WIOCC at ITW 2013

WIOCC will be present at the International Telecoms Week (ITW ’13) being held in the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Chicago, USA from 13th – 15th May, 2013.

Chris Wood – CEO, Ryan Sher – COO, Mike Last – Director, Marketing and International Business Development and Winnie Karisa – Marketing will represent WIOCC at the event.

Chris Wood will be participating in a panel discussion on Tuesday 14th May, 2013 at East Tower, Gold Level, Columbus CD conference room. Mr. Wood will offer his expertise and comments within the spotlight on Africa panel session titled ‘Driving data demand in Africa’. Some of the topics to be discussed on the panel include:
• Tracking the impact of subsea cable connectivity on nascent markets
- identifying markets with the largest data needs and growth projections
• Determining terrestrial infrastructure needs for quality, redundant and reliable services
- is there sufficient deployment of additional terrestrial infrastructure
- tracking IP growth vs. terrestrial network growth across the continent
- evaluating the opportunity represented by large markets like Libya and Ethiopia if liberalized
• Motivating in-region content development to create data demand
- how can service providers promote content creation and distribution to drive demand across their networks?
- when will Africa live up to its bandwidth promise?
• Driving mobile internet uptake and adoption
- cheaper handsets = more eyeballs?
- LTE timelines and viability
- which content and applicants will drive the proliferation of bandwidth?
• Establishing a roadmap to provoke the explosion

To arrange a meeting with the WIOCC team please contact Winnie Karisa at winnie.karisa@wiocc.net or info@wiocc.net.

WIOCC’s Ryan Sher: one of the 40 most influential under-40 year olds in global telecommunications

Ryan Sher, WIOCC COO

For the third consecutive year, Ryan Sher, Chief Operating Officer at Africa’s carriers’ carrier WIOCC, has been acclaimed1 as one of the 40 most influential people under the age of 40 in the global telecommunications industry.

Ryan has been a key force in the development and commercialisation of WIOCC’s unique international fibre-optic network, which won the Best Pan-African Initiative Award at AfricaCom 2012 and seamlessly links 50,000km of African terrestrial fibre with multiple international submarine cables.

In his citation, Ryan was recognised for ‘his drive, energy and business skills, which have been vital in transforming WIOCC – after less than five years trading – into Africa’s carriers’ carrier. WIOCC leads the way in delivering end-to-end-managed wholesale connectivity to Africa and offers carriers diversity-rich, high-speed international connectivity to and from over 400 locations in 30 African countries.’

Ryan’s achievements include implementing the first truly seamless, diversity-rich, high-speed network between Africa and Europe – linking WIOCC’s strategic investments in EASSy, EIG and WACS – and managing the interconnection of WIOCC shareholder and partner networks to create the largest (over 50,000km) terrestrial fibre footprint in Africa.

WIOCC successes at Africa Leadership Awards 2012

Both WIOCC and its CEO have been successful at the recent 2^nd Africa Leadership Awards. These awards, which are “all about recognizing Super Achievers, Future Business Leaders and the greatest brands in various sectors”, were announced on December 12^th 2012 in Mauritius.

Chris Wood was selected jointly as “African CEO of the Year”. The award recognises that he has been integral to the successful establishment of WIOCC and its evolution into its current form. He is credited with spearheading WIOCC’s evolution into a leading player in Africa’s wholesale bandwidth markets and supplier of end-to-end managed capacity into and out of the continent. Chris’s vision for improving the affordability, reach and diversity of Africa’s connections to the world has seen WIOCC extend high-quality connectivity inland from the coast into many land-locked countries. The award also acknowledges that his energy, leadership and determination continue to be instrumental in securing and improving Africa’s connectivity to the world.

WIOCC was also awarded the “Industry Leadership award” for its African connectivity, based on its end-to-end managed service offerings over an unrivalled, diversity-rich, high-capacity, connectivity network, which seamlessly incorporates more than 50,000km of terrestrial fibre in Africa and 40,000km of submarine fibre-optic connectivity.

These awards bring to an end a very successful year of recognition for WIOCC, complementing the recent Africa Com 2012 award for “Best Pan-African Initiative” and the Global Telecoms Business “Power100” and “40 Under 40” placings achieved by Chris and Ryan Sher.

WIOCC Event Schedule, 2012

WIOCC will be attending the following events during the second half of 2012:

• July 24 – 27: 6th African Service and Network Operations (SNO) Workshop, Sandton, Johannesburg
• September 11 – 13: Submarine Networks World, Singapore
• September 13 – 14: Capacity Africa, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
• October 2 – 3: Telecoms World Middle East, Carriers World Middle East, Submarine Networks World Middle East, Dubai
• November 12 – 14: Capacity Europe, Amsterdam
• November 13 – 15: AfricaCom, Cape Town, South Africa

WIOCC will be represented at the different events by Chris Wood – CEO, Ryan Sher – COO, James Wekesa – CCO, Mike Last – Director of Marketing & International Business Development, Hitesh Desai – Country Manager (S. Africa), Marcel Bhatti – Sales Manager (S. Africa), Winnie Karisa – Marketing Assistant & PA to CEO and Gillian Koech – Marketing Assistant.

Chris Wood will be joining a panel on ‘Upgrade or build: How do you justify cable system investments? at Submarine Networks World Singapore, James Wekesa will be on a panel discussing ‘Data and Content Growth in Africa’ at Capacity Africa and Mike Last will be discussing ‘The bandwidth revolution in Africa: status, challenges and opportunities’ at Telecoms World Middle East.

