Telecom
Rudman to Chair NITRA Technology Forum 2021
Mr. Muhammed Rudman, Chief Executive Officer, Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), Nigeria’s first and only neutral IXP, will chair NITRA TECHNOLOGY FORUM 2021 which is slated to hold on Thursday, May 27, 2021 at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos.
The event will gather industry stakeholders in the Cloud hosting services and Data Center to discuss issues around the growth of data hosting, preservation and utilisation in the country.
The NITRA TECHNOLOGY FORUM with its Theme: Achieving 30% Growth In Local Cloud Hosting By 2024, will also discuss challenges and solutions to factors mitigating against effective domiciliation of our locally-generated data.
According to the organisers, the choice of Mr. Rudman to chair this Edition was borne out of his passion and contribution to the growth of local content in the industry and everything data.
Rudman is also the current President of NiRA, the .ng registry, as well as the DNS Administrator contact for Nigeria. He is a member of ccNSO, and has worked in a technical capacity with many Nigerian Internet Service Providers.
According to Mr. Chike Onwuegbuchi, Chairman of NITRA, over the years, Nigeria has been grappling with the need to secure the country’s data and further boost local content in all sectors of the economy, and key stakeholders are worried and concerned about how the sector is faring in this area, and how it can achieve local hosting of our sensitive data. Growth should be inside-out.
The Covid-19 pandemic has also presented an eye-opener to many companies on the need to fortify their data and cloud architecture.
“Specifically, the Forum will offer Cloud service companies, data infrastructure companies and other stakeholders, opportunities to reach out to their target market with solutions that addresses their challenges and needs.
Through the Forum, stakeholders will be able to discuss current challenges affecting Cloud businesses, policies that should facilitate growth and solutions to the challenges identified,” Onwuegbuchi said.
The world increasingly exploits information technology for innovative services and competitive advantage, the data centre is playing a rapidly expanding role in job creation and growth of cloud hosting services in the country as well as the overall economic recovery.
As an aspiring digital economy, Nigeria has also witnessed significant investments in data centres being established in the country. And it has often been argued that the availability of world class Data centres in Nigeria is critical infrastructure required for the implementation of the country’s Broadband initiatives, hence the convergence of the forum by NITRA, the umbrella association for ICT journalists in Nigeria and watchdog to the growth and development of the industry
Telecom
AMN Activates Starlink Cellular Backhaul Connectivity in Nigeria
Africa Mobile Networks Group (AMN) has said that its first of its base stations in Nigeria to connect to SpaceX’s Starlink constellation is now live and using the LEO satellite network for backhaul connectivity.
It’s the first AMN base station to connect to Starlink since AMN and SpaceX signed a commercial deal in July 2023 to use Starlink for remote base station backhaul connectivity across Africa.
AMN said in a statement that Starlink’s low-latency connectivity enables its multi-carrier RANs to sustainably provide 2G, 3G and 4G services in remote, rural areas of Nigeria. AMN also said it also paves the way for the launch of 5G services, which AMN plans to do before the end of this year.
AMN, which builds, owns, operates and maintains mobile network infrastructure for African mobile network operators, currently operates 1,600 base stations across Nigeria.
The company said it will continue to install new sites throughout 2024 in Nigeria, as well as Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Madagascar, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin and Rwanda. AMN also has operations in Bissau, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Sudan, and Zambia.
Starlink has been commercially available to consumers and enterprise customers since January 2023. Last week, according to a report from Nairametrics, Starlink slashed the price of its internet router by 45%, although its monthly subscription rate remains unchanged. No reason was given, but the report suggests the move may be related to the naira’s recent appreciation against the US dollar and other foreign currencies.
According to figures from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Starlink had over 11,200 subscribers in the country as of the third quarter of 2023 – which also makes it one of the top ISPs in Nigeria, the report said.
Telecom
FG Plans EO to Criminalise Fiber Cable Damage Costing Telcos Billions
Nigeria will criminalize the destruction of broadband fiber cables following repeated complaints by MTN Nigeria Communications Plc and other telecommunications companies that they are losing billions of naira, according to people familiar with the matter.
Federal ministry of works, which supervises federal road constructors, is finalizing the regulation that will be signed as an executive order by President Bola Tinubu, said the people, asking not to be identified as they weren’t authorized to comment.
While there are presently laws against vandalism, the authorities are aiming to regulate construction firms more closely.
The order will enforce stiff penalties on offenders, said the people, declining to provide more details or say when it will be signed.
“Telecom assets are critical backbone that supports the economy across sectors,” said Temitope Ajayi, a senior presidential aide, who noted that the Association of Telecommunications Companies (ATCON) has been demanding the classification for years.
New rules will provide “further assurance that the Nigerian government will protect their investments against vandals and criminal elements.”
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) estimates that the sector will make up more than a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product by the end of 2027, up from 13.5% in the third quarter of last year.
The move will help alleviate pressure on the telecoms sector, which is facing increased operating costs and sales pressures from a sharp depreciation in the currency and a threefold increase in energy prices.
Repairs and revenue losses from damaged cables is estimated to have cost the sector almost 27 billion naira ($23 million) last year alone, documents seen by Bloomberg show.
MTN Nigeria, the biggest wireless operator in Africa’s most-populous nation, and Airtel Africa Plc bore the brunt of the costs, the documents show.
MTN suffered more than 6,000 cuts on its fiber cable last year, the documents show. On Feb. 28, a cut on its network in three different locations by a road construction firm, an oil serving company and someone burning rubbish in a manhole meant customers faced more than five hours of data and voice outages.
The operator relocated 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) of vulnerable fiber cables between 2022 and 2023, at a cost of more than 11 billion naira – enough to build 870 kilometers of new fiber lines to areas without coverage.
A presidential order on the matter would be welcomed, said Tony Izuagbe Emoekpere, president, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria.
“When it comes to communication infrastructure, they are destroyed at will, so we are eagerly awaiting the president’s order,” he said. “It would be a great boost to the industry, and it will also encourage investment.”
Telecom
Telegram Eyes 1Bn Users amidst Political Pressures
Telegram, the messaging giant founded by Pavel Durov and headquartered in Dubai, anticipates hitting a remarkable milestone of one billion active monthly users within the next year.
Durov’s departure from Russia in 2014, prompted by governmental pressures to stifle opposition communities on his VK social media platform, underscores Telegram’s commitment to neutrality despite geopolitical challenges.
With 900 million active users currently, Telegram stands as a beacon of free speech in the digital realm, particularly influential in former Soviet Union republics and pivotal during conflicts like the Russia-Ukraine standoff.
Durov’s staunch advocacy for freedom of expression and opposition to censorship by tech giants like Apple and Google reinforces Telegram’s status as a neutral platform.
Opting for the UAE as its base, Durov cites its neutrality and openness as conducive to Telegram’s ethos, serving both opposition groups and governments alike while maintaining impartiality.
In Durov’s vision, the pursuit of freedom eclipses material gain, shaping Telegram’s trajectory as a bastion of digital liberation.
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