Stakeholders at the just
concluded 5th ITEdge Convergence Forum in Lagos have called for
urgent refocusing of national connectivity goals in Nigeria.
They said this would enable the
country to structure strategies towards achieving a seamless convergence
without hiccups.
One of those who spoke at the
event, Senior Project Manager, Alcatel-Lucent for Middle East, Turkey and
Africa, Mr. Innocent Aki, identified national connectivity as vital for delivery
of the last miles to the citizenry.
He said by generating greater
broadband access with wireless connection, there is need for intercontinental
connectivity but continental and national connectivity need focus, which could achieved
through dry pipes going in-land.
Mr. Aki in his paper entitled
‘Submarine System versus Satellite System’ noted that submarine cable has a
high quality reliable transmission for information super highways which include
voice, video and data, stressing that submarine cable is also of high capacity
with minimal delay which is good for bank infrastructure.
Comparing submarine system and satellite
system, Mr. Aki pointed that satellite system is well adapted for mobile
services such as telephony; broadcasting over a wide geographical area and
access for remote or rural area while submarine has the capacity to increase
during system life.
Submarine System, he noted, has a
25-year lifespan and satellite system on the other hand has a lifespan of 8-15
years with launch risk vulnerability as it could get lost while in space
without being able to retrieve.
In his comment, Mr. Alexander
Ibere of MTN Enterprise Solution said telephone services has since moved from
the normal Short Messaging Service (SMS) or phone call services to checking of
email, data services and surfing the internet on the go and finally to business
solution, giving mobile users the opportunity to transact business and optimize
their business at the comfort of their palm.
Alexander also said there is need
for connectivity as business and enterprises in the country must be connected,
“If you are not connected, you are in the dark,” he declared.
Part of the business solutions
provided by MTN, he said is the data services facilities where banks could have
their back-up in their data services locations.
Muhammed Rudman, CEO, Nigeria
Internet Exchange Point (IXPN) who is a member of the panelist at the forum, while
responding to questions on getting services to an ordinary man on the street
and not only to institutions, said Nigerians are only trying to consume content
and not giving time to creating same for others to use.
He further said there is a great
need to start creating local contents and hosting them locally.
Director-General, National
Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mr. Yomi Bolarinwa, in his contributions said
that most media contents over the last decade were produced by professionals
and transmitted terrestrially.
Things, he said, have changed as
media contents are now been transmitted by everybody across the internet, and mostly
on social media.
He affirmed that there has been a
market shift from the traditional broadcasting to open and free such as BBC
IPlayer, Apple TV and Google TV.
Bolarinwa said broadcasting
houses are losing revenue on a daily basis as a result of canceling broadcasts
without any apology to the viewers. Stressing that convergence of modern
information technology to traditional broadcasting, that telecom and Internet
Service Providers have the capacity to distribute contents.
Yinka Awosanya
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