The potential for mobile in Africa is huge. Many Africans do not have access to fixed lines telecoms, PCs, banking and other services taken for granted in the West. The cell phone has the potential to make a real difference.
Cell-phone penetration is growing rapidly across Africa – today over 40 million people own a cell phone in South Africa and over 60 million in Nigeria – providing communications to Africans in rural areas where fixed lines are unavailable. As over 90 percent of phones are Internet-enabled, the mobile offers access to the Web for people without PCs or fixed lines. Meanwhile to the vast numbers people in Africa, without a bank account and living huge distances from an ATM, mobile-money services offer the opportunity to deposit, withdraw and transfer cash and pay bills – unsurprisingly these are proving hugely popular.

Speakers and topics include:

Neil Hutchinson, Vice Chairman WASPA, MD Grapevine Interactive
Topic: Conference Chair

Carmen Cupido, Regulatory and Government Relations Manager, Broadband Infraco
Topic: Legal Implications of Mobile Marketing

Dione Sankar, Head of Messaging and DotMobi, FNB Cellphone Banking Solutions
Topic: Mobile Payment Solutions

Riekie Enkerwitz, Communications, Marketing, Branding and Public Relations, Telkom Group Communication Unit

Philip van Tonder, Manager SABC Mobile, SABC
Topic: Mobile in Media (TV, Radio, Print)

Amanda Forsythe, Managing Director, Mobiguide
Topic: Mobile in Hospitality and Tourism

Walter Pike, Founder, The Digital Marketing Academy
Topic: Mobile in Sport & Leisure

Gavin Rooke, Managing Director, Trigger
Topic: Achieving mobile marketing excellence

Sean Pashley, Chief Commercial Officer, Starfish Mobile
Topic: Mobile in Retail and FMCG

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What: Thinking Mobile™ 2010 Confex
When: September 16-18 2010
Where: Misty Hills Country Hotel, Conference Centre & Spa, Johannesburg, South Africa.
How much: Usual conference price: SA R3,999 (US $525) plus VAT
Discount for mobiThinking readers: To receive 10 percent discount, please use the VIP code “MOB00”, when registering here.

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For other discounted events from mobiThinking partners, see Upcoming conferences for mobile marketers’ diaries. If you attend or participate in this event, please give us your feedback. Comment below or email editor (at) mobiThinking.com.

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Further reading:

mobiThinking guide to mobile agencies

Global mobile stats: all latest quality research on mobile Web and marketing in one place

Meet the biggest South African mobile sites – top 10 shows that on mobile the World Cup host nation is football (soccer) crazy

Mobile money will make the world go round

mobiThinking guide to mobile ad networks (2010)

The insiders' guides to mobile Web marketing:
Japan, Canada, USA, Germany, UK, India, Australia, Spain, South Africa, Brazil

Conferences & awards for mobile marketers, with offers

mobiThinking’s page of essential links