ITW Africa Agenda

Africa’s growth depends on how governments and industry collaborate to scale connectivity, compute, energy and digital services. Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are emerging as a critical mechanism to align national goals with private-sector innovation, unlock capital, and harmonise policy across borders. 

Start your day with a morning of inspiration at our dedicated Talent in Tech forum. This empowering event will feature leading female voices in the industry sharing their stories and experiences, overcoming challenges and driving dynamic change in an otherwise static sector.

The regulatory landscape remains one of the most decisive factors shaping Africa’s digital infrastructure growth. Fragmented licensing, unclear rights‑of‑way processes, inconsistent site permitting, and grid‑related approvals continue to slow the rollout of towers, fibre routes, and data centres. These barriers inflate deployment costs, hinder co‑location and open‑access models, and create uncertainty for investors seeking scalable, multi‑sector infrastructure strategies. 

For towercos, fibre operators, hyperscale and edge providers, and energy partners, predictable regulation is essential to enabling shared‑infrastructure buildout, long‑term investment, and cross‑sector coordination. 

Ensuring people, business and governments can use, afford, and benefit from the networks and digital infrastructure that has been built

How policy and regulation shape where networks are built and how investment flows

Exploring how satellite, fibre and mobile networks work together to extend coverage, strengthen resilience and unlock new wholesale partnerships

Open access has long underpinned Africa’s connectivity growth, enabling affordable and efficient use of shared digital infrastructure. Today, the model is being reconsidered as operators consolidate assets, operating costs—especially energy—continue to rise, regulatory scrutiny increases, and cross‑sector ecosystems spanning fibre, power, data centres and edge become more complex. 

This session explores whether open access can still deliver on its original promise. We’ll examine how shifting industry structures, regulatory and commercial pressures, and wider economic challenges are reshaping multi‑tenant approaches and the future of shared infrastructure across the continent.

What recent outages revealed about routing, redundancy and where data is allowed to travel

Understanding the pace and shape of growth across different regions

Energy remains one of the biggest operational costs for digital infrastructure operators, from towers to data centres, with fuel and generation expenses rising sharply in recent years. Grid reliability challenges and connection delays continue to slow the rollout of towers, fibre networks, and new data centre capacity. 

This roundtable brings together leaders from across the energy and digital infrastructure ecosystem to discuss how organizations are managing power today, what drives decisions to outsource versus manage energy internally, and what successful energy partnerships now look like in a shifting operational and regulatory environment. 

Why mobile, satellite and terrestrial networks are stronger together

Understanding how new subsea cables are reshaping connectivity, resilience and data centre location decisions

As networks mature, African operators are moving beyond pure connectivity into partnerships, platforms and new growth models

Why demand, connectivity and policy are shaping clear data centre hubs

As mobile networks evolve, the traditional macro layer is no longer the sole foundation of connectivity. The rise of 5G, private networks and new digital applications is accelerating the move toward infrastructure deployed closer to the end‑user. From small cells and indoor systems to edge data centres, the network is becoming denser, smarter and more distributed. 

This panel unpacks how non‑macro assets are reshaping deployment strategies, unlocking new commercial models, and redefining what “coverage” means for operators, enterprises and infrastructure investors across Africa. 

Fibre is no longer greenfield everywhere; where does fibre investment work, where doesn’t it, and why

Connectivity, cloud and data centres only scale as far as reliable power allows

A practical session for the industry  to design real pathways into the industry – not just discuss the skills gap.

Market structure often determines where fibre delivers lower costs and better resilience

How do operators reduce energy intensity, improve uptime and optimise every megawatt?

Fibre economics vary by layer; where are returns made, where aren’t they and how are projects financed?

Why solar, storage and hybrid systems are becoming core infrastructure

As FTTX demand rises, the challenge is extending coverage beyond major cities without breaking the commercial mode

Regulation determines who can generate, buy and sell power to digital infrastructure

North Africa plays a unique role in the global digital infrastructure landscape. 

Positioned at the intersection of Africa, Europe and the Middle East, the region is emerging as a critical corridor for subsea cables, terrestrial fibre routes and new data centre hubs serving regional and international demand. As hyperscalers expand, new subsea systems land across the Mediterranean, and governments invest in digital sovereignty and local compute capacity, North African markets are becoming increasingly important in shaping Africa’s connectivity and cloud ecosystems.

This dedicated session will explore how North African stakeholders can deepen collaboration with Sub-Saharan markets and international partners to unlock the next phase of infrastructure growth. 

How companies can identify, prioritise and operationalise real AI use cases that enhance infrastructure performance, optimise operations and unlock value across African markets

Fibre is valuable because of what it enables: from mobile money to enterprise and government services

Planning energy systems that support digital infrastructure over the next 10-15 years

The AFIDA Catapult Accelerator is a platform for infrastructure project developers from across the African continent. 

The objective of this program is to create the basis for a better project development outcome on the Continent - reducing timelines and uncertainty to financial close, and increasing scale and improving the risk-reward balance between public and private sector. 

Across West Africa, governments, telecom operators, cloud and data centre developers, energy partners and investors are accelerating efforts to expand digital infrastructure, unlock new economic value and strengthen digital sovereignty. From national broadband plans and open access fibre policies to hyperscaler interest, AI-ready data centres, satellite integration and hybrid power solutions, the region is rapidly moving from planning to execution. 

This Summit brings together talented and ambitious young (under 35) leaders who are already within the connectivity and digital infrastructure industry  to problem solve case studies with executives from the industry in an MBA-style format.  

This is a rare opportunity to walk in the shoes of industry leaders and network with regional and international peers part of the GLF Future Tech Leaders community.  

How voice and SMS underpin mobile money, banking, authentication and everyday transactions in Africa

In markets where mobile is the primary customer channel, protecting trust across voice calls and messaging is critical for long-term growth

How African enterprises are combining voice, SMS and digital channels to reach customers effectively

How pricing models, termination rates and regulatory shifts are shaping the commercial future of voice and messaging in Africa