The moment has arrived. The 25th Africa Tech Festival (with anchor events AfricaCom and AfricaTech), is set to welcome delegates on Tuesday 8 November 2022 at 09H00 with a keynote address in Auditorium 2 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. (CTICC).

As always, there is a lot going on over the three formal days of the event. We know that many of our media colleagues are already aware of some of the launches and press announcements that will take place, but here below, is a snapshot of others you may not be aware of.

Tuesday 8 November
Isizwe.com
An important announcement on their Kayamandi Fibre Project and their partnerships. The project is a unique and timely initiative that will revolutionise how Africans connect to the Internet.
For just R5 per day Kayamandi residents can access unlimited internet at speeds of more than 100mbps for 24 hours, uncapped.
Look out for the press release or send us an interview request for Alan Knott-Craig or Deon Geyser, CEO of Liquid Intelligent Technologies South Africa (one of the Partners) and we will put you directly in touch. This is a gamechanger for Africa.

European Investment Bank (EIB) – Stand A57
Contact persons: Martina Cimarosa on m.cimarosa@eib.org and Elijah Kimani on elijah@bcs-ea.com
EIB will announce a financing agreement between Bandwidth and Cloud Services Group.

AMDOCS – Stand C73
Contact person: Michael.Youds@amdocs.com
AR announcement:
Amdocs is launching Experience Africa at AfricaCom to highlight how telcos can acquire new customers by selling interactive packages that go beyond connectivity. Media are invited to try the demonstration for themselves.
As part of the demonstration, CSPs can offer their customers a dedicated travel package that includes tickets to attractions and experiences as well as 5G connectivity. An AR avatar tour guide accompanies users as they visit South Africa’s landmarks and points of interest, providing helpful information, with the option to buy contextualized extras such as additional data or an underwater camera for diving with sharks.

Globe Teleservices (GTS) – Stand A41
Contact person: Jensen Dhas on jensen.dhas@globeteleservices.com
GTS will announce a new ‘Flash Call Blocking Solution’, a firewall against flash calls to help protect MNO revenue and network, by regulating and blocking unwanted flash calls. There are studies that show that the number of flash calls used for authentication will grow to an estimated 5 billion by 2022. Someone can claim to be from a company and hijack user accounts by asking for the 4 to 6-digit verification code that is received by flash calling.
Benefits include Intercept & Block unwanted flash calls; Predict, prevent, and manage the dynamic nature of flash calls using our proprietary AI/ML engine; Monetize flash calls as an added revenue stream and Enjoy the lowest detection/barring times, and leverage advanced Big Data analytics.

Gambia Telecommunications Company Limited (GAMTEL)
VIP Village Sponsor
Contact person: Pa Touray on patouray@gamtel.gm
GAMTEL is one of Africa’s leading operators and will be pitching ist Next-Gen FWBA PPP proposal to potential investors and technology vendors.
The event activities will market Gamtel’s brand and disseminate information about GAMTEL’s NEXT-GEN Fixed Wireless Broadband Access (FWBA) Public-Private Partnership Proposal to tech vendors and the investor community via your platform, in order to meet the proposal’s 75% goals and deliverables for the turnaround strategy.

On Thursday 10th November:
Orange Virtual Press Conference
Orange would like to invite you to a 45 mins virtual press conference during which Jérôme Hénique, CEO, Orange Middle East and Africa will give you an update on the 5G landscape in and progress made so far in Africa, as well as the benefits and impact that 5G will have for businesses and consumers in the region.
Jérôme will be joined by Néné Maiga, CEO of Orange Botswana who will give a deeper dive into Orange Botswana’s work and brief you under embargo on some news due to be announced at 4pm GMT / 6pm CAT on 11th November. After a 15 mins presentation, Jérôme and Néné will answer your questions during a Q&A session.
The press conference will be held on Thursday 10th November at 8:00am GMT (10am CAT) via Microsoft teams.
Please confirm your presence to khadija.komara@orange.com and let her know if you do agree for the embargo of 4pm GMT / 6pm CAT, 11th November

A link to the press conference can be found here:

OTHER EVENTS TO NOTE
Media Tour of AfricaTech
Those attending the festival are to please be on the lookout for mails from us that will alert as to a guides media tour of some of the key attractions in the Africa Tech Hall. If you would like to register your interest for this in the meantime, please email kaz@networxpr.co.za with the subject line: ATF22 Media Tour.

AFEST
AFEST will welcome members of the media on Tuesday night 8 November 2022. Please. However, register your attendance with jeni@networxpr.co.za so we can guarantee entry.
For media interviews at this function please pre-arrange with Networx.