CCT Africa 2025 Agenda
Monday 7 July 2025
​
PRE CCT 2025 GOLF EVENT hosted by Angola Cables & Ciena
8:00am: Meeting time for transfer to the Golf club
9:00am: Tee-off time
1.30pm: Lunch on the 18th hole
Location: Montchoisy Golf Club
​
​
All CCT Africa 2025 attendees are invited to participate.
Attendees must confirm participation by emailing racheljones@theintelligentnetwork.net
6:15pm Pre-event Cocktail Reception hosted by CMC Networks
7.45pm Beach BBQ hosted by WIOCC
​
​
Day One: Tuesday 8th July 2025
8.15am Registration and Coffee
8.30am Welcome Remarks
​
8.35am | KEYNOTE MINISTERIAL OPENING
RESILIENCY AND PROTECTING AFRICA’S DIGITAL FUTURE THROUGH INVESTMENT IN CRITICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE: BUILDING A UNIFIED DIGITAL MARKET THROUGH CREATING A MORE
INTERCONNECTED AND DIGITALLY ADVANCED AFRICA
​
Dr the Hon Avinash RAMTOHUL, Minister of Information Technology, Communication and
Innovation, Mauritius​​​​
​
Eng. John Tanui, The Principal Secretary, State Department for ICT & Digital Economy
MINISTRY OF INFORMATION, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE DIGITAL ECONOMY, Kenya
​
​
9.30am | KEYNOTE SPOTLIGHT: THE LAST 12 MONTHS AND THE NEXT 12 MONTHS - ACCELERATING THE PACE OF CHANGE IN DRIVING AFRICA’S DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION FORWARD
​
- The last 12 months; why is it different and what has changed?
- Growth – where has the growth come from?
- Demand – have the drivers of demand changed? What is causing declining corporate bandwidth revenues?
- Political risks – how are the new political risks impacting on the CCT ecosystem across the continent?
- Economic risks – what impact will the global economic risks have on the development of infrastructure and
connectivity across the continent and the wider ecosystem?
- What impact will increasing cybersecurity risks have, and what needs to be done to manage them?
- Cloud and revenues -lack of progress and speed outside South Africa? How does Africa host its own content; local players vs hyperscalers
- Subsea resiliency and diversity – what has changed since the cable cuts and Red Sea challenges?
The next 12 months
- Leveraging new technologies; the role AI will play and when? Bringing new capabilities to the network
- New cross-border collaboration and partnerships to enhance connectivity
- New investment opportunities: what needs to be put in place to encourage tech companies to invest
- New partnerships to accelerate development: satellite, wireless, terrestrial
​
Moderator: Russell Southwood, CEO, BALANCING ACT
​
Speakers:
Ian Paterson, GROUP CEO, CSQUARED
Schalk Erasmus, CEO, PARATUS GROUP
Alpheus Mangale, CEO, SEACOM
Mugo Kibati, CEO, TELKOM KENYA
Germàn Cufrè, Global Head, Digital Infrastructure and Creative Industries, IFC
​​
​​​
10.30am Coffee Break
​
11.00am | SOLVING THE END-TO-END CONNECTIVITY CHALLENGES: FIBRE NETWORK EXPANSION, CROSS-BORDER AND INLAND CONNECTIVITY COLLABORATION – CO-INVESTING, CO-OPERATION AND SHARING INFRASTRUCTURE
​
- New terrestrial fibre routes – progress update from the 2024 MoU
- Joining the dots – what needs to happen next? Which countries, which routes, where are the bottlenecks?
- Assessing strategic positions to move traffic North & East; linking Central African countries
- How can we work together to deliver the fibre connectivity needed across Africa? – cross border partnerships
- Fibre sharing, infrastructure sharing, cross-border fibre projects and in-country mergers, inland partnerships
- Putting robust infrastructure in rural areas and the role of LEOs
- Investment needed to progress land partnerships; accessing funding
​
Moderator: Lanre Kolade, Chairman, CONNECTED COMPUTE
​
Speakers:
Stanley Jegede, Chairman, PHASE 3 TELECOM
El Hadji Maty Sene, Strategy & Planning Director, SONATEL
Ryan Sher, COO, WIOCC
Alex Masu, Network Investments, Africa & Middle East Lead, META
Neo Nwako, Managing Director, ABARICOM
Edward Lawrence, Co-Founder, YAFIBER
​
​
12.30pm Lunch
2.20pm | SUBSEA CONNECTIVITY INSIGHT: DIVERSITY, RESILIENCE AND COLLABORATION – TAKING A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
​
- Assessing what changes have taken place since subsea cuts and Red Sea challenges; Has it changed the way
industry and governments view subsea infrastructure; role of governments in protecting critical infrastructure;
what still needs to be done?
