Call for Papers

The 2nd African Conference of the International Telecommunications Society, Intercontinental Hotel Lusaka, Zambia
March 15 – 16, 2018

Communications and Applications for All - The ICT Thrust Transforming Business, Competition, Policy, and Regulation

Mobile communication connections in Africa have outpaced the expectations just in a period of 15 years. This development clearly documents the great importance of communications for all. The 2nd African Conference of the International Telecommunication Society (ITS) in Lusaka will focus on the interplay between technology developments and market and policy and regulatory developments in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) field in African countries. Contributions focusing primarily on technology issues as well as contributions focusing primarily on market and/or policy and regulation are welcome. Contributions from and about other countries and regions of the world are also welcome. Telecommunications, information technology areas, and media have been converging during the past decades. The manifestations of ICT convergence in terms of social developments and market and industrial developments in African countries are called for. Papers on the separate fields of telecommunications as well as the use of information technologies and broadcasting and other media developments are also welcome. Papers on Information and Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) including Mobile for Development (m4D) and papers with an interest in uses of ICTs at the bottom-of-the-pyramid (BOP) are solicited. This includes papers on user studies of social networks as well as papers on e-government, e-money, e-heath, e-education, e-agriculture, etc. It also includes papers on two- and multi-sided platforms. Papers on mobile and Internet developments including papers on the deployment of 3 and 4G and on broadband developments are invited. In the policy and regulation field, papers on ICT policy initiatives and more specifically on universal access and service, on right-of-way concerning, for instance, tower deployments, on competition regulation, on net neutrality and zero rating and on investments in telecommunications and ICT in general are solicited. There is need of in-depth analyses of the telecom markets, their trends, and their drivers. The Conference aims to address these issues that are relevant to the future direction of Telecommunications in Africa. The conference calls for papers in the following fields focusing on African developments as well as developments in other parts of the world. Abstract submissions are invited on topics including, but not limited to, the following:

    Policy & Regulation in African Telecom Sector

    • Existing and New regulatory issues
    • Regulation of OTT services vs Regulation of Mobile services
    • Regulation of Carrier services vs Regulation of infrastructure services
    • Regulatory response to social media
    • Regulatory Institutions and Agencies
    • ICT developments - technology, market and policy aspects
    • Universal access and service
    • Broadcast and Media Policies and Regulation
    • Competition and rights-of-way
    • Network neutrality, zero rating, and network management
    • Spectrum policy on the emerging mobile broadband

    Mergers & Acquisition Activities in African Telecom Sector

    • Investments in African Telecom markets through Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Regulation impact on operator strategy and investment
    • Investment experiences in ICT (e.g. Mobile communications, Internet, Broadband)
    • Impact of OTT services and/or new entrants on tariffs of telecom services
    • Impact of Acquisitions among African Telecom Operators
    • African Operator strategies (e.g. technology, consolidation, investment and innovation)

    Digital Divide and Broadband

    • Mobile Internet usage: Mobile Broadband
    • African Governments` Broadband policy: regulation vs. facilitation Interoperability of broadband networksContinental fiber ringsMobile money and Mobile banking
    • Interoperability of broadband networksContinental fiber ringsMobile money and Mobile banking
    • Continental fiber ringsMobile money and Mobile banking
    • Mobile money and Mobile banking
    • African Telecom Market`s efficient use of licensed and unlicensed spectrum
    • Promotion of Public-private partnership for broadband development

    ICT for Development (ICT4D)
    • e-government, e-money, e-health, e-education, etc.
    • ICT4D / m4D
    • ICT and Climate Change
    • Cyber security
    • ICT for power utility
    • Digital transformation: Big data and IoT
    • Internet Governance and Society
    • Cloud computing and big data in Africa

    Telecom Business Models and Applications
    • ICT use at the BOP
    • Business models for African mobile market
    • IoT: Transforming business models for Next Generation Telecom services
    • Reviewing of businesses models of connected consumers
    • Reviewing the economics of the Internet value chain
    • Developing apps in an increasingly connected world
    • Challenges of mature mobile markets: roaming, convergence with fixed

    Telecom Infrastructure Investment
    • Policies to promote investment in fixed broadband networks
    • Investing in the next generation broadband networks
    • Broadband infrastructure and entrepreneurship
    • Assessing the investment profiles of telecom operators in Africa
    • Geographic deployment of Telecom infrastructure
    • Investments in ICT infrastructures including PPP
    • Investment and funding of Telecom infrastructure in Africa

    Smart Society
    • Innovation and social challenges in smart cities
    • A Smart connected society: social media and its impact
    • Innovation and social challenges in smart cities
    • Overcoming digital divides: infrastructure, services and applications

    Content Issues

    • VoD: a business opportunity and marketing strategies
    • Content adaptability for mobile users
    • Media, convergence, content delivery and content industries

    Outstanding papers will be considered for publication in an edited book or special issue of Telecommunications Policy.

    Important dates

    • Abstract Submission Begins: August 1, 2017

    • Abstract Submission deadline: November 1,2017 (Extended to December 1, 2017)

    • Notification of Acceptance: December 1, 2017 (Revised to January 10, 2018)

    • Early Registration Deadline: January 15, 2017

    • Full paper submission Deadline: February 15, 2018

    Submission

    • Abstracts and suggestions for panels, tutorials and seminars should be sent to Anders Henten, henten@cmi.aau.dk