Ericsson showcases solutions for a smart Africa at Transform Africa
Ericsson envisions a networked society in which connectivity is the starting point for new ways of innovating, collaborating and socialising. Given that more than half of the world's population already lives in cities – and nearly 70% of people will be urbanised by 2050 – Ericsson is particularly focused on contributing to smart and sustainable cities.
At the Transform Africa conference, held in Kigali, Rwanda, from 19 to 21 October, Ericsson will demonstrate the transformation that ICT and a truly networked society can deliver in building smart cities and a cashless society in Rwanda, particularly in the financial and transport sectors.
The conference, hosted by Rwandan President, His Excellency Paul Kagame, brings the continent's top political and business leaders together to shape Africa's digital transformation agenda.
Ericsson will demonstrate the Ericsson M-Commerce Interconnect and its solutions for intelligent transport, among others. These solutions leverage on the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the government of Rwanda announced at Mobile World Congress 2015 to demonstrate Ericsson's technology leadership and experience in delivering meaningful and tailored solutions to reach set objectives.
The Ericsson M-Commerce Interconnect provides the total interconnection solution required to bring together all the players in the financial services area, and allow money to flow between them seamlessly, taking cash out of the system.
This system has the capacity to connect the formal financial sector with the semi-formal and informal. Particularly, the inclusion of savings co-operatives and micro-finance players in the ecosystem will allow more people to participate in mainstream financial services, thus increasing financial inclusion. Ericsson will showcase the M-Commerce Interconnect Switch, in partnership with MNOs, service providers and banks.
Ericsson will also be demonstrating the efficiency of its solutions for intelligent transport. The system will help governments to better manage revenue collection in the public transportation system and create efficiency in the utilisation of the existing public transport capacity.
The key components of the solution are:
* Automated fare collection system – uses prepaid bus cards with onboard tap-to-pay system or mobile payment solution, removing cash from the system, permitting better revenue accounting and tax collection. * Fleet management solution – gives the operator real-time visibility of the buses as well as passenger locations, allowing for better management of the route used by the buses to give the passengers the best travel experience. * Passenger information system – provides interactive interface for the passengers to receive real-time information about the bus timetables and running times, allowing passengers to plan their journeys more efficiently.
Fredrik Jejdling, Ericsson President for sub-Saharan Africa, says: "ICT is creating a vast amount of new opportunities for people, business and society. At Ericsson we use our ICT expertise to provide innovative solutions and services across a variety of industries that play a key role in enabling digital transformation in Africa.
"We are especially excited about the impending industry transformation in Rwanda. Seeing first-hand that it can be done here in our region is a powerful message for the rest of Africa and we are proud to be at this conference to bring this message forward."
In addition to Ericsson M-Commerce Interconnect and the solutions for intelligent transport, Ericsson will also demonstrate smart utilities solutions.