Huawei inks deal with CRASA to drive Africa’s DX ambitions
Huawei has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Communications Regulators’ Association of Southern Africa (CRASA) to drive Africa’s digital transformation.
CRASA is a Southern Africa consultative technical body with 13 Countries as members (Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe) focusing among several other things, on development of model regulations and harmonisation of the ICT regulatory frameworks in order to improve the communications sector’s business environment and investment climate in SADC.
Bridget Linzie, CRASA Executive Secretary and Yang Hongjie, Director of ICT Strategy and Policy Department of Huawei Southern Africa Region, signed the MoU during the CRASA 11th annual general meeting attended by delegates from all 13 member countries in Luanda Angola.
Under the agreement, both parties intend to exchange information and ideas on ICT policies and regulations, undertake joint research on network security, data protection, digital inclusion policies and emerging technologies like 5G, and organise capacity building activities through meetings, workshops and trainings.
“I appreciate the efforts that Huawei has been taking in introducing the most innovative ICT technologies to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in the past years, and sharing their tremendous global experience and know-how in contributing to the development of the region. We will deepen cooperation with Huawei to further accelerate digital transformation for inclusive growth in the region,” said Linzie.
According to CRASA, Africa's digital transformation accelerated dramatically during the pandemic and is expected to continue growing in the post pandemic era, with ICT infrastructure and services becoming increasingly indispensable for the growth of industry and for individuals’ personal life.
Alfred Marisa, representing the chairperson of CRASA, added, “I am happy that CRASA will have Huawei as a strategic partner to shape the ICT future of the region by providing support in connecting the unconnected and to bridge the region’s digital divide. In this era of digital economy, it is extremely important to put in place an enabling environment to harness new technologies like 5G to drive social economic development and enhance cyber security and data protection. CRASA is looking forward to a fruitful cooperation with Huawei in these specialist areas.”
Yang Chen, Vice President of Huawei Southern Africa Region, said, “Huawei is glad to have the privilege of partnering with CRASA to accelerate the ICT development in the region. We have been working with important stakeholders in our industry to build a healthy ecosystem to realise our vision of bringing digital to every person, home and organisation to build a better-connected and intelligent world. We believe that with our combined efforts between Huawei and CRASA, more people will be able to benefit from the growth catalysed by ICT development.”