Airtel Africa sees partnerships, artificial intelligence (AI), and data centres as important pillars in delivering Africa's digital future.
Sunil Taldar, the telco's CEO, gave the insight during the ongoing Mobile World Congress Kigali in Rwanda.
According to Taldar, these elements will shape the continent's telecoms revolution over the next decade, enabling individuals to create value through such connections rather than simply connecting them.
In his keynote address, Taldar stated that the region’s digital decade has begun and that the diaspora that once leapfrogged into mobile telephony is now ready to leap again into an era where every byte of data fuels productivity and every connection builds prosperity.
The phenomenon requires partnerships between operators who co-build, technology manufactures who equip, regulators who enable, investors who believe, tax regimes which provide support, and young Africans who create, he said.
“Together we can build a continent where data is processed locally, talent is nurtured nationally, and innovation is scaled globally,” underlined the Airtel head.
He continued: “Africa’s digital future needs AI to make networks smarter and greener, customer experiences more intuitive and mobile money more secure and intuitive. It will also require a connected network of data centres linked by high-capacity fibre to unlock inclusive digital participation even in remote regions.”
The CEO further referred to the operator’s AI-powered Spam Alert service which aims to enhance mobile security for its customers. The solution has since detected and flagged more than 205 million spam SMS messages across 13 of its 14 markets in just six months.
“We are also deploying AI in operations, including SMS spam detection, customer onboarding, mobile money fraud detection and sites’ energy optimisation”.
Expanding on data centres, Taldar stated that the company is investing in major data centre hubs in Nigeria and Kenya to support the continent’s digital future.
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