Glo Mobile has helped access to digital information –Minister

The contributions of Globacom to the development of the telecoms sector in Nigeria and the digitalisation of the West African region came to the fore at the third Indo – Africa ICT Expo which ended in Lagos on Thursday.

Giving the keynote address at the event, the Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, said that Nigeria had confidence in its home-grown industries and would, therefore, continue to give them preference over foreign counterparts.

He cited the example of Globacom that lived up to the yearnings of Nigerian in 2003 when it pioneered the per second billing system, as against the claims of foreign operators that the system was not possible as at that time.

Before the roll out of Globacom, telecoms consumers were charged per minute for all calls.

Also in his presentation at the event, the director in charge of e-government in the federal ministry of communication, Mr. Temitope Fashedemi, said Globacom’s multimillion dollar submarine cable backbone had reduced the cost of access to digital information in Nigeria.

According to him, the facility had brought the internet closer to the people. He discouraged data users from hosting their data offshore, saying that it was more secure for Nigerian companies and organisations to domicile their data in servers in Nigeria using local service providers.

Earlier, Globacom had made an insightful presentation on the topic “Towards a Digitalised Future.”

In the paper presented on behalf of the company by Tega Agofure , Globacom stated that the future was already in sight as people were already living their daily lives using dozens of digital connections for business and personal convenience.

According to Globacom, besides smart phones, there are already billions of connected objects across the world with smart sensors embedded in cars, microwaves ovens, fuel dispensers, generators and so many other tools and appliances which interact and provide real time data to businesses and individuals.

“Video on Demand will soon surpass conversional television viewership, while Online Stores are fast replacing Brick and Mortar,” Agofure stated.

He said that Globacom is facilitating Nigeria’s move to the digital future through massive investments in metro fibre cable infrastructure across the country as well as access to seamless connection to the internet via the Globacom owned submarine cable system known as Glo 1.

In addition to boosting the provision of services to telecom end users, the Glo 1 Submarine cable system, Agofure explained, is currently providing much-needed connectivity to critical sectors of the economy, such as oil and gas, manufacturing, banking, commerce, education and health.

Globacom was the only telecoms firm to present a paper at the event and the presentation was loudly applauded.
Over 50 local and offshore companies took part in the 2-day exhibition and conference which drew participants from several African countries including Ghana , Ethiopia, and Rwanda.

Blessing Egbe