Telecom
Galaxy Backbone Partners Interra Network to Connect S/East and S/South with STORM ISP
Galaxy Backbone (GBB) and Interra Networks have officially launched an Internet Service Provider, codenamed STORM.ng, for the benefit of the South East and South South regions of the country.
The project, under the Nigeria National Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Backbone (NICTIB) Phase I, was launched in Enugu State on Tuesday.
The GBB and Interra Networks, through STORM, would cover Enugu, Ebonyi, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Awka, Onitsha and Asaba under its national fibre roll out programme.
Dr Isa Pantami, minister of Communications and Digital Economy, at the launch of the project expressed delight with the unveiling of STORM as a fibre connectivity and digital services platform powered by GBB, which aligned with the vision of the present administration.
The minister, who joined virtually, explained that STORM would open up massive opportunities for corporates, small businesses and for homes looking to improve the quality of internet services in those regions.
“I would like to congratulate Galaxy Backbone and its project partners for achieving this great feat, which will provide fast and efficient delivery of Internet and hosting services for the South-East and South-South regions.
“Since 2019, the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy has championed the country’s digital transformation agenda in efforts to position it as one of the leading Digital Economies in the world.
“To achieve this aim, we developed the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) (2020-2030) with the clear vision ‘to transform Nigeria into a leading Digital Economy providing quality life and digital economies for all.”
He said the mission was “to build a nation where digital innovation and entrepreneurship are used to create value and prosperity for all.”
He, however recalled that STORM initiative was in line with the National Digital Economy Policy for a Digital Nigeria (2020 – 2030).
Pantami added that STORM was a significant milestone in support of the Federal Government’s efforts to accelerate broadband penetration across cities and underserved communities in the country.
He expressed optimism that Digital Services would expand and strengthen development since Nigeria was endowed with enormous potential.
He congratulated GBB and Interra Network teams for putting the launch in place and urged them to work together in order to ensure wealth and prosperity was expanded in the nation.
“In particular, it supports the implementation of Pillar 3 (the Solid Infrastructure Pillar). It is also in alignment with the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (2020 – 2025).
“Broadband connectivity plays a major role in the economic fortunes of countries around the world.
“A 10 per cent increase in broadband penetration can lead to growth in Gross Domestic Product in the region of 0.6 per cent to 2.8 per cent.
“Furthermore, the use of broadband technology goes beyond facilitating socialisation.
“Rather, it supports key sectors of the economy, such as the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
“These enterprises are a critical part of the Nigerian economy and broadband access enables them to extend their services beyond their physical locations through the use of e-commerce platforms.
“It will support government’s effort in meeting the target of the NNBP, which aims to achieve a 90 per cent broadband penetration by 2025.
“Through platforms like STORM, we are extending the provision of internet services beyond major cities in the country, thereby deepening broadband penetration across the country to overcome the existing digital divide,” he said.
Recall that Galaxy Backbone had deployed fibre optics to 17 major cities across the federation under the first phase of NICTIB.
Prof. Mohammed Abubakar, managing director of GBB, said the plan to launch the project in year 2020 was aborted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abubakar, who also joined virtually, expressed optimism that with the official launch of STORM, GBB and Interra Networks were ready to unleash broadband services to organisations and homes in South East and South South.
He informed that STORM would bridge the notable gaps in the market in terms of reliable internet service.
According to him, change is the only constant thing in life and as people living in a fast changing digital world, I am sure you all know how important it is to ensure we embrace change,
“So, that we are not left behind at the speed of light transformations taking place all around us.
“We are confident that by making fast and reliable internet services available in urban and rural communities, greater number of job opportunities will emanate and we can lift more people out of poverty.
“History has shown that in every major pandemic, one or two sectors begin to thrive and lead to the transformation of the lives of entire communities and indeed the world.
“In this case, Digital Technology has taken centre stage, especially in Nigeria, where we have observed its great contributions to the GDP of our country in the last quarter of the year 2020.
“We are not unmindful of the strides recorded by most of our competitors in this industry.
“We are confident that the broadband internet connectivity and hosting service being offered by STORM will lead to an experience that you will find efficient, reliable and with great support.”
Speaking on ‘”Partnering to Serve: The Storm Value Proposition”, Mr David Onu, president, Interra Networks, , said that the service would enable greater youth participation in technology and digital economy drive.
According to Onu, ICT is considered to be the new oil worldwide and it is very interesting to see that just 15 years ago, the top six companies were oil companies.
“Today, those companies are no more in the top 10. The only one that has broken the top 10 record is the Exxon Mobil.
“And you ask yourself what has made it so. What have made it so are the IT services and data.
“It is something interesting, taken away from the corporate world and countries that were considered to belong to the third world 20 years ago.
“It is interesting to see how they have erased their poverty index; by empowering people, creating jobs and creating wealth.”
He, however bemoaned the misnomer in Nigeria, which was excessive reliance on natural resources, adding that the biggest strength had been intellectual resources.
“What has been going on today in the country is that silent revolution and it will soon take the country by storm with the engagement of our young people in technology.
“We hear of our young people getting investments from companies outside the country to expand; we hear of services that are being used Africa-wide and worldwide and we haven’t even started.
He hinged the launch of STORM on the harnessing of the capacity of young people and businesses in the regions to boost the economy.
Dignitaries present at the event included: Mr Osita Chidoka, former minister of Aviation; Sir Carl Obi Kama, commissioner, Enugu State Ministry of Science and Technology; Prof. Boniface Nworgu, commissioner, Imo State Ministry of Science and Technology.
Others were Rocky Ighoyota, director of ICT, Delta State Ministry of Science and Technology; Abdul-Malik Suleiman, group head, Regional Offices, Galaxy Backbone; Tope Dele-Oni, head, Regional Business & Operations, Galaxy Backbone (Lagos and South West), among others.
