Nigeria tops 2015 Demo Africa list

ITRealms

Nigeria has topped a list of the thirty technology start-ups from across Africa that will pitch at the 2015 version of the DEMO Africa event, ITRealms reports.

Nigeria comes tops this year with 8 representatives followed by Kenya with 6. South Africa is third with 3 representatives while Ghana, Egypt, Cameroon and Zimbabwe have two each. Uganda, Tanzania and latest entrant, Ivory Coast, have 1start-ups each.

Information reaching ITRealms said the highest represented category on the 2015 list is Finance and Banking with 8 products. Other popular categories include education, transport and logistics, retail, communication and media and entertainment.

The Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Mr. Peter Jack warmly congratulated the start-ups and welcomed them to Nigeria for the epic Pan African technology event.  "We are excited at the opportunities that technology has presented to our African youths in creating jobs and wealth. This is a great moment in the history of Africa, steadily rising to establish its digital footprint in the world. Congratulations to the finalists," Jack said.

The Executive Producer, DEMO Africa, Harry Hare, congratulated all the participating entrepreneurs saying "I would like to congratulate every entrepreneur that took part in the DEMO Africa challenge, though the stage can only accommodate thirty entrepreneurs this year, our pride is particularly in the large numbers of entrepreneurs that continue to support the cause to have Africa generated solutions." He stated..

The 30 start-ups, ITRealms gathered, have been selected from a list of over 600 hundred applicants. However, the selected start-ups will now be placed under a mentorship programme which will run till September 22, 2015. This programme is aimed at sharpening the pitching skills of the entrepreneurs in preparation for the DEMO Africa stage.

ITRealms learnt that interested people have continued to book their slots to witness the unveiling of the thirty products. The week-long event will take place between the 21st and 25th September, 2015 at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos Nigeria. Guests expected at the event include investors, IT buyers, IT consumers and media.

DEMO Africa is one of the flagship initiatives of LIONS@frica and aims to connect African startups to the global ecosystem. DEMO Africa is the place where the most innovative companies from African countries get a platform to launch their products and announce to Africa and the world what they have developed.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Unitel, Ericsson demo first LTE-Advanced in Africa

ITRealms:

In effort at showcasing its advanced technology, Ericsson has partnered Angolan leading mobile operator, Unitel to demo on the first Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-Advanced) in Africa, reports ITRealms.

The demonstration, ITRealms gathered is the first Africa’s data transmission on combined 

1800MHz and 900MHz spectrum bands on a commercial network on the continent.

Vice President, Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa, Magnus Mchunguzi, confirmed this to ITRealms, saying that by using LTE, operators could increase their network capacity and enhance the mobile broadband user experience, enabling up to 1Gbps data rates in the future.

“This demo places Unitel on the very limited list of operators in the world to demonstrate LTE-A in a live network using a commercial terminal. We are very proud to have partnered with Unitel in this achievement, further extending our long-standing relationship with Unitel,” Mchunguzi said.

Stressing that LTE advanced technology helps Unitel to match its spectrum assets, while enabling higher data speeds to increase network capacity and enhance end-user experience.

For the first time in Africa, Ericsson, together with Angola’s leading telecommunications provider Unitel, has successfully demonstrated LTE Advanced (LTE-A) Carrier Aggregation technology. The demonstration was done on both 1800MHz and 900MHz spectrum bands on a commercial network, using a commercial terminal, and took place on December 18, when Unitel transferred data across its live network in Luanda, Angola, carrying commercial traffic.

LTE Carrier Aggregation is the next step in the evolution of high-speed mobile broadband services, enabling operators to make the most of their existing spectrum assets by combining multiple spectrum bands to enable higher mobile broadband download speeds.

Amilcar Safeca, Deputy CEO of Unitel, said they will always innovate to enhance the customer experience. 

"With the global leap toward higher data access speeds for sophisticated video and mobility services; we are enhancing our network to ensure we continually provide high-quality services to our high-demanding subscriber base. With this demo, we are well on the way to launching the most advanced mobile network in Angola and perhaps Africa in the near future. We are working with Ericsson to make this happen,” Safeca said.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D