Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 27 | Page 17

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TRENDING ICT TRENDS SHAPING SOUTH AFRICA Leading research firm Frost & Sullivan presents the emerging ICT trends in South Africa. L ast year saw spectrum release discussions for a faster LTE network, increasing communication reach in rural areas and enterprises across industries embracing innovative technologies such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). However, 2019 will be the year when South Africa start-ups lead the innovation in IIoT and AI, and their cross-industry integration, according to Saurabh Verma, Head of ICT for Frost & Sullivan’s Middle East and Africa region. Verma presented the 2019 ICT trends for South Africa at Frost & Sullivan’s ICT predictions road show. He said companies will need to revisit their competitive strategy to acquire new skill sets to remain competitive. www.intelligentcio.com At the State of the Nation address, President Cyril Ramaphosa also stressed the need to develop skills for the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ and called for a major shake-up in education to prepare the country to compete in the digital global economy. With the government reaffirming the importance of ICT, specifically in the communication sector, Frost & Sullivan identified seven ICT predictions for 2019. Prediction 1: The rise of the telecommunications sector The telecommunications sector revenue will reach 149.5 billion in 2019. The ICT industry revenue is expected to reach R305 billion in 2019, with the telecommunications sector contributing the “ SOUTH AFRICA’S FINTECH ECOSYSTEM IS BECOMING STEADILY MORE INNOVATIVE AND DYNAMIC. most at 49.6%. The cloud services market will contribute the least at 0.6%. Telecommunications providers will strengthen digital content offerings, including OTT messaging, VOD, pay TC and triple-pay services. They will also actively acquire and partner with IT service providers to strengthen their in-house resources and capabilities to compete in the ICT services ecosystem. INTELLIGENTCIO 17