HERMANUS, Western Cape – In a compelling address that balanced ambition with caution, Dr. Mmaki Jantjies, Telkom’s Group Executive for Innovation & Transformation and Chairperson of SATNAC 2025, issued an urgent call for responsible innovation, stressing that Africa’s digital progress must not come at the expense of its people or planet.
Speaking at the Southern Africa Telecommunications Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC), Dr. Jantjies grounded the event’s high-tech theme, “Africa’s Ascent: Towards a Sustainable and Resilient Future,” in the continent’s stark realities of poverty, inequality, and unemployment.
She argued that technology’s value is only realised when it directly addresses these foundational challenges.
“As we host this conference in Africa and South Africa, as leading experts and practitioners within our field, we do also have to contend with the reality that fundamentally impacts parts of our continent, the triple challenges, poverty, inequality, high youth unemployment. Therefore, access to digital infrastructure and technological power cannot be separated from the context in which it is rooted in,” she stated.
Highlighting a shift beyond hype, Dr. Jantjies pointed to tangible AI applications already shaping Africa – from healthcare and agriculture to finance and retail.
However, she acknowledged legitimate industry skepticism, citing the high failure rate of AI pilots, skills shortages, data fragmentation, and the significant environmental cost of training large AI models.
“These concerns are real and they’re very responsible,” she said.
Yet, she warned against inertia, noting that “Countries and companies don’t fall behind because they move too fast. They fall behind because they adapt too slowly.”
For Dr. Jantjies, the path forward requires a dual focus: building sovereign local capacity in skills and infrastructure, and innovating with a firm ethical and environmental safeguard.
She positioned Telkom as a “mission critical institution” in this journey, enabling the secure, next-generation digital capabilities the continent needs.
Concluding with a definitive stance on sustainability and trust, Dr. Jantjies framed the conference itself as a vital national investment.
“A clear and call for us to innovate responsibly, ensuring digital progress does not compromise ecological and societal stability,” she asserted.
“Finally, investments into platforms such as SATNAC, they build trust with society. They deepen institutional credibility. They create a resilient national foundation that we depend on as a collective.”
Her remarks set a sober, purposeful tone for SATNAC 2025, emphasising that Africa’s technological ascent must be inclusive, sustainable, and firmly rooted in creating measurable value for all its people.
