In a span of less than 30 years, telecom operators have evolved from fixed-line providers of voice and fax

communications to an amalgam of mobile and fixed networks providing high-speed data-dependent

connectivity to a slew of over-the-top (OTT) service providers. Regulated industry business models are still

in place for an industry that can no longer sell just access to survive. As digital service providers (DSPs),

telecom operators are reinventing themselves to operate at web-speed, aiming for rapid development,

deployment, and operation of not just a few new digital services, but hundreds of thousands of micro

services. Not only do they aspire to web-speed, they aspire to web business models, namely the platform

business model. As DSPs, telecom operators could build digital ecosystems to connect end users with

sellers, both for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C). This evolution of CSP to

DSP will gradually expand in Africa starting in 2019 and over the subsequent 6 to 8 years.

IoT use cases, ranging from autonomous cars, industrial sensors, and automated agriculture to smart cities,

create a multiplier effect for network complexity. The complexity facing telecom networks today is

approaching a point where monitoring and management is becoming beyond human control, and

automation is the only way telecom operators will be able to offer future network services. The rollout of

these complex networks, namely 5G networks powered by network function virtualization (NFV) and

software-defined networks (SDNs), will begin to materialize in Africa in 2020 and beyond.

The acceleration of machine learning (ML) and other AI technologies over the past few years and the

concepts of Big Data analytics, SDNs, and NFV started prompting visionaries to develop plans to create

autonomous networks for telecom. Autonomous networks would be able to self-configure, self-monitor, and

self-heal themselves. Network managers would be able to state their intent to the network, instead of

specifically coding actions. Autonomous networks will start to appear in Africa between 2025 and 2030.