The GSMA Sub Saharan Africa Identity Summit was held on 28-29 March in Johannesburg and was hosted by MTN Group Digital Services CEO at the MTN Innovation Centre.
C-Level MNO executives from MTN, Vodacom, Orange, Telkom SA, Cell-C and Safaricom came together bringing 30 participants to meet with Microsoft, Juvo and Telesign and the Smart Africa Secretariat in understanding the commercial case for retail, financial services and government identity services in Africa, and the key steps to launch commercially successful Identity services.
The Smart Africa secretariat also invited the industry to partner with them in leveraging mobile operator assets as the clear opportunity to drive the digital economy in the region by enabling online identity services.
Operators present at the summit committed to work together, specifically in the South Africa market starting April 2019. The GSMA on behalf of the industry will submit an official response to the Smart Africa Secretariat’s Call-to-Action.