fibre route
- Parallel Wireless – Enabling cost-effective 2G/3G/4G to bridge the digital divide in Africa
- Orange – MOSAÏC
- Ericsson and MTN Rwanda – the best performing networks with MTN Rwanda
- Huawei Technologies – Africa 1st Lampsite Pro network
Mauritius Telecom – Single RAN implementation
Delivering Excellence in Customer Experience
- Huawei Technologies – Customer experience management (CEM) for Ghana
- Keyrus and Dassault Systemes – OmniFlow
- Nokia and MTN CEM – MTN Nigeria deploys Nokia’s software to deliver a superior subscriber experience
- Orange – One customer one offer
Secure-D powered by Upstream – Secure-D - Mahindra Comviva – iPACS Unified CRM and sales and distribution products and the MobiLytix campaign management and digital care
Fintech Innovation Award - Econet Wireless (Cassava Fintech) and Mahindra Comviva – EcoCash Merchant Payments powered by mobiquity Money
- Famoco – Famoco QR Payment Gateway
Most Innovative use of AI Technology
- Huawei Technologies – Huawei PowerStar
- ETIYA – ETIYA Customer Service Management
- Ericsson and Orange Botswana – MATE Automation rule for Topological Correlation for Orange Botswana
- Simfony – Immediate IoT Infrastructure
Most Innovative Service
- Orange – Rural Electrification
- Ericsson – Ericsson Weather Data- Casting Rainfall
- Huawei Technologies – Huawei’s WTTx solution
- Mauritius Telecom with Huawei – the next generation 4K IPTV service
- Orange – M-VACCIN
- Orange – Orange School
- BRCK – Moja WiFi Changing Lives Award Ericsson and Wot-if?
- Trust – eHUB Diepsloot South Africa
- MTN and HUAWEI – RuralStar –
Connecting the Unconnected
- Econet Wireless (Cassava Fintech) and Mahindra Comviva – EcoCash powered by mobiquity Money
- Liquid Telecom – Pan-African Innovation Partnership Programme
- Famoco – Famoco digital wallets to transform Development Aid in Emerging Markets
- Spreadtrum Communications (Shanghai) Co.,Ltd. – SC7731E
- Orange – Orange School
- MTN Uganda, Intelsat and ITSO – Mobile Reach Solar 3G
IoT Product Service of the Year
- Yego Innovision Limited – Yegomoto
- SqwidNet – IoT product or service of the year
- Orange – Smart metering
- Orange – X-Agri
- UROS – UROS Smart Water Cycle
- Tata Communications – Tata Communications MOVE
Best Innovation in Digital Entertainment Solution
- Kwesé iflix – Best innovation in digital entertainment
- Kwesé Play Limited – Kwesé Play (Roku Powered)
- Mauritius Telecom and Huawei – the next generation 4K IPTV service
- Telecoming – Zaplium
Other awards that form part of the 2018 line-up include:
AfricaCom Enterprise CXO of the Year Awards – public vote that recognises the outstanding achievements of CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, CDOs and others in driving innovation within the African enterprise space.
The AfricaCom CXO of the Year Award – recognises the outstanding achievements of CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, CDOs and others in driving development across telecommunications and technology in ‘Digital Africa’.
Orange Social Venture Prize
The AfricaCom Awards will also see the Orange Social Venture Prize awarded to a winning innovative project based on ICT which improves the living conditions of people in Africa and the Middle East in fields such as education, healthcare, farming, mobile payments or sustainable development.
Supported by PCCW Global, the awards will be held on November 14 at the Lookout in Granger Bay, Cape Town.
‘Mardi Gras’ is the theme for this year’s celebrations, so guests are invited to dress accordingly to add to the festive occasion.
Those registered delegates and visitors not participating in the awards, can still take advantage of the festive spirit by attending the free after party.
The day of the awards is also AfricaCom’s 21st anniversary.
AfricaCom 2018 will bring together 14 000 attendees, 450 speakers and 400 exhibitors showcasing technologies and solutions covering everything from 5G, AI, IoT, Fintech, Blockchain and beyond, with a host of new content and exciting developments.
By:Zuviel Joshua Naazie
