Facebook, MainOne mull metro fibre infrastructure, target 1m for connectivity

Not less than one million people are expected to be provided connectivity as American online and social media and social networking service company, Facebook, and Nigeria’s Submarine Cable Owner, MainOne, conclude a plan to build metro fibre infrastructure in two states in Nigeria.

The project, according to Facebook, will connect more Nigerians to broadband internet by connecting mobile operators’ base stations, internet service providers, public locations and points of presence.

Commenting on the partnership, Network Investment Lead for Emerging Markets at Facebook, Ibrahim Ba, said Facebook was bringing together its learning from scaling its global infrastructure with MainOne’s knowledge of the local environment to develop and test new working models for multiple operators to access common infrastructure.

Apart from MainOne, Ba says Facebook is working closely with other partners to deepen broadband deployment.

For the Chief Executive Officer of MainOne, Mrs Funke Opeke, the partnership is in line with MainOne’s commitment to growing digital economy, massive job creation and broadband innovation in West Africa.

Opeke expressed confidence that the partnership and open access network MainOne has developed will be beneficial to improving the quality of access and accelerating digital transformation.

According to the Vice President of Connectivity at Facebook, Dan Rabinovitsj, when completed later in the year, the project will connect “more than 1,000,000 people in Benin City, Abeokuta, Sagamu and ten other towns” across Edo and Ogun to broadband internet.