eWorld’s broadband forum holds in March

Nigeria’s first broadband forum is to open in March this year.

The forum, slated to hold for two days in the first week of March, is aimed at drawing a roadmap for broadband band development and usage in the country.

Stakeholders are naturally upbeat that 2010 will usher in the broadband revolution, but as it is commonly known wishes alone do not do the job.

The Forum is being packaged by eWorld magazine, with support from industry stakeholders.

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Editor, eWorld Magazine, Mr. Aaron Ukodie said this has become imperative to nurture the modalities for its successful evolution in the polity.

“There are grey areas that must be looked at; a pathway that leads to fruitful deployment, especially on the national and users end must be well articulated” he said.

Ukodie noted that though the expected berthing of a number of undersea cables in the New Year signals a good prospect for broadband hope, the last mile end must be put in perspective.

Already, he noted that Glo 1 has berthed on Nigerian shore awaiting activation, while WACS and MainOne are making speedy sail towards Nigeria, SAT-3, the old horse awaits its competitors.

According to him, plotting the pathway early enough in the year ensures that stakeholders do not grope in the various tasks in achieving the expectations of Nigerians.

“A headache-free e-business and all the expected e-transactions are premised on the coming developments,” Ukodie noted, stressing that Nigeria’s broadband hope is in line with the focus of several developed countries, such as the United States, which is exploring the broadband route for economic revival.

He pointed out that there are however questions that are begging for answers if the expectations are to be realized, and these are some of the reasons for the Broadband forum. Additionally, he cited an instance that there is need for effective regulations to drive broadband networks and service provisioning, the last mile gap in broadband services, where is the Broadband’s mass market potentials, investment options: co-location, managed services to name a few.

Ukodie also raised question on whether the rural dwellers will savour the benefits of broadband, the roadmaps; 3G-4G; From First Generation to Next -Generation Broadband, LTE, Wimax, HSPA, Fibre Optic among others.


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