Record Numbers Expected at Africa`s Annual Congress for the Telecoms Industry in Cape Town

CAPE TOWN, South Africa--(Business Wire)--
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 is
`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 (MTN, Zain, Vodacom, Orange, Etisalat and more) to equipment
vendors and telecom solutions suppliers - the event is sponsored by PCCI, ZTE,
Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia 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

Informa Telecoms & Media
Caroline Wiezien
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5605
Email: caroline.wiezien@informa.com
Website: www.comworldseries.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009