London 9 October 2009

Africa’s leading service providers and vendors will attend the 2nd annual AfricaCom Awards collocated with the successful AfricaCom conference and exhibition, both taking place in Cape Town next month.  The most innovative of these companies will win recognition and acclaim at the AfricaCom Awards dinner on the evening of Wednesday 11th November, and Informa Telecoms & Media are proud to announce this year’s shortlist of entrants.  The official shortlist has been finalised by an independent panel of Judges, who have dealt with even more entries than last year, and ever more inspiring examples of telecoms innovation and progress on the continent.  Last year Safaricom won 2 awards (they are shortlisted for 3 categories this year) and CEO Michael Joseph commented: “Safaricom have won many awards this year [2008] however these awards were the most satisfying as they were collected in front of our peers.”

View the shortlist

The entries cover an impressively broad spectrum of networks, services and solutions, offering a true cross-section of the African telecommunications industry.  The Award categories showcase multiple sides of the telecoms progress that has taken place on the continent since the end of 2008 and throughout 2009.  Here’s a recap of the awards to be won; New Entrant of the Year, Best Network Improvement, Best New Services, Best Cost-Efficiency Solution for Africa, the Green Telecoms Award, Best Solution for Rural Services, Best Marketing Campaign, Telecoms Innovation of the Year, Best Pan African Initiative, and the Changing Lives Award.  All the category winners will be announced and presented with the award before their peers and the judges on the night, and the final category (Changing Lives) will have the added excitement of being awarded by South African celebrity, and the “Princess of Africa”, Yvonne Chaka-Chaka.

The AfricaCom Awards are the perfect platform to praise and encourage operators and vendors in Africa, and the 2009 Awards dinner promises to be an even better night than the inaugural Awards ceremony last year.  Congratulations to the shortlisted entrants, and good luck on the night!

Full information about the AfricaCom Awards 2009, the Judges, how to book a table and sponsorship opportunities can be found on the website http://www.africacomawards.com/. For enquiries about any aspect of the AfricaCom Awards, please email Melissa.willock@informa.com.

Contact: Caroline Wiezien

Phone: +44 (0)20 7017 5605