Phase3 Telecom, an indigenous fibre infrastructure provider, has commenced the deployment of innovative interoperability solutions to it various clientele across the economy, Mr. Stanley Jegede, chief executive officer of the company has said.
The deployment is part of its strategic solutions roll-out to telecommunications operators in the country.
Mrs. Morayo Nwabufo, the company’s Communications manager quoted Jegede as adding that the deployment would significantly enhance its transmission backbone services to clients in various sectors of the economy.
“This move is designed to bring into full and sustainable reality the company’s promise to drive the needed alignment of interoperable transmission backbone for possible and effective broadband service in the country with great focus on the health, education and financial sectors,” he said.
According to him, “For instance, to promote improved healthcare in the country, Phase3 telecom’s focus is to use this innovative solution help health information systems work together faster and better within and across organisational boundaries in order to advance the effective delivery of healthcare for individuals and communities which currently is at a worrisome state.”
Jegede noted that the company’s interoperability solutions would offer the possibility of uniform movement of healthcare data, presentation of data, user controls, safeguarding data security and integrity, protection of patient confidentiality and assurance of a common degree of system service quality.
He stated that the deployment would in a great way change and compliment, significantly the federal government’s previously stunted, but now growing effort to deepen broadband penetration in the country which is evident in recent efforts to upgrade network from 3.75G to 4G by some operators, which is a major pointer to rapid growth in the mobile broadband ecosystem.
Jegede, however, lamented the restrictions in the working together of the nation’s three major optic fibre systems especially as they are not designed with open access architecture in mind.
“This is indeed a major challenge as interoperability in telecommunications and technical system engineering sense; is the ability of systems, units, or forces to provide services to and accept services from other systems, units or forces and to use the services exchanged to enable them to operate effectively together,” he said.
He added, “The major advantage here is that when such systems achieve interoperability either by adhering to published interface standards or by making use of a broker of services; it instantaneously converts one’s system interface into another system’s interface.”
According to him, “Phase3 Telecom’s high and consistent commitment level to ensuring interoperable transmission backbone led to such partnerships as the open access network model designed in partnership with Dancom, a subsidiary of the Dangote Group to tackle envisaged problems in providing top notch services to clients.”
In another development, the company announced that it has so far invested USD 110 million to enable broadband to get to under-served and unserved areas of Nigeria.
Ajibade Momolosho, the company’s director of engineering, said recently that between now and 2016, some USD 68 million more will be invested in broadband development and Phase3 will be expanding its business frontiers to Accra and Senegal in the next eighteen months.
He said the company has so far deployed 4500 km of fibre optic cable. On its mandate to be West Africa’s IP backbone, he maintained that Phase3 Telecom has contributed immensely to the development of the telecommunications industry in Nigeria so far in its ten years of existence.