-Taking a global perspective; Asia-Africa traffic, Asia-Europe traffic; impact on landlocked countries, impact
around Africa
- What impact are the new subsea cables having on the market; Equiano, 2Africa and scale of capacity
- Resiliency and diversity; route diversity and cable landing diversity – what more is needed and how can it be
financed?
- How do we drive down the cost for land-locked countries to access subsea cables?
- New potential subsea routes; financing, where are the gaps?
- Mobilisation of vessels – can we find solutions to mobilisation challenges by collaborating?
​
Moderator: Chris George, Founder, SELF INFRASTRUCTURE
​
Speakers:
Norman Albi, CEO, AFR-IX
Yonas Maru, Managing Director, BCS
Justin Gianchand, Network Investment Manager, META
Prenesh Padayachee, Group Chief Digital Officer, SEACOM
Pete Hall, Managing Director, CIENA
Raoul Jacquard, VP, Strategic Alliances and External Affairs, ASN
3.30pm Coffee Break
4.00pm | REPORTING BACK: 2024 MOU
1. BUILDING SKILLS AND TALENT TO MEET THE GROWING DEMANDS WITHIN AFRICA - INNOVATION, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT: PREPARING AFRICA'S WORKFORCE FOR A DIGITAL FUTURE
Moderator: Tim Passingham, Chairman, CAMBRIDGE MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
Speakers:
Andile Ngcaba, Chairman, CONVERGENCE PARTNERS & SOLCON CAPITAL
Praveen Sirohi, Interim CEO, TSSC
2.THE PAN-AFRICAN NETWORK OF INTERCONNECTED INTERNET EXCHANGES INTERCONNECTIVITY CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN AFRICA: FUTURE PARTNERSHIP MODELS AND COLLABORATION
Speakers:
Peter van Burgel, CEO, AMS-IX
Angelo Gama, CEO, ANGOLA CABLES
Nurani Nimpuno, Head of Global Engagement, LINX
​
5.45pm Cocktail Reception at La Plage hosted by Touchnet Telecommunications
​
7.45pm CCT Africa 2025 Dinner at Mahiya hosted by Cambridge Management Consulting
​
Day 2: Wednesday 9th July 2025
​
​8.15am Breakfast & Coffee
​
8.45am | Fireside Chat
Germàn Cufrè, Global Head, Digital Infrastructure and Creative Industries, IFC
9.00am DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCING AND INVESTMENT IN AFRICA
​
- Current and future investment opportunity outlook; networks, fibre links, building DC capacity, drivers of M & A
- Evaluating digital infrastructure initiatives; view from the DFIs
- Has tech infrastructure slowed down in Africa?
- How can the challenges of an uncertain investment environment be overcome? What will be the impact of
Investment shortfall on the development of infrastructure and connectivity across the continent?
- Overcoming key challenges of doing business in Africa; taxation, regulatory regimes, attracting private sector
investment through incentives; developing win-win partnerships for both parties
​
Moderator: Russell Southwood, CEO, BALANCING ACT
Speakers:
Premeshin Naidoo, MD, TMT, ABSA
Ilias Djouai, Vice President, Heavy Industry Telecoms & Technology, AFC
Nicholas Williams, Head, ICT Division, AFDB
Kumbi Gundani, Executive Vice President, Telecommunications, Media & Technology, Corporate & Investment
Banking, STANDARD BANK GROUP
Moritz Thompson, Investment Director - Pan Africa, AIIM
Andile Ngcaba, Chairman, CONVERGENCE PARTNERS & SOLCON CAPITAL
​
​
10.00am Coffee Break
​
​
10.30am | UNLOCKING THE VALUE OF THE CLOUD: RETHINKING CLOUD IN AFRICA AND DEVELOPING NEW
PARTNERSHIPS TO SUPPORT CLOUD-BASED SERVICES
​
- Drivers of demand and adoption of digital services and products, enterprise cloud services – lack of enterprise
demand and impact on development of the market and access to global cloud infrastructure; how can demand be
accelerated?
