KT Corp. is out to provide more network and ICT support to help usher in an era of mobile advancement in Africa.

This week, the nation’s leading network carrier is jointly hosting the Transform Africa Summit 2013 with the government of Rwanda in the capital of Kigali.

Under the theme of “The Future Delivered. Today,” the summit brings together 12 African nations including Kenya and Uganda, along with representatives of the International Telecommunication Union, World Bank and other international organizations, to discuss ways to spur Africa’s ICT advancement. 

Almost a dozen global companies including KT, Samsung and Ericsson are also attending to offer solutions and equipment support for improving the network and communication infrastructure of Africa.

“Our wish is to establish a stable broadband environment in Africa to help promote its economic development,” said Lee Seok-chae, the KT chairman at a keynote speech on Tuesday (local time) at the opening ceremony of the summit.

He added that ICT technology, namely LTE networks, would be the key to unleashing new opportunities for African nations.

During the speech, he held a demonstration for Rwanda’s Minister for Youth and ICT Jean Philbert Nsengimana involving apps and Youtube videos to show just how much more advanced LTE is compared to Rwanda’s 3G services.

KT, as one of the leading members of the conference, also opened an exclusive exhibition dubbed “Smart Partner for Mobile Broadband Era.”

As the largest such hall at the summit, the facility housed 21 high-tech network and ICT-related products based on the five themes of “LTE WARP,” “Smart Commerce,” “Smart Education,” “Smart Media” and “Smart Solution.”

The “LTE Tower” showcasing KT’s world-class LTE utilizing ABC technology ― a technology offering seamless network services based on artificial intelligence ― and femtocell technology enabling consistently stable network speed, was set up at the center of the exhibition hall.

At the Smart Commerce Zone, KT showed how credit cards, membership cards and various types of coupons can be kept in mobile wallets.

At the Smart Education Zone, the company is offering a glimpse into how education can be advanced via IT technology. Here, spectators can check out IT-based English education programs such as SMARTtree English, currently being test-run in Vietnam.

Other education solutions running on tablet PCs, such as Workspace and Green Class, were also on exhibition.

At the Smart Media Zone, the company put on display its educational smart robot Kibot 2, which has been exported to Saudi Arabia.

(jemmie@heraldcorp.com)