By Olubunmi Adeniyi
Lagos. April 18, 2013: The emerging migration towards user-created content, social networking and growing wireless technologies form new prospects for broadband penetration in Africa, Funke Opeke, Chief Executive Officer, Main One Cable has said.
She made this observation yesterday at the inaugural West Africa Connect 2013 event, the only executive summit uniting the West African wholesale telecoms market, held in Dakar Senegal.
While Speaking at the keynote panel discussion on the theme: Evaluating Key Developments, Innovation and Growth Opportunities in The West African Wholesale Markets, Opeke says the development of fibre infrastructure by existing and new Internet Service Providers (ISPs) has contributed in no small measure to the continent’s broadband penetration.
She reiterates the significance of reliable connectivity in propelling African economies into the future.
According to her, reliable connectivity revolutionises various sectors of national life such as the development of accessible government services, telemedicine, growth of intelligent transportation systems and the increased prominence of readily accessible and convenient online banking portals.
While projecting into the future of wholesale telecoms in the West African market, the Main One boss explains that the pervasive impact connectivity had on economic activities, businesses, improved educational delivery, standard of living and the revamp of the regional financial sectors.
She shed light on the growth opportunities in wholesale broadband, identifying the increase in new kinds of Internet activity and content-rich broadband applications as potential platforms.
Opeke adds that the Main One cable has helped West Africa to experience explosive growth in teledensity in recent years.
“The company encourages local content development via skills transfer of critical networking technologies and job creation. This has been made possible with the establishment of its Cable Landing Station (CLS) in Nigeria and Ghana and has improved the deployment of broadband infrastructure in West Africa”, she adds.
West Africa Connect 2013 is a gathering of diverse selection of decision makers from West African and international wholesale telecoms markets.
Key discussions and debates on major global telecommunications issues such as Telecommunications growth and development in West Africa, broadband development projects across Nations, cross-border communication, the global growth of the telecoms sector and other critical issues were centre-stage issues at the summit.
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