- Opportunities in fintech, IoT and security
Development and impact of new public cloud regions; local cloud providers vs hyperscalers
- How will AI be applied, will it bring new capabilities to the market and how far away is it for Africa? Could it
unlock new growth potential for telcos?
- Public vs private clouds, multi-cloud strategies
- Developing partnerships to support cloud migration and upskilling
What solutions can be put in place to to overcome key challenges, local supply chain shortages, power reliability
and access, data residency and localisation challenges, cross-border data traffic flows, talent and skills
Moderator: Chris George, Founder, SELF INFRASTRUCTURE
Speakers:
Charly Bahous, CEO, TOUCHNET
Gerrit Venter, VP Products and Portfolio
CMC NETWORKS
Veemal Gungadin, CEO, MAURITIUS TELECOM
Amine Kandil, CEO, N+ONE DATA CENTERS
​
11.30am DATA CENTRES, INTERCONNECTIVITY AND THE CLOUD: REVIEWING AND REASSESSING DATA
CENTRE AND CONNECTIVITY MODELS ACROSS AFRICA: LOCATION, SCALE, AND CUSTOMER
DEMAND
- Location and scale of existing facilities; why have projects stalled and what more is needed? Where is
the customer demand and what does the market need? Why has the data centre market not materialised as
anticipated? How can demand be accelerated? Scale, location and access
- How do we find the solutions to the challenges; access to reliable, stable power; co-power projects and
sustainability, funding, balancing goals of digital growth and sustainability targets
- Is there value in pursuing different strategies rather than replicating those of Europe and the US? What
new opportunities are arising?
Moderator: Russell Southwood, CEO, BALANCING ACT
Speakers:
Ikechukwu Nnamani, CEO, Nigeria, DIGITAL REALTY
Johnson Agogbua, CEO, KASI CLOUD
Amine Kandil, CEO, N+ONE DATA CENTERS
Anthony Voscarides, CEO, WINGU
Ryan Sher, COO, WIOCC
Shivendra Nautiyal, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer
​
12.45pm Lunch
2.15pm | LOCAL ACCESS AND LAST MILE SOLUTIONS: SATELLITE, WIRELESS AND FIBRE – REACHING
UNDERSERVED AND UNSERVED MARKETS
​
- Evaluating alternative business models to deliver local access solutions
- Addressing the challenges of putting robust infrastructure in place in rural areas; LEO satellite solutions to reach
rural and low-income segments of the population
- LEO solutions to enable new use cases
- Challenges: depth of connectivity, speed, and pricing – can these be overcome?
- Rural TowerCo partnerships and shared rural networks
- Leveraging alternative technologies to enhance connectivity
- Developing integrated solutions with satellite, 5G wireless, fibre to deliver low-cost solutions with high quality
connectivity
- What does a complementary investment strategy look like for connectivity infrastructure?
​
Moderator: Tim Passingham, CEO, CAMBRIDGE MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
Speakers:
Lorentz Chidue Nwachuku, TMT Lead Africa, Infrastructure & Natural Resources, Africa, IFC
Rakesh Kukreja, Founder and Managing Director, ISAT AFRICA
Jacques du Toit, CEO, VOX TELECOM
Yanniv Betito, VP, EMEA, TELESAT
Farouk Ramji, CEO, MAWINGU
Avinash Chettiar, Chief Technology Officer, EMTEL
​​
3.15pm Coffee Break
​
3.35pm | DRIVING ACCESS TO CONTENT ACROSS THE CONTINENT: MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND GAMING –
UNDERSTANDING CONNECTIVITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE REQUIREMENTS AND CHALLENGES
​
Moderator: Russell Southwood, CEO, BALANCING ACT
Speakers:
Ayesha Chowdhury, Senior Manager, Global Digital Business & Senior Leadership Board Advisor,
BBC WORLD SERVICE
Guillaume Noe, VP of Growth, Platform, CARRY1ST
Germán Cufré, Global Head, Digital Infrastructure and Creative Industries, IFC
Myke (Mugo) Mwai, Head of Communication and Content Syndication, STARTIMES KENYA
​
4.40pm End of CCT AFRICA 2025 Executive Summit
7.00pm Closing CCT Africa 2025 Reception & Dinner
