Welcome to Digital Services Africa 2013!

Digital is taking over fast, and industry players need to reflect this in their business strategies. The 3rd Annual Digital Services Africa event represents a crucial networking and learning platform, providing players in the digital Africa a unique opportunity to drive their business forward.

Digital services are taking centre stage as Africa’s telecommunications market continues to mature, encompassing the provision of digital music & content, digital financial services, app stores, feature phone ‘apps’, cloud services, B2B digital services, e-learning & e-gov services for the wider public, and more! Clearly, this segment is forming an important and growing part of the telco’s remit, and can be a crucial revenue stream.

Customers are increasingly demanding of digital services – mobile communication alone is no longer enough. New partnerships are needed with growing players such as content owners, developers, aggregators and solutions suppliers, to name a few.

Download the brochure and get involved in the show today!

• A new focus:
  beyond VAS, how to seize the opportunities in digital services?
• Digital Music:
  hear from labels, operators, distributors and aggregators about monetising and distributing music over digital formats in Africa
• New speakers
  from some of the most dynamic digital brands in Africa, from large corporations to small start-ups
• Innovation keynote:
  share ideas and be inspired by entrepreneurs and innovators
• New workshops
  and success stories in the 2nd Annual AppGig
• More in-depth session
  on Mobile Money to find out the best services and models for Africa

Africa is arguably the most buoyant music market in the world in terms of creativity and diversity

No wonder a number of stakeholders want to be part of it! But just as the music business is evolving rapidly in the rest of the world, Africa’s digital music scene is writing its own rules. How will it shape itself? Who will be the winners and losers of the new ecosystem?

“Sub-Saharan Africa is a devilishly complex place to build up a comprehensive portfolio of truly localized, legal content.”  Says Guillermo Escofet, Senior Analyst, Informa Telecoms & Media. Indeed, complexity is a key characteristic of the market, in terms of content sourcing and licensing, legal issues, lack of industry structure, revenue sharing etc.

Digital Music Africa is a new session in the Com World Series looking at the challenges and opportunities of distributing, promoting and monetising music in Africa’s digital market. The first session of the series will take place as part of Digital Services Africa (formerly VAS Africa), with contributions from operators, analysts, music service providers and more.

Check the topics and speaker experts here

The 2^nd Annual APP GIG @ Digital Services Africa – in partnership with Mobile Monday

The APP GIG is a celebration of the creativity and innovation of developers in Africa – and a chance for them to share experiences and learn more ideas on how to promote and monetize their apps.

The session is a series of dedicated workshops and interactive sessions with the most engaging developers and app specialists to discuss innovative business models, interesting development ideas, related technologies, new trends in this ecosystem, and more.

The APP GIG is free to attend for all independent African app developers and coders. It is collocated with Digital Services Africa, the leading telecoms, ICT and media event.

NEW for 2013: the AppGig is organized in partnership with Mobile Monday – Bringing the most passionate team to lead the debates, encourage ideas sharing and have fun while networking!

Check the App Gig programme here