Mobile Monday Kampala (Uganda) chapter takes off

By Edris Kisambira
Following its take off in Johannesburg, South Africa last November, Mobile Monday, the global community of mobile industry professionals, innovators and users, has opened its second chapter on the continent in Kampala, Uganda.
The launch of the Kampala chapter will be quickly followed by the Nairobi, Kenya chapter.
Dr. Madanmohan Rao, the research projects director for Mobile Monday said there is progress in other mobile communications markets to set up chapters.
The Kampala chapter, which has been named MoMoKLA, was founded by representatives that were drawn from Uganda’s mobile telephony industry, product vendors, media representatives, the academia as well as enthusiasts across the information and communications technology sector.
Speaking at launch of MoMoKLA, Rao who is based in Bangalore (India’s IT capital) said the chapter would bring together stakeholders in the Uganda mobile industry to discuss new developments in the sector.
“What we would like to do is create a social movement in Kampala like we have done elsewhere that brings people together on a Monday of their choice to discuss and debate issues in the sector,” he said. Rao said the Kampala chapter in partnership with other global partnerships would help promote mobile start-ups and innovation in Uganda by bringing their founders and international venture capitalists together.
During the inaugural MoMoKLA meeting on Monday, Dr. Idris Rai, the EuroAfrica-ICT regional coordinator said Mobile Monday could be the catalyst for deeper exploration of mobile telephony and its impact on users of the gadgets and services in general.
Rai chaired the first thematic meeting, which discussed the ‘Future of Mobile Broadband in Uganda’ – looking at the new trends and expected innovations in the mobile broadband segment of the industry.
Eduord Blondeau, the Orange Uganda chief officer strategy broadband, who was one of the speakers for the event Orange Uganda hosted revealed Orange Uganda has completed work on a High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) network – the first of such a network in Uganda.
Blondeau said HSPDA is a superior network to the 3G networks. He said it offers better service to users in terms of delivering on the different technology platforms. HSDPA also means Orange can launch advancements and new services on top of what they offer today.
Blondeau demonstrated to the audience an internet television service on his iPhone and said the HSDPA network guarantee them faster internet speeds. Orange has also set up the first WAP portal for users to access news on sport, entertainment as well as other services.
Close to 100 professionals in the mobile industry, regulators, academia and the media turned up.
Daniel Stern, the interim head of MoMoKLA who was the chief organizer of the meet said the theme for the inaugural Mobile Monday was chosen because of the increase in telecom connectivity via undersea fibre optic cables to East Africa as well as the fact that the internet segment of the market is developing very fast in that direction.
“Broadband adds a whole new level of richness to mobile media, at different cost points. This can be a game-changer in terms of multimedia content for consumers, organisations and government,” he said. “Mobile users could surf the net on their mobiles and download video and audio content at faster speeds.”
MoMoKLA is scheduled to be officially launched on March 8, prior to the opening of the Digital Africa Summit 2010 that will be held in Kampala.
Rao said start-ups like MoMoKLA, can find partners, markets and advisors from around the world, which creates a good chance to tap into the expertise from around the world.
“There is a lot of excitement in the mobile industry about the emerging potential of markets like Uganda, and MoMoKLA is perfectly positioned as a hub for such discussion and growth,” said Rao.
Mobile Monday, founded in 2000 in Helsinki, Finland now has about 100 city chapters around the world.