Ben Uzor Jr
The slow and exasperating access to the information superhighway as a result of bandwidth constraints and poor quality of service would soon become a thing of the past as Main One cable, which went live on July 1 delivers more than 10 times of broadband capacity of Nigerian Telecommunications Limited’s (NITEL), Nigeria’s only submarine cable, and 20 times the entire satellite capacity of sub-Saharan Africa.
Funke Opeke, chief executive officer, Main One Cable who made this known during a facility tour of the company’s Cable Landing Station (CLS) in Lagos, stated: “For a simple cable, we are extremely competitive, we have the latest technology. It would provide on day one 1.92 terabits per second, it has the capacity to do that. And, we believe that we will be able to install 40 gigabit wave length system which is the next upgrade on this same cable system and get significant improvement beyond the 1.92 terabit through the life cycle of the cable. It is state of the art; it’s what you will find in other markets.”
Commenting on how much capacity has been sold so far, the Main One Cable CEO revealed that the firm has sold a small percentage of the capacity. “We are lighting up 30 Gigabits between Lagos-Portugal, and then another 30 Gigabit between Lagos-Ghana and 30 gigabits between Ghana and Portugal. We have the capacity to light up the rest easily if the traffic grows and there is need to give out more capacity. So, we have a lot of work to do in bringing more customers unto the system.”
Opeke further pointed out that the project would invariably lower the cost of international connectivity, boosting bandwidth availability, which would allow faster download speed. “Well, we clearly see the cost of international communications coming down, the cost of internet access coming down. We just talked about getting information to your trading partners for example. So, now, the cost for you to do that should come down, the speed and reliability at which you should do that is much improved. If you take that into consideration, the cost of doing business in Nigeria should come down”, she posited.
She observed that the project would put Nigeria and the region on the information map in terms of access to global information. “For industries looking for technology, looking for partners, looking to source offshore, they have the ability to access any global market off the internet and source for the most competitive source. It really opens up tremendous opportunities for the economy”, she posited.
During the facility tour, Robin Sanders, United States, ambassador to Nigeria, commended the company for its vision. “I just wanted to say that this is a wonderful facility and a tremendous investment on behalf of the five institutional investors and really the vision for Main One. I am really proud that the US firm was very involved in the $250 million submarine cable project that landed here in Nigeria. Overall, what Main One brings not only to the IT community in Nigeria but certainly regionally is the ability to have broadband, the ability to do mobile banking, the ability for student and institution to have reliable IT service at tremendous speeds that they don’t have now. I think it is an impressive facility.”
In the same vein, Richard Edet, general manager, Cisco Nigeria, who was also present at the facility tour, said: “I think it is a grand initiative. We have been waiting for the broadband explosion and revolution in Nigeria. This is one major initiative that would ensure that we bridge that gap. Cisco and Main one are is a strategic partnership to ensure we deliver content to the people because it brings value once it can impact life. Once you bridge that broadband divide, economic growth follows in its way. Wherever there is a 10 percent growth in broadband, it translates to 2 percent growth in GDP for the country.”
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