The 12th annual AfricaCom Conference and Exhibition opens its doors this week at the Cape Town International Conference Centre for the annual gathering of Africa`s telecommunications leaders. This is expected to be the biggest show to date with 4200 pre-registered participants (20% up on 2008) from 110 countries, with 224 different operator companies represented.

AfricaCom is the annual meeting place for all stakeholders in the continent`s telecoms market (operators, regulators, suppliers, investors, analysts) to learn about the latest trends, to share their experiences, to  network and to do business. The event comprises:

* a high-level strategic conference with 75 expert speakers (including a record 30 operators at C-level) and a multi-streamed conference programme covering all the strategic issues faced by Africa`s telecommunications stakeholders;

* a 200-stand exhibition representing the whole telecom ecosystem: large equipment manufacturers, local infrastructure solutions vendors, operators, wholesale carriers, satellite service providers, OSS/BSS vendors, call centre solutions, green solutions vendors, and more

* the AfricaCom Awards, recognising excellence in Africa`s telecommunications, celebrated with a gala dinner hosted by comedian David Kau, with a special appearance by singer and broadcaster Yvonne Chaka Chaka represented the event`s official charity Unicef

As the global economic situation has been a major concern in the business world this year, the event will provide a forum to discuss the status of the telecommunications sector on the continent, which has shown great resilience and continued growth under challenging conditions. “The event`s theme this year in `Sustaining growth in Africa`s communications markets`, and our objective is to provide telecoms professionals with a forum where they can share their experiences and work together to make the most of the great opportunities in the market”, says Julie Rey, Research Director at Informa Telecoms & Media, organiser of the event.

The event is supported by some of the biggest names in the market, from leading operator groups (, Zain, , , Etisalat and more) to equipment vendors and telecom solutions suppliers – the event is sponsored by  PCCI, ZTE, , Ericsson, Siemens Networks, Intelsat, Telecom Italia Sparkle, VNL, Alcatel-Lucent, EADS Astrium, Oracle, MTN, Alvarion, Comviva, ECI, Upstream, Gemalto, Harris Stratex, Opera Software, Celcite, Telenor, Motorola, Belgacom, Convergys, Acision, Oberthur, Turkkule, Omnitele, Smarttrust, Qualcomm, and Intivation.

If you`re not registered to attend, it is not too late to be there, find out more online http://squiz.informatm.com/africacom2009/register

For more information on AfricaCom , please visit www.comworldseries.com/africa



Tags: AfricaCom