Young professionals have been urged to embrace continuous learning, resilience and personal responsibility as they prepare for leadership in an increasingly competitive world.
MTN Nigeria
The charge came from the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Dr. Karl Toriola, during his session at the ninth edition of the Redefinition Conference, held at the United Evangelical Church on July 25, 2026, themed “CTRL+S: Save. Deploy. Scale.”
The conference brought together business leaders, entrepreneurs and emerging professionals to discuss leadership, innovation and personal development.
Speaking during an interactive session, Toriola encouraged participants not to be discouraged by failure, stressing that mistakes are part of every successful journey. “Make no mistake: I have made a million mistakes in my life. Probably what has gotten me to where I am is I don’t let them completely wipe me out, and I always learn something and try and make it a little bit better after that mistake, and try not to repeat it over again,” he said.
He also challenged young professionals to take ownership of their careers through deliberate self-development. “Your career, your future, your life is your responsibility and your responsibility only. And nobody is going to give you any leeway because you started from behind… It is up to you to close that gap,” he said.
Toriola added that throughout his career, he invested his own time, money and vacation periods in developing new skills, including finance and risk management.
On the future of work, Toriola called on organisations to create environments where younger employees are encouraged to contribute ideas. “The balance will come if you give the new people that you bring into your organization an excessively loud voice. The problem is you bring in these people, and then you put them in a corner… and you shut them down,” he said.
He added that businesses must remain open to new thinking if they want to stay relevant in a rapidly changing world.
The session ended on a memorable note when a student studying Data Engineering and Analytics requested an internship opportunity at MTN Nigeria.
Impressed by the student’s confidence, Toriola directed the individual to a member of his team after the session to explore the opportunity.
The exchange drew applause from the audience and reinforced the day’s message on taking initiative and creating opportunities through confidence and boldness.
In a development that underscores the fragile state of Nigeria’s telecommunications grid, an incident of infrastructure vandalism in Delta State has severely disrupted network connectivity, leaving thousands of subscribers stranded.
The breach, where a robber attacked the sites, occurred at an IHS-managed telecom node in the ASB region on July 8, 2026, immediately knocking 33 base stations offline across 2G, 3G, and 4G spectrums.
The situation in the region escalated drastically by morning when a separate fibre-optic cable cut severed primary transmission lines. Because the compromised node serves as a critical fibre convergence point, the secondary fibre cut triggered a cascading failure.
This secondary disruption ballooned the number of dark sites from 33 to 103, temporarily paralysing digital communications, banking, and commerce in the affected communities.
Industry sources reveal that the financial and logistical toll of such incidents is becoming unsustainable for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). Currently, network providers are utilising 20 per cent more spare parts than initially budgeted for the fiscal year.
This unpredictable depletion of technical reserves has stripped operators of their supply buffers, making inventory management and financial forecasting increasingly difficult for telecom executives.
Consequently, engineering teams have been forced to cannibalise materials originally designated for network expansion and new site rollouts just to perform emergency restorations on the damaged sites.
This diversion of resources significantly delays the rollout of new infrastructure, stifling the nation’s broader broadband penetration targets and stalling anticipated revenue generation for the telecom companies.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently noted an average of 1,744 weekly attacks on telecom infrastructure nationwide, including over 1,100 fibre cuts.
As operators endure protracted back-and-forth negotiations with insurance firms to cover these sudden hardware losses, stakeholders are intensifying calls for the strict enforcement of the Federal Government’s recent designation of telecom assets as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) to safeguard Quality of Service (QoS).
Earlier this month, we announced our new model, Muse Spark 1.1, which powers the Meta AI app and meta.ai. The model is built to plan, work with your apps, and follow through from start to finish, and those capabilities are what make the new features possible in Meta AI. With it driving the experience, Meta AI is starting to take action on your behalf.
An AI Assistant That Plans and Follows Through
You’ve been using Meta AI to find answers, think through ideas, and create content. Now it can go further and actually get things done for you. Meta AI can now make plans, follow through on next steps, and keep you on track without needing to be reminded or re-prompted.
Tell Meta AI you’re renovating your kitchen and it will learn your style, scout Marketplace for furniture and fixtures that fit your budget, and send you a mood board so you can see how it all comes together. Ask it to help you build a running plan for your first half marathon and it will create a week-by-week training schedule, adjust for your availability, and share your plan for the week every Monday morning. Or ask it to plan a birthday dinner and it will find restaurants, check your calendar for a night that works, and suggest options.
Meta AI can now give you a daily briefing, pulling what’s on your calendar, finding relevant updates like realizing when you’re double booked or when plans have changed, and giving you a quick summary at your preferred time. You only have to set up tasks with Meta AI once, then you can leave Meta AI to handle them, whether that’s a weekly meal plan, a heads-up on the latest sneaker drops, or an afternoon update on trends you care about. Tell Meta AI what you want and when, and it’ll keep delivering.
Meta AI daily briefing UI
When you want to dig into a topic, Meta AI can do the research in minutes, synthesizing information from across the web, from research papers to what creators and communities share on our apps, so you can understand a subject or weigh your options without the manual work. And if you want to turn what you’ve learned into something visual, ask Meta AI to generate slides.
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How to Get Started
These features will start rolling out today in select markets in the Meta AI app and meta.ai. We’ll bring them to more countries and surfaces, including WhatsApp, in the coming weeks.
It’s your choice how you use Meta AI in the app and meta.ai: find quick answers; get thoughtful responses that reflect your world; or shop with real inspiration from posts, Reels, and products that people are sharing across our apps. And when you want a fully private conversation, Incognito chats are always there.
This is just the start of what we’re envisioning for Meta AI, and we’ll keep building to make AI more fun, relevant, and useful for you.
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