Mr. Stanley Jegede, chief executive officer of Phase 3 Telecoms, has said that Nigeria’s telecommunications sector needs sustained investment in the coming years if the desire to realize universal access is to be achieved.
Jegede, who spoke on what should be the focus of the soon-to-be appointed chief executive of the Nigerian Communications Commission, stated that while a lot of achievements had been recorded by the regulatory body, there was still much work to be done in the coming years.
He noted that issues such as affordability of services, quality of services and total network development that deliver broadband services across the country were areas that further investment could help improve in the coming years.
He said: “Investment in telecommunications is an issue that must be pursued vigorously in the coming years if Nigeria is to fully bring the benefits of telecommunications to the citizenry. Just like the oil industry, investment is needed in telecommunications for Nigeria to remain the market leader in Africa and also to connect the many unconnected people that still remain in the country.”
According to him, Phase3 Telecom will continue to invest in transmission backbone development to provide the needed link that will facilitate advanced service delivery to individuals and organizations across the country.
“At Phase3 Telecom, we realize the need for the development of the backbone that will carry traffic and ensure the availability of up-to-date services to the citizenry hence our current investment in IP backbone across the West African region using power transmission network,” he stated.
He said the firm had investment over $100m in the sector and would do more in order to become a leader in the provision of transmission services in the wet African region.
The CEO noted that the current leadership of the telecommunications industry regulatory body had done very well in developing the sector from a virtually non-existent position to becoming the biggest in Africa.
He praised Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, executive vice-chairman of NCC, for doing so much to take the telecommunications sector to its current enviable height. According to him, the performance of Ndukwe has made him an undoubted achiever in Nigeria.
“You cannot hide a star. When you look at the sky in the night and there is a bright star shining in the sky, you will certainly see it. This is what Ndukwe represents in the telecommunications sector today. He has so impacted the telecommunications sector that one must appreciate what God has done through for Nigeria,” He said.
Jegede said achievements of Ndukwe meant that a lot of work must be done by whosoever would be replacing him as chief executive to keep the industry at a leading position in Africa both in terms of quality of regulatory interventions as well as ensuring the delivery of expected services to Nigerians.
He therefore urged government to appoint a seasoned replacement for Ndukwe in order to ensure continuity in the development of the country’s telecommunications in the coming years.