Spio-Garbrah urges adoption of NGN

Chief Executive Officer, Commonwealth Telecom Organisation (CTO), Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, has urged telecommunications operators in West African sub-region to embrace Next Generation Networks (NGN) so as to improve their service delivery to the populace.

Speaking at this year’s West African Information Communications Technology (WAFICT) Congress, held simultaneously with the 9th West African International Telecommunications and Information Communication Technology Exhibition (W.Afri.Tel) in Lagos, he said, there is a need for adoption of Next Generation Networks (NGNs) which is based on genuinely innovative technologies already transforming business communications.

Spio-Garbrah, accompanied by Nigeria’s former minister of Communications, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, also said that major drivers for NGNs include changes in service and user needs as well as technological evolution.

Stressing that benefits accruable to Nigeria and other African countries in the aftermath of NGN presence are access, availability and affordability of telecom facilities and improved quality of service. Nigerian operators, he enjoined, precisely to adopt NGNs in order to promote education, employment and empowerment of the citizenry, emphasizing that this would contribute to local content development and ICT ownership.

While advocating for a closer working relationship between government and the telecom industry regulator as well as the operators, he said these three are pivotal to the success of the industry and the people at large.

Equally, the CTO chief, cautioned operators against the notorious 3Gs of Girls, Games and Gambling which most operators in advanced economies have adopted to lure people into their networks in an effort to maximize patronage. He later declared the event open alongside other dignitaries.

Meanwhile, organisers of the West African International Telecommunications and Information Communication Technology Exhibition (W.Afri.Tel) and the West African Information Communications Technology (WAFICT) Congress, has described the co-located events just ended in Lagos, as jointly bringing new opportunities and products to the sub-region.

The organizers in a press statement made available to Champion Infotel, noted that the West African sub-region, visibly driven by the Nigerian telecom revolution, has over the years attained the status of the shining light as illustrated by the tremendous growth in the sub-region’s telecom industry. The 3-day co-located events saw ICT enthusiasts converging at the Expo Centre and Coral Hall for W.Afri.Tel exhibition, organised by Exhibition Management Services (EMS) of South Africa, in partnership with IT & Telecom Digest, on the 9th edition, while WAFICT Congress was an added feature for the first time, since the commencement of W.Afri.Tel in June 2001.

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