Africa represents a massive - and growing - opportunity for the international networking and telecommunication vendor community. Defining exactly what this opportunity constitutes and how it can be capitalised on, however, remains the know-how of the few and the brave.
"Our strategy into Africa is marked by our proven competence in the mobile space. Wireless communication makes up a significant portion of the market opportunity Africa represents. Partners are vital to our penetration into the African market," says Yves Roux, VP African Region at Nortel Networks.
With a limited copper infrastructure, wireless is the most logical way forward into the region. Nortel Networks has been a strong player in the mobile space with notable growth in GSM and UMTS in Europe, and CDMA in North America. "We`re particularly well positioned to take advantage of these opportunities in Africa," Roux says.
He adds that the adoption of mobile technology in Africa is unparalleled. "Mobile technology is the easiest to implement and also the most widely accepted technology in Africa.
"Across Africa, teledensity is less than 1%, and considering the massive size of the African population the opportunity for Nortel Networks is vast, and continues to grow," he says.
While mobile technology represents the greatest potential, it does not detract from the company`s focus on the enterprise space.
"For many African corporates and SMEs, the Internet opens up the world of information and enables trade communications into the US and Europe. The desire of the business populace to get connected represents further opportunity for Nortel Networks, with convergence becoming another key consideration.
"While SA will be the base from which Nortel Networks will penetrate the sub-Saharan region, we will also aim to establish a more significant presence through distributors in Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania; areas where the greatest success can be had," says Roux.
"While Africa has known and associated risks, we`re confident with the direction we`re taking and this calculated approach to the region should offer great rewards."
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Nortel Networks is an industry leader and innovator focused on transforming how the world communicates and exchanges information. The company is supplying its service provider and enterprise customers with communications technology and infrastructure to enable value-added IP data, voice and multimedia services spanning wireless networks, wireline networks, enterprise networks and optical networks. As a global company, Nortel Networks does business in more than 150 countries. More information about Nortel Networks can be found on the Web at www.nortelnetworks.com.
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