Page 20 - SAMENA Trends - September-October 2022

INTERVIEW SAMENA TRENDS

5G deployment must be seen from different lens must be of paramount importance. I would
also emphasize on developing a legacy
altogether. Cloud deployment models are better suited rationalization plan and hiring and retaining
as it provides better agility and scalability. There critical skills relevant to emerging 5G
technologies.
are multitude of cloud’s possibilities which must be

carefully considered including Central, EDGE, Far- Q. Will the rollout of 5G in Africa accelerate
digital transformation initiatives?
Edge, as different use cases require different setup. A. 5G is a key accelerator for digital
Building a smooth, 3GPP complied and clear-cut 5G transformation. It is a platform to enable
differentiated experience for consumers
deployment roadmap with business use cases should and enterprises. 5G roll out in Africa will
be one of the key priorities. have compounding effect on economies,
consumer, and enterprises. The GSMA
estimates that mobile technologies and
Q. What do you see as challenges for is a lack of specialized local skillsets and services generated 9% of GDP in sub-
enterprises in Africa as 5G networks are manpower for emerging technologies in Saharan Africa in 2019 – a contribution
deployed across the continent? Africa. that amounted to more than $155bn of
A. Despite the projected growth and economic value added. This figure is
excitement over the potential of 5G in Africa, Q. What are some of the critical aspects expected to increase significantly in the 5G
there are apprehensions about investor and CIOs and IT teams should keep in mind era, especially as the technology will have a
market readiness for the technology. In when deploying 5G in their IT environment? greater application in enterprise use cases,
Africa, we see few potential infrastructural, A. 5G has been designed differently than its compared to previous generations. In sub-
operational and manpower challenges predecessor technologies and has adopted Saharan Africa, 5G FWA will be a primary
that needs to be addressed on priority to web scale deployment architecture and use case for enterprises and consumers.
ensure a seamless deployment of 5G. For methodology. Hence 5G deployment must This will have multifold increase in
instance, 5G requires spectrum within multi be seen from different lens altogether. Cloud consumption of highspeed broadband
frequency ranges. Its availability and cost deployment models are better suited as it and other related applications. To achieve
have an impact on the profitability. Due to provides better agility and scalability. There the vision of Digital Transformation, key
the high costs of building 5G infrastructure, are multitude of cloud’s possibilities which industry players including telco companies,
coverage is not expected to be widespread must be carefully considered including enterprises, system integrators, application
for another four or five years. Big commercial Central, EDGE, Far-Edge, as different use providers, device manufacturers must
deployments will likely be restricted to a cases require different setup. Building a collaborate with a common goal to unlock
minority of countries in Africa. More than smooth, 3GPP complied and clear-cut 5G the potential of 5G and bring the new real
60% of subscribers still use legacy services deployment roadmap with business use life use cases for both consumer and
due to lack of availability of affordable cases should be one of the key priorities. enterprises in Africa. 5G wireless network
devices. Hence, subscriber migrations will They should strategically plan to minimize brings high speed, low-latency, reliability,
be a challenge to CSPs. If we look at the vendor lock-in, and mismatch in hardware and edge computing power, which enables
operational challenges, end-to-end service- vendors, network configurations and seamless, smart, connected experiences,
based operations lead to transformational policies. Actively provisioned deployment new edge use cases like AR/VR, and
complexity in stack and processes. New and 5G service monitoring is necessary to widespread IoT deployment. The arrival
architecture and platforms promote ensure seamless operation. Automation of 5G is all set to transform the enterprise
disruptive technologies that require a new coupled with predictive and proactive world, accelerate Industry 4.0 digitalization
operational model. Diminishing traditional monitoring is also vital since real time journey and enable much-needed business
revenue will create a need for finding new application will be using underlying 5G transformation in Africa.
models of investments. Additionally, there network infrastructure and availability

20 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2022