Ericsson joins Smart Africa Alliance to digitise the continent

As a result of the partnership, Ericsson joins the Smart Africa Alliance as technical adviser and platinum private-sector member collaborating with the alliance to craft blueprints supporting the implementation of the Smart Africa vision and plan. 

Established in 2013, Smart Africa is a commitment to accelerate sustainable socio-economic development on the continent and usher Africa into the knowledge economy through affordable access to broadband and usage of information and communications technology. 

This announcement follows the collaboration with the government of Rwanda on key projects in the financial, transport, utilities, and public safety and security sectors, founded on the Smart Rwanda Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2014. 

The development of a smart city in Kigali, part of the Smart Rwanda initiative, aims to become a world-class reference model for the Smart Africa Alliance. 

Fredrik Jejdling, Ericsson’s regional head for sub-Saharan Africa, said the company’s experience working on Smart Rwanda had provided an excellent platform to replicate and tailor similar solutions for other member states and governments. ICT will change cities, countries and industries and ultimately lead to a truly networked society in Africa. 

The Smart Africa Initiative is geared towards connecting, innovating and transforming the continent into a knowledge economy thereby driving global competitiveness and job creation. 

The initiative also aims at enabling member states to become more competitive, agile, open and innovative smart economies with the most favourable business climates that attract large-scale investments, reward entrepreneurship and enable fast growth and exports, leveraging ICT innovations to transform African nations into smart societies. 

Hamadoun Toure, executive director of the Smart Africa Secretariat, said that since the inception of the Smart Africa Alliance, one of its main principles had centred on the critical need to create an enabling environment for private-sector involvement. 

“We realise that economic transformation must be driven by private companies focused on the use of ICT to increase access to markets and information for business,” Toure said.