If you would like to book a meeting with WIOCC at any of the above-mentioned events, please contact us at info@wiocc.net.

Meet WIOCC at ITW 2012

WIOCC will be attending the International Telecoms Week (ITW) 2012 exhibition and conference from 14 – 16 May 2012 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, IL.

WIOCC will be represented at the event by Chris Wood – CEO, Ryan Sher – COO, Mike Last – Director of Marketing & International Business Development, and Winnie Karisa, Marketing Assistant & PA to CEO.

Chris Wood will also be participating in a Spotlight on Africa executive roundtable entitled ‘Connectivity and opportunity’ on the morning of the 15th.

To set up a meeting with the WIOCC team, please contact us at info@wiocc.net.

Meet WIOCC at Africa Com ’11 – 9th & 10th November

Africa Com returns to Cape Town on 9th & 10^th November, 2011. The conference will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), South Africa and is the largest communications conference and exhibition in the continent, gathering together 5,000+ telecoms decision-makers.

The core of the event for WIOCC is networking, so we are looking forward to welcoming visitors/delegates to our exhibition stand (#A17 and #A26 – A27) and ensuring that you meet key representatives from our company. WIOCC’s team is led by Chris Wood (WIOCC CEO) and includes Ryan Sher (COO), Hitesh Desai (Country Manager, S. Africa), Marcel Bhatti (Sales Manager, S.Africa) and Winnie Karisa (Marketing Assistant & PA to the CEO).

Please visit the WIOCC exhibition stand  at the event to find out more about our network, our service offerings – including connectivity on EIG and WACS – and what we can do for your business.  This is a great place for you to exchange ideas with our executive team and to get your questions answered face-to-face.

To book a meeting or for more information, please email us at: info@wiocc.net

Meet WIOCC next week in Kenya or Singapore

WIOCC will be attending two high-profile events in the telecommunications wholesale calendar next week.

As Gold sponsors of Capacity Africa 2011, WIOCC will have a significant presence at the Nairobi Intercontinental hotel on September 21st and 22nd. Delegates will be able to meet the team at the WIOCC stand (Exhibition Booth #4), join our cocktail event on the first evening and see Ryan Sher, our Chief Operating Officer, in a panel session at 09:30 on the second day exploring developments in east African markets.

Chris Wood (WIOCC’s CEO) will be attending the Submarine Networks World 2011 event in Singapore, also on September 21st and 22nd. He will be available at the WIOCC stand during breaks throughout the event, and will participate in the Cable Owners panel session at 14:30 on the first day.

Please contact us at info@wiocc.net to arrange a meeting at either event.

 

WIOCC’s ‘Connected’ international newsletter, Issue #3

Click here for the third issue of Connected from WIOCC, breaking opinions on topical issues relating to international connectivity.

Connected, Issue #3

Fuelled by massive improvements in capacity, connectivity and reliability, Africa is in the midst of a staggering explosion in internet users - up from 4.5 million in 2000 to around 111 million users today. The increased affordability of mobile handsets, combined with a relative lack of legacy systems, has led to the African continent embracing mobile broadband and leading the world in mobile banking.

This month’s expert panel includes: John Davis from Intel; Ms Robyn Milham from Research In Motion (RIM); Angel Dobardziev, Practice Leader at Ovum; Bradley Shaw, Editor of Africa Telecoms magazine; and WIOCC COO, Ryan Sher.

We asked our experts to name three other sectors or services they think will flourish in this new way of working and living, and at least one  which they believe is particularly vulnerable unless it adapts…

Review the discussion by clicking here.

WIOCC at Submarine Networks World Africa this week

WIOCC will be attending the Submarine Networks World Africa event at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, S. Africa this week. Chris Wood, Ryan Sher, Hitesh Desai and Marcel Bhattı will all be there from WIOCC and John Sihra will represent the EASSy consortium.

To set up a meeting, please email info@wiocc.net

Chris will be speaking at 09:40 on Day 2 of the event (27th July), and Ryan will participate in a panel session at 16:40 on Day 1 (26th July) covering Submarine Cable Routes and Landing Points. The WIOCC exhibition stand (#6) will be manned throughout the event.

WIOCC’s COO in the 40 Under 40

Ryan Sher, WIOCC COO

It has been announced today that WIOCC’s COO, Ryan Sher, has been chosen as one of Global Telecoms Business(GTB)’s 40 Under 40.

Each year one of the most prestigious industry publications – Global Telecoms Business – conducts a survey and researches the leaders of our industry aged under 40 years. Ryan has been named in this list as a result of his leadership role in developing the business of WIOCC.

The publication identified Ryan as possessing “a rare combination of technical expertise and business acumen. Sher’s drive, energy and inspirational leadership have been instrumental in the success of this (the EASSy submarine cable) landmark project — delivered early and within budget”.

Ryan has been a key force in implementing the EASSy network, a strategically important initiative which for the first time brings diverse, international, fibre-optic connectivity to businesses and consumers across southern and eastern Africa.

Also included in the list is Norman Moyo, CEO of WIOCC shareholder Zantel-Etisalat, who is credited with having “a strategic vision and a great understanding of the African market”.

The full listing can be found at GTB’s website here