Telecom
FG, ITU Seek Global Action on Submarine Cable Disruptions
To prevent damage and disruptions to submarine communication cables, which are essential to the global digital economy, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is calling on the international community to work together and take collective action.
Doreen Bogdan-Martin, secretary general of ITU, made the call during the opening ceremony of the ITU International Submarine Cable Resilience inaugural summit hosted by Nigeria in Abuja.
The summit is being attended by more than 300 delegates from the 194 ITU-member countries across the world.
She said that at the moment, the digital economy accounted for the greater parts of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and it is expected to peak at 16.5 trillion dollars by 2028.
Bogdan-Martin underscored the need for global attention and focus on measures that would sustain the spate of rapid development in the digital economy sector, with submarine cable connectivity accounting for 95 percent of its backbone.
“The past two decades have seen a vast digital shift, with new socio-economic opportunities as well as challenges. Since the 2005 World Summit on the increasing society, the number of internet users back then in 2005 stood at one billion.
“At the end of last year, we had 5.5 billion internet users. And today, the global digital economy is growing faster than global GDP and is expected to reach 16.5 trillion U.S. dollars by 2028.
“Over the next decade, some estimate that more than two-thirds of the new value creation could come from digitally enabled companies,” the ITU boss said.
She noted that “as our economies and digital innovations grow, and as we seek to bring meaningful connectivity to all, so does our reliance on digital infrastructure like submarine cables.
“This global undersea network is emblematic of the innovation and the investment required to connect the world meaningfully,” Bogdan-Martin said.
The Secretary General lamented that despite the resilience of submarine cables, about 200 disruptions are witnessed yearly, while fixing them across continents and countries is difficult and slow.
According Bogdan-Martin, the global economy always feel the impact of submarine cable cuts and disruptions, stressing that
“Submarine cables are put in place by an interplay of technology, business, and policy that has to be considered holistically.”
“That’s why this summit includes a diversity of stakeholders that are essential to this conversation,” the ITU boss added.
She commended Nigeria for hosting the event and called on the ITU Advisory Body, the academic community, and other stakeholders to work towards a lasting solution to the challenges of underwater cable cuts and disruptions across the globe.
Prof. Sandra Maximiano, Co-chair of the Advisory Board for ITU, underscored the importance of the International Advisory Board for Submarine Cable Business and Economy at the Summit, saying that positive developments have been witnessed in the industry.
“It is no coincidence that we are meeting here in Abuja today, given that several cable cuts occurred in March last year affecting multiple countries in West Africa, including Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, and Senegal.
“This incident highlighted the critical importance of subsea cable businesses in this region, with some estimates indicating that over 70 million customers were affected.
“While Nigeria is served by several submarine cable systems, many of which also land in my home country, Portugal, including Maniwari, the Africa coast to Europe, Etihanu, and to Africa, other Western African countries are served by only by a single submarine cable,” Maximiano said.
Dr. Bosun Tijani, minister of Communications, Innovations, and Digital Economy, who welcomed the ITU delegates to Nigeria, urged participants to take advantage of the hospitality of Nigeria.
On the issues of submarine cables, Dr. Tijani said, “This is not just a technical or industry-specific challenge. It is a global imperative that affects the financial market, trade, education, health systems, and even governance.”
He said, “In Nigeria, the government is investing in digital infrastructure for global access, broadband expansion, and economic transformation.
“Under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, Nigeria is committed to strengthening its digital infrastructure and advancing policies that support connectivity, innovation, and economic growth.
“We are taking decisive steps as a nation to recognise and protect the government’s infrastructure as critical national infrastructure, aligning with our broader efforts to enhance digital resilience across all sectors.
“As a government, we are also deeply invested in leveraging digital property infrastructure, promoting global access, and expanding broadband penetration, ensuring that connectivity remains a catalyst for economic transformation and revolution.
“The outcomes of this summit will not only influence policy and investment decisions but also serve as the foundation for global cooperation and long-term resilience,” he added.
Users of satellite internet service provider Starlink in Nigeria are being required to complete a biometric Know Your Customer (KYC) process as a precondition to continue enjoying their services, according to .biometricupdate.
According to local reports, more than 66,000 Starlink subscribers in the country had a December 31 ultimatum from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to complete the biometric verification or have their connection discontinued.
The process essentially entails linking a Starlkink account with the subscriber’s national digital ID.
The NCC, which is Nigeria’s telecoms industry regulator, is said to have first issued the directive in August last year, setting a three-month deadline which was to elapse on November 19, TechCabal reports.
The body however later extended it to December 31 after consultations with industry stakeholders. The internet account-NIN linkage, the NCC said, is to enhance identity verification and strengthen security within the country’s telecoms space.
Just a few days to the December 31 deadline, Starlink’s Nigeria office sent an email to its subscribers reminding them of the KYC requirement, and warned that all those who fail to comply would be disconnected.
And that once disconnected, reconnection would depend on network capacity in the concerned area.
The service provider said in its email that the process takes less than two minutes and users can complete it by logging in to their account via an app.
One user, quoted by TechCabal, said one needs to upload their selfie biometrics, provide their national identification number (NIN) and then give their consent for the account to be linked to their ID information.
Starlink’s internet service is present in about 155 countries with nine million users, as of 2025. Its growth in Nigeria is said to be rapid, making it the second largest internet service provider in the country, according to The Traffic.
Biometric identification for Starlink subscribers could become a continent-wide trend given that some countries have expressed reservations in opening up their internet space to the company over security concerns.
There’ve been fears that jihadists in countries like Mali and Nigeria may have exploited Starlink terminals to coordinate terror operations, and cybersecurity experts have also warned of risks related to weak regulation, digital sovereignty and data breaches.
The requirement for Starlink internet users to have their accounts linked with the NIN is similar to the SIM-NIN linkage policy which the Nigerian government battled to implement for many years, with many deadline extensions.
In October last year, the NCC, which is was at the forefront of the policy implementation, announced that all active SIM cards across all network providers had complied with the directive which was issued in 2020.
The idea, the federal government argued, was to strengthen security and curb criminality such as kidnappings which are aided and abetted by improperly identified mobile phone numbers.
Mr. Kashifu Inuwa, Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has urged Northern Nigeria to pivot urgently from traditional commerce to an innovation-driven digital economy for sustainable growth.
NITDA
Inuwa issued the call at the Future Map Foundation Roundtable 1.0 (North-West Edition) in Kano, attributing the region’s sluggish digital adoption not to talent deficits but to the lack of deliberate, coordinated strategies.
He stressed deeper collaboration across academia, private sector players, entrepreneurs, and government, positioning the private sector as the primary innovation engine while government supplies robust policies and an enabling ecosystem.
Inuwa advocated for people-focused, locally tailored innovations that tackle regional challenges head-on, enabling global competitiveness by transitioning from mere technology users to creators of homegrown solutions.
The roundtable convened policymakers, tech founders, and ecosystem stakeholders to forge a comprehensive roadmap for North-West digital transformation, yielding firm commitments to bolster regional innovation policies and public-private synergies.
Inuwa’s push dovetails seamlessly with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which sets an ambitious target of 95 per cent nationwide digital literacy by 2030, fostering inclusive economic empowerment.
Participants hailed the forum as a pivotal step toward unlocking Northern Nigeria’s tech potential, with NITDA poised to lead implementation through strategic interventions and partnerships.
Samsung Electronics plans to double this year the number of its mobile devices with “Galaxy AI” features largely powered by Google’s Gemini, its co-CEO said, which would give the U.S. firm an edge over rivals as the global race in artificial intelligence heats up.
The South Korean company, which had rolled out Gemini-backed AI features to about 400 million mobile products, including smartphones and tablets, by last year, plans to boost that figure to 800 million in 2026.
“We will apply AI to all products, all functions, and all services as quickly as possible,” T M Roh told Reuters in his first interview since becoming Samsung Electronics co-CEO in November.
The plan by the world’s largest backer of Google’s Android mobile platform is set to give a major boost to its developer Google, which is locked in a race with OpenAI and others to attract more consumer users to their AI model.
Samsung seeks to reclaim its lost crown from Apple in the smartphone market and fend off competition from Chinese rivals not only in mobile telephones, but televisions and home appliances, all overseen by Roh.
It will offer integrated AI services across consumer products to widen its lead over Apple in such features, though the latter was set to be the top smartphone maker last year, according to market researcher Counterpoint.
AI Race
Alphabet’s Google launched the latest version of Gemini in November, highlighting Gemini 3’s lead on several popular industry measures of AI model performance.
In response to Gemini 3, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly issued an internal “code red,” pausing non-core projects and redirecting teams to accelerate development. The ChatGPT maker launched its GPT-5.2 AI model a few weeks later.
Roh expects the adoption of AI to accelerate, as Samsung’s surveys on awareness of its Galaxy AI brand jumped to a level of 80% from about 30% in just one year.
“Even though the AI technology might seem a bit doubtful right now, within six months to a year, these technologies will become more widespread,” he said.
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