Ben Uzor Jr
The commercial launch of Glo-1 Cable at the weekend has ushered in a new era of prosperity in Nigeria’s internet market, with promises of providing high speed broadband access to the doorstep of Nigeria’s rural population by leveraging on the company’s massive 10, 000km in-land metro fibre network. By delivering 2.5 terabits of bandwidth capacity, Glo-1 cable will address Nigeria’s bandwidth requirement for the next 20 years, the Second National Operators (SNO) has revealed.
In addition, Globacom disclosed that it had customised services to address the requirements of a wide segment of clients - including telecoms operators, oil and gas companies, manufacturers, education and medical institutions. Analysts say that the country’s bandwidth market is expected to witness explosive price wars occasioned by heightened competition in the submarine cable market. It is expected that the price of bandwidth will fall from $2, 400 to $10 per megabyte as the number of cables increase.
“Today, I really feel excited because we are looking at a major step change in Nigeria. I promise you, things are never going to be the same again because now our cable has arrived and we can now connect it to our 10, 000km in-land fibre optic network. “This is the time we can now provide our country and its rural populace with clearer lines as well as high quality internet services to any international destination at really affordable prices”, says Mike Adenuga Jr, chairman, Globacom, said.
As stakeholders gathered at the launch, Mohammed Jameel, group chief operating officer, Globacom noted that ‘Nigeria is a bandwidth hungry country’, further adding that by providing 2.5 terabits per second of bandwidth, the underwater cable will cater for the country’s bandwidth need for the next 20 years. The commercial launch of the cable was imperative step towards lowering cost of international communications and improving internet speeds, Jameel told the audience, which included the Senate President, David Mark, Lagos state governor, Babatunde Fashola, Edo state, Adams Oshiomole, Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniels and the deputy governor of Osun State.
“Today is a very important day in the development of telecommunications in the country of Nigeria. Nigeria has always been a bandwidth hungry country and so is the case with many countries in Africa. Today, with the arrival of Glo-1, the people of Nigerian and corporate bodies can now enjoy efficient internet services. Nigeria is today looking for connectivity to the rest of the world. The Nigerian economy is dependent on effective communication to the rest of the world. Today is the day of teleconferencing, telemedicine, e-learning and all these initiatives cannot be achieved if the country does not have excellent bandwidth available”, the GCOO noted.
Industry stakeholders declared that the emergence of the cable will have a multiplier effect on the Nigerian economy as it would boost the adoption of new and emerging technologies such as IPTV ( Internet Protocol Television), LTE (Long Term Evolution), VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), among others. According to them, the commencement of commercial services would go a long way in ushering in the much anticipated broadband boom Nigerians have been yearning for.
Senate President, David Mark, also assured that the federal governments would work assiduously to provide the right environment for companies like Globacom to thrive in Nigeria. “If we provide the right opportunities and the right environments for Nigerians who would have found ourselves on the moon ever since. If a young Nigerian like Mike Adenuga has been able to achieve this amid Nigeria’s tough business environment, then you imagine what many young Nigerian can do if the environment was conducive enough. Government needs to encourage Nigerians to join the rest of the world in business, industry, education, research and development”, Mark added.
For more interesting article visit my blog, www.benedictspace.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment