AfricaCom 2015
Christy Media’s Karolin Etzel recently attended the 18th annual AfricaCom event in Cape Town, South Africa. She took lots of photos during her visit and we have included a selection here.
AfricaCom welcomed 10,000 visitors over 3 days; more than 200 companies exhibited at the show and Karolin was impressed by the range of international companies and visitors attending the event.
The main theme for this year’s show was “Innovation, Transformation, and Leadership for Digital Africa”, alongside the ongoing concern with the transition to digital operations in the region. Leading experts from the largest digital entertainment companies gathered to discuss these issues at the conference and visit the exhibition.
A full range of keynote speeches and masterclasses were on offer during the show and international exhibitors included service providers, networks, broadband technologies, and device manufacturers, such as Alcatel and Huawei.
After exploring the exhibition hall, Karolin joined the SES presentation: SAT IP: Distributing Satellite TV over IP Networks, which discussed the SAT>IP network and related technologies and the benefits they can offer to end users and broadcasters in Africa.
Whilst Karolin visited many stands at the show, she was particularly impressed by ONTAPtv, Gilat, and Thomson Video Network.
- ONTAPtv is a VoD service which is especially optimized for the low bandwidth environments in South Africa.
- Gilat offers satellite-based connectivity solutions, together with rural communication networks. Their on-the-move tactical communications for land, air, and sea fleets of public security and news organisations, showcased their solutions for rural broadband via satellite.
- Thomson Video Network provides advanced video compression solutions.
Karolin enjoyed her trip to AfricaCom, meeting with representatives from some of the most prominent names in broadcasting in the region, and discussing what lies ahead for the industry in Africa. The company looks forward to visiting the region again soon.
AfricaCom 2016 will return to Cape Town again next year, from 15-17 November. You can find out more about AfricaCom here.