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IAB BOOKMARKS AWARDS Special Section

Nigeria hosts 2009 West & Central Africa Com

The 6th West & Central Africa Com conference will take place from 17 - 18 June 2009 in Abuja, Nigeria. According to Informa Telecoms & Media's World Cellular Information Service, growth remains robust in Nigeria: in the last quarter of 2008, the West Africa market recorded the highest number of net additions since GSM was introduced in 2001.
Nigeria hosts 2009 West & Central Africa Com

Nigerian operators added seven million subscriptions in the last quarter of 2008, up 83% from 3.7 million net additions in the previous year and 49% higher than the previous quarter's figure. The number of subscriptions in Nigeria grew 51% in 2008, to 63 million. Despite the launch of GSM services by Etisalat at the end of 2008, the growth was fuelled mainly by market leader MTN and by Zain, the latter having taken over Glo Mobile as the second-largest operator in 3Q08. MTN accounted for 42% of Nigeria's net additions in 4Q08, followed by Zain (19%) and CDMA operator Visafone (14%).

The CEO's of Nigeria's top operators, MTN's Ahmad Farroukh, Zain's Bayo Ligali and Etisalat's Steven E. Evans are scheduled to give keynote presentations at West & Central Africa Com, the annual event for the region's telecoms professionals. They will be joined by some of their competitors in Nigeria's booming market (with the heads of alternative operators Reliance Telecom, Pinet Informatics, and GiCell Wireless Limited) and their counterparts in other West & Central Africa key markets: MTN Cameroon, Kasapa Ghana, Intercel Guinea, Sotelgui Guinea, IBN Corporate Gabon, Comium Ivory Coast and more.

The event is endorsed by Nigeria's Minister for Information & Communications, Prof. Dora Nkem Akunyili, and is supported by the major vendors involved in the region, including international infrastructure solutions providers, Ericsson, and local companies Helios Towers and IHS.

The event will cover Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Headline speakers:


  • Prof. Dora Nkem Akunyili, Hon. Minister for I&C, Government of Nigeria
  • Christian De Faria, VP- West & Central Africa, MTN Group
  • Ahmed Farroukh, CEO, MTN Nigeria
  • Robert Palitz, Managing Director, Kasapa Telecom, Ghana
  • Colin Mukete, Chairman, MTN Cameroon
  • Usman Gumi, President, GiCell Wireless, Nigeria
  • Francois Nze, Director General, Comium Cote d'Ivoire
  • Bruce Ayonote, Chairman, Suburban Telecom, Nigeria
  • Robert Aouad, CEO, Isocel Telecom, Benin
  • Fazal Hussein, CEO, Helios Towers, Nigeria

For more information, go to www.comworldseries.com/wcafrica.

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