Gareth van Zyl, editor of ITWeb Africa, describes the new online venture as “a single source of quality news, analysis, research and opinion on Africa’s ICT markets, trends, developments and the people who make it happen”.

Of particular interest to marketers and advertisers is that ITWeb Africa will provide a much-needed niche platform to reach ICT business decision-makers on a continent that has become one of the world’s fastest growing adopters of technology. In the last decade, mobile operators in Africa experienced super growth as penetration rates exploded from just 2% in 2002 to 51% in 2010, amounting to 500-million connections. More recently, undersea cables such as SEACOM and Eassy have connected many African countries to high-speed broadband. By the end of 2011, Africans with access to the internet numbered 139-million .

Adds van Zyl, “ITWeb’s new venture into Africa comes at a time when the continent is experiencing massive social and economic change. Africa is one of the world’s fastest growing economic zones and average GDP growth for the continent is forecast to be 5% this year, according to the World Bank. Moreover, IT spending in Africa is expected to grow by almost 11% in 2012, outperforming the global average of 3.7%.”

ITWeb Africa is poised to become the go-to source of quality information and intelligence for international vendors, investors, traders and those interested in Africa’s ICT markets, as well as local ICT and business decision-makers, tech entrepreneurs and start-ups in key English-speaking countries in Africa. Access to content is free of charge to ITWeb Africa’s readers and is funded by advertisers who seek to deliver their message to these influential decision-makers.

ITWeb Africa provides daily news, analysis, features, market reports and insights into the continent’s changing ICT sector to keep those with a vested interest in the know. Our correspondents in Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa are providing the requisite local perspective. Plans are afoot to expand the network of journalists to all English-speaking countries in Africa,” says van Zyl.

Guests at the launch were addressed by keynote speakers Stafford Masie, an angel investor in tech start-ups and former GM of Google South Africa, and telecoms market expert Dobek Pater, director and analyst at Africa Analysis - effectively setting the tone for the type of quality content and comment readers can expect from ITWeb Africa.

ITWeb Africa is the latest in a series of successful ventures by the ITWeb publishing group, whose properties include the flagship daily publication ITWeb.co.za, the print monthly magazine Brainstorm, the tech news weekly iWeek, and the annual ITWeb Security Summit, taking place in Sandton from 15 to 17 May. ITWeb was founded in 1996 by Jovan Regasek, who came to South Africa from Serbia to explore and pursue new opportunities in the country’s IT publishing sector.

For further information or enquiries, contact Gareth van Zyl, editor of ITWeb Africa, via [email protected] or Michelle Dunlop, online business development director, via [email protected]. Alternatively call 011 807 3294. Follow ITWeb Africa on Twitter @ITWebAfrica and visit www.itwebafrica.co.za.