Smart Africa and Afriwave Telecom Ghana Limited have announced a partnership where they will collaborate in the One Africa Network and Interconnect Clearinghouse initiative, the Data Centre and Cloud Project and the Intra-Africa Connectivity project to advance the digital transformation of the continent.

The partnership will also see Smart Africa and Afriwave Telecom providing training for decision makers across Africa through the Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) vehicle.

Smart Africa is an alliance of 32 African countries, international organisations and global private sector players tasked with defining Africa’s digital agenda. The alliance is empowered by a bold and innovative commitment by African Heads of State to accelerate sustainable socio-economic development on the continent and usher Africa into the knowledge economy through affordable access to broadband and the use of ICTs.

With a vision to create a single digital market in Africa by 2030, the Smart Africa Alliance brings together Heads of State who seek to accelerate the digitalization of the continent and create a common market.

“It is important that we keep Africa’s data within the borders of Africa. In order to achieve that, we must build the capacity to manage and store data on the continent. This partnership with Afriwave Telecom will use African skills to advance Africa’s capacity and digital transformation,” said Mr. Lacina Koné, CEO/Director General, Smart Africa Secretariat.

Afriwave Telecom is a Ghanaian company established in 1998 to provide telecommunications solutions in Ghana and beyond. It is the first and the only licensed Interconnect Clearinghouse (ICH) Operator in Ghana and currently provides national telecommunications interconnect clearinghouse services to licensed Mobile Network Operators (MTN, Vodafone, AirtelTigo and Glo Mobile) in Ghana. 

Afriwave Telecom also provides international telecommunications interconnect clearinghouse services to International Wholesale Carriers who route international telecom traffic into Ghana. The operations of ICH have brought several benefits to the Ghana telecom sector and Afriwave telecom is looking forward to extending its services to other parts of Africa and therefore ready to collaborate with other stakeholders with similar ambitions and objectives. 

“We have often wondered when traffic within Africa will be routed within the borders of the continent. The establishment of intra-African cross-border links and interconnections will create an enabling environment aimed towards achieving the ultimate objective of keeping all African traffic within Africa”, said Francis Poku, Deputy CEO, Afriwave Telecom.

ICH services provide a simple, cost-effective and reliable point of interconnection and interconnection links leading to a reduction in interconnect OPEX and CAPEX; efficient handling of new and traditional interconnect requirements; provides a point of interconnection and reduces the entry barrier to other service providers into the telecom interconnect ecosystem; provides independent verification and reconciliation of interconnect billing records to enhance quick clearing and settlements among connecting entities. 

Benefits of ICH

ICT is an enabler for the economy. Afriwave work through the ICH platform to provide a gateway into the telecom's ecosystem.

There is also the provision of financial clearing house services to facilitate easier settlement of interconnect fees amongst MNOs and potential MNOs and VAS providers.

Through ICH, there will be integrating of other sectors of the economy into the telecom ecosystem which will enhance transaction speed and consequently stimulate economic growth.