…Outfit pledges to collaborate with ICT advocacy group
By Fred Ojeh
One of West Africa’s upwardly mobile, leading end-to-end fibre network infrastructure and digital services provider: Phase3 Telecom, has advocated partnership of stakeholders in ICT to accelerate the holistic development of the country.
The company reiterated that it will continue to support efforts targeted at the stimulation of ICT infrastructure development across the country.
This is coming even as the company pledged reinforcement of connectivity demand and rapid expansion for a thriving digital economy that assures technological advancement.
The disclosure was made known at the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) “ICT Growth Conference” 2021 in Lagos.
According to the company’s regional head – south and conference panelist, Mr. Olalekan Babalola, acknowledged that NITRA is integral to bringing the industry together to channel innovative and collaborative ways that the federal government, regulators, providers and stakeholders can partner on ICT growth or addressing policy impediments to its acceleration and infrastructure demands.
This becomes more imperative as a recent data survey showed that 58% of Nigerians are still unconnected, hence a loss of unquantifiable revenue that can be derived from the ICT sector alone and an enabler to all sectors of the economy and society. Hence platforms as NITRA’s must continue to advocate industry cooperation to optimize connectivity capabilities with scalable solutions and secured access that today’s bandwidth interfaces demand.
In a statement the Company’s spokesperson, Mrs. Morayo Nwabufo, said: “Phase3 is committed and will continue to support credible initiatives that foster meaningful connectivity and innovative technological advancements for a fully digitized society that promises access to everyone, everywhere in the country and indeed on the African continent”.
She charged NITRA and its members on amplifying ICT reportage in creative ways that will continue to move ICT investment up the government’s priority ladder – to bridge the current gap in digital literacy and public awareness; to build IT-based partnerships that ensure higher flexibility and reliability of multiple connections as well as champion socio-economic empowerment of citizens.
That the association must remain relentless in harnessing the collective intelligence of private and public sector stakeholders through constructive conversation and actionable goals to mitigate the challenges posed to critical infrastructure that serves as the bedrock for a sustainable digital economy.