Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 21 | Page 50

COUNTRY FOCUS: ALGERIA Chaume says there is a lot of ambition in the country. “While last year the fixed broadband penetration was pegged at 40%, the plan is to reach 80% penetration in households,” he said. “If they achieve this, it would not only be impressive but also very beneficial to the country. This will be done through a combination of fibre and complimentary fixed wireless technology.” Pierre Chaume, Market Unit Head for Nokia Africa Nokia is involved in most of the network optimisation projects in Algeria, focusing on a range of different technologies. “Between 2013 and 2015, Internet penetration was around 40%, but by 2017 that figure had increased to more than 75%. So, services are really booming. Additionally, the CAGR on mobile data is huge and is expected to continue to grow over the next three to four years.” “We have a very important presence in Algeria when it comes to the optical next generation backbone,” added Chaume. While growth in fixed broadband services has been slow, remaining in single digits, “We are also actively involved in IoT. While this is still a relatively small market now, 50 INTELLIGENTCIO “We are also shifting our focus to new applications, customer experience and data monetisation. we believe that in the future it will be very important, particularly when it comes to smart cities. Nokia has had a long presence in Algeria and we have an intimate relationship with the local players. “With the country’s ambition and the potential in the market, both from a fixed and mobile access perspective, the shift to supporting applications and improving the customer experience, we see enormous potential for growth for us as an organisation.” Nokia is also actively participating in the 4G densification and expansion in terms of geographical reach with more than one service provider in Algeria. “We have a strong local technical competence in Algeria.” said Chaume. “The history we have, the local presence and the potential we see makes me believe that the decision we took to reinforce the local competence was well worth it and we will continue investing in growth and our resources in the Algerian market.” n www.intelligentcio.com