Discover, evaluate and know how to take advantage of all the infrastructure partnership opportunities in the Angolan Telecommunications sector

 This conference segment exclusively dedicated to the telecommunications sector aims to create a meeting, networking and mutual information sharing platform between all the stakeholders involved in the infrastructural development of this sector in Angola. The meeting will bring together high level officials from the Angolan Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technologies, senior executives and engineers from public companies, senior executives and engineers from companies supplying services and products to the telecommunications infrastructure and financial environment institutions involved in the sector. The agenda will be led by topics such as service maximization through satellite technology, infrastructure sharing and technological convergence. This section of the conference will also deal with issues such as the trends in the Angolan telecommunications legislation, as well as technologies and solutions to maximize service access in urban and rural areas. The objective is to enable all participants to take successful advantage of all the partnership opportunities.

 The infrastructure development programme

According to the recent announcement made by the Angolan Telecommunications and Information Technologies Minister, José Carvalho da Rocha, the government’s strategic plan is to create supporting infrastructures to telecommunications. This plan involves the creation of infrastructures such as Angosat, Infrasat and Angola Cables, which enable the establishment of an Angolan fibre optic network to connect the country’s 18 provinces. Another one of the priorities is to connect Angola to national borders, in order to enable interconnection with African backbones. During the first phase, the execution of this plan will run until 2012 with an expected investment of 800 million dollars.

Private sector participation opportunities

In the same vein, the Angolan executive makes allusion to the telecommunications white paper as an essential tool to stimulate sector development, and as a reference for the sector’s opening up to public private partnerships and for new mobile operators to enter the market.

 Current projects

• USD 800 million project portfolio: the Angolan Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technologies announced a telecommunications project portfolio of USD 800 million, to be implemented in 2012. The projects relate mainly to fibre optic expansion, Satellite Telecommunications System (Infrasat) and the launch of the Angolan satellite Angolasat, estimated to cost in the region of USD 327 million.

• Telecommunications – Novicel: project for the upgrade, expansion and exploration of mobile telephony and internet data services in national territory, in an investment estimated to cost USD 300 million.

• Subsea cable Brazil – Angola: the project will be implemented in partnership with Brazilian company Telebras and Angolan company Angola Cable. The selection of the company that will embody the project will take place in 2012.

• Interconnection of 18 provinces by means of fibre optics: this project will be implemented in various phases and cover ten thousand kilometres of fibre optic for its conclusion, and shall later include the connection between municipalities and communes.

• Reestablishment of the rural telephony service expansion Liga-Liga: reactivation of up to 600 aerials or telecentres in 2012, with an estimated value of USD 2 million.

• Plan for the Meteorology sector: Strategic Development Plan for the period 2011-2018, with an estimated cost of more than USD 116 million, still awaiting government approval. It aims to enable human resources and upgrade the observation network with the installation, until 2018, of more than 600 stations. Pursuant to this, the Meteorology and Geophysical Institute, INAMET, recently indicated the need to acquire at least 9 radars, with an estimated cost of USD 2 million each.

 Why attend

• Know the government’s strategy to maximise services through satellite technology
• Know why 4^th generation services constitute the innovation strategy for the incumbent
• Evaluate the expansion and upgrade programmes of the fibre optic network
• Discover to what extent the new international undersea cable will determine future infrastructural development
• Discuss possibilities for infrastructure sharing and service convergence in Angola
• Evaluate in detail the current telecommunications legislation and find out about its future trends
• Contact the sector’s decision-makers in Angola

 Highlighted speakers

• Representative, Angolan Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technologies, Senior Executive Member, Unitel, Angola

• Dr. Sílvio Amado, President, Angolan Association of Internet Providers

• Dr. Francisco Ferreira, Managing Director, Cable TV Angola

• Senior Executive Member, Unitel, Angola

• Mr. Paulo Garcia, Deputy Managing Director, Startel, Angola

• Mr. Ângelo Gama, Engineering Manager, MSTelcom, Angola

• Senior Executive Member, Angola Telecom

• Mr. Thabio Thukani, Government & Industry Relations, Ericson, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa

• Dr. Filipe Batista, Executive Secretary, ARCTEL, CPLP Association of Communications and Telecommunications Regulators, Portugal

• Mr. Yon Moreira da Silva Jnr, Movicel, Angola