Continuous investment in the provision of rural information communications technolocy (ICT) infrastructure is one of the ways to bridge the yawning digital divide in the country, Phase 3 Telecoms has said.
Its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Stanley Jegede, said the deepening of internet connectivity across the country will also promote business and further boost the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The firm is West Africa’s largest independent fibre optic infrastructure and telecoms services provider.
He said the firm is intensifying efforts to achieve its promise of re-defining West Africa’s telecoms landscape through the implementation of more projects in the country’s South-west and Northeast zones. This, he said, are developments geared towards bridging the challenging digital divide and fostering scalable solutions that will see more people and businesses enjoy global standard connectivity solutions.
Jegede said the country’s current economic crisis is not disincentive to its contributions to the rising global ICT initiatives targeted at making the