{"id":6315,"date":"2020-11-11T13:38:53","date_gmt":"2020-11-11T13:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/press\/press-releases\/network-operators-risk-missing-massive-opportunity-to-drive-change-says-upstream-at-africacom-2020\/"},"modified":"2023-05-08T10:08:00","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T10:08:00","slug":"network-operators-risk-missing-massive-opportunity-to-drive-change-says-upstream-at-africacom-2020","status":"publish","type":"press_release","link":"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/pt-br\/press\/press-releases\/network-operators-risk-missing-massive-opportunity-to-drive-change-says-upstream-at-africacom-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Network Operators Risk Missing \u201cMassive Opportunity\u201d To Drive Change Says Upstream at AfricaCom 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p><em><strong>Upstream\u2019s Chief Commercial Officer, Raul Martinez, outlines the importance of diversifying revenue streams &amp; exploring digital trends to close Africa\u2019s digital divide<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><strong>London, November 11, 2020 <\/strong>Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are missing a \u201c<em>massive opportunity<\/em>\u201d to bridge the digital gap in Africa as the COVID-19 pandemic alters the telecoms landscape. That\u2019s according to mobile technology company, Upstream, who spoke at the first exclusively virtual AfricaCom 2020.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img class=\"wp-image-5028\" src=\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Upstream-AfricaCom-PR-1024x536.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>During the three-day event, which ran from 9 &#8211; 12 November, Upstream\u2019s Chief Commercial Officer, Raul Martinez, shared his thoughts on the future of African telecoms and the important role MNOs would need to play in shaping its future. Participating in the panel \u201c<em>Protecting profit in a landscape of changing operator models<\/em>\u201d on day two of the event, Martinez began by outlining the unique challenges faced by MNOs in Africa when it comes to growing and diversifying their revenue streams, but he also talked of great opportunities and the \u201cuntapped potential\u201d in the region.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\r\n<p>\u201c<em>It\u2019s becoming increasingly relevant in these COVID times to look for additional revenue sources and capture opportunities that arise as a result of a dramatic shift in consumer behavior,<\/em>\u201d he commented. Martinez revealed that Upstream had carried out a joint worldwide survey of MNO executives in partnership with the Technology Innovation Council. The survey, due to be published in full soon, found that 75% of operators acknowledged that COVID-19 had in some way expedited or altered their digital transformation journey.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Martinez framed this as a positive opportunity for growth and diversification, before going on to outline the role Upstream is playing in helping MNOs seize those opportunities.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The company\u2019s Zero-D platform, which enables MNOs to provide free, basic ad-funded internet access to millions of low-income consumers, is already live with operators in South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Tunisia and The Democratic Republic of the Congo. The platform also has pending partnerships with three more operators in Nigeria and Tunisia, and will soon hit a new milestone of 200 million mobile subscribers in the continent.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>As the panel went on, Martinez shifted the discussion back to the MNOs themselves, highlighting the unique characteristics that work in their favor. He referenced long customer engagements, easy customer segmentation, the wealth of transactional data available, an evolving payments ecosystem, distribution, and of course, reach and coverage. All of these, he argued, uniquely position MNOs to capitalize on nationwide trends and shape their services to better match the needs of consumers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\r\n<p>What makes this difficult, according to Martinez, are the \u201cgaps\u201d in resources, focus and skills that leave MNOs unable to capitalize on the huge opportunities that lie in wait. \u201c<em>I remember having lengthy CAPEX approval discussions for building a self-care app but very few when it came to deploying 3G or 4G coverage,<\/em>\u201d he explained. \u201c<em>Even if resources can be made available, the focus is normally very much skewed towards the core business and in the constant competitive pricing battles.<\/em>\u201d Upstream\u2019s CCO also outlined the need for a very specific set of skills that aren\u2019t always available within each MNO, and are often scarce in the wider labor pool in emerging markets like those of the African continent.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The discussion then shifted toward disruptive technologies like 5G, artificial intelligence and IoT, and whether or not these should be a focus of MNOs in the region.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\r\n<p><em>\u201cThe fact of the matter is that in Africa, only 9% of the subscriptions are 4G and less than 40% of subscribers even have a smartphone. To bridge this gap is the first disruption that is yet to materialize in the market and the opportunity for MNOs to drive this change is massive.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>AfricaCom is part of the Africa Tech Festival, the largest and most influential tech and telecoms event on the continent. Upstream also made an appearance at NigeriaCom in September, where Deputy CEO Kostas Kastanis discussed the future of Nigerian telecoms and how to stimulate digital growth in the region.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>###<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><strong>For more information please contact:<\/strong><br \/>Upstream Corporate Communications<br \/>\u0395: corp.comms@upstreamsystems.com<br \/>P: +30210 6618532 +30210 6618507<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are missing a \u201cmassive opportunity\u201d to bridge the digital gap in Africa as the COVID-19 pandemic alters the telecoms&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":5743,"parent":0,"template":"","tags":[482,513,415,366,454,514,515,516,370],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Network Operators Risk Missing \u201cMassive Opportunity\u201d To Drive Change Says Upstream at AfricaCom 2020 - Upstream<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/pt-br\/press\/press-releases\/network-operators-risk-missing-massive-opportunity-to-drive-change-says-upstream-at-africacom-2020\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"pt_PT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Network Operators Risk Missing \u201cMassive Opportunity\u201d To Drive Change Says Upstream at AfricaCom 2020 - Upstream\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are missing a \u201cmassive opportunity\u201d to bridge the digital gap in Africa as the COVID-19 pandemic alters the telecoms...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/pt-br\/press\/press-releases\/network-operators-risk-missing-massive-opportunity-to-drive-change-says-upstream-at-africacom-2020\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Upstream\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-08T10:08:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Upstream-AfricaCom-PR.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Upstream\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/\",\"sameAs\":[],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"pt-BR\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/brand.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/brand.svg\",\"width\":135,\"height\":38,\"caption\":\"Upstream\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/\",\"name\":\"Upstream\",\"description\":\"The leading martech company\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"pt-BR\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"pt-BR\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/pt-br\/press\/press-releases\/network-operators-risk-missing-massive-opportunity-to-drive-change-says-upstream-at-africacom-2020\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Upstream-AfricaCom-PR.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Upstream-AfricaCom-PR.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":628},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/pt-br\/press\/press-releases\/network-operators-risk-missing-massive-opportunity-to-drive-change-says-upstream-at-africacom-2020\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.upstreamsystems.com\/pt-br\/press\/press-releases\/network-operators-risk-missing-massive-opportunity-to-drive-change-says-upstream-at-africacom-2020\/\",\"name\":\"Network Operators Risk Missing \u201cMassive Opportunity\u201d To Drive Change Says Upstream at AfricaCom 2020 - 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