African Industry experts to exchange M2M ideas at Connected Living workshop

Of all the regions across the globe, the transformative effect of M2M on society, economy and the individual, will likely be greatest in Africa. Africa is home to many developing economies, most of which have performed well over the last decade and according to a recent report, the continent as a whole is forecast to grow steadily by 4.5 per cent in 2015 and 5 per cent in 2016
This growth will mean investment in private and public services – services which will need to cater to the needs of a population situated in both urban and rural settings. GSMA Intelligence have asserted that Machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions will play a key role in delivering these services, forecasting a boom of the region’s cellular M2M connections from the present 11.2 million, to 35.9 million in 2020.
Over recent years have been a number of key developments across the region that indicate that there is a definite trend towards M2M solutions. Last year IBM partnered with three cities in Africa as part of their ‘Smart Cities Grant’ initiative, helping to improving the delivery of services in each city, which will include the introduction of M2M solutions. In 2015, operator, MTN, partnered with the Cameroonian Government to provide a health platform that will help people access healthcare. This year we have also seen developments in the automotive sector with the launch of Econet Connected Car – a Zimbabwean connected car service for both individuals and businesses that enables tracking, geofencing and a vehicle management service.
In Africa, M2M has a variety of applications in a number of verticals, most of which are set for massive growth. For players in the M2M ecosystem, now is the opportunity to make plan, make provisions and develop partnerships in order to carve a place in the M2M value chain.
On October 8, the GSMAs Connected Living programme will be hosting a workshop Realising the potential of M2M in Africa’ that is designed to bring ecosystem players together and discover the best growth strategies in the region.
The workshop will discuss key topics such as Mobile IoT and Security Guidelines, the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification and the evolution of smart utility metering – all of which will be vital to understanding the trends, inhibitors and opportunities of the continent’s burgeoning M2M market.
The workshop will take place at 14:30-16:00 in Boardroom 2 of the African Pride Hotel. Book your place now at GSMA Mobile 360 Series Africa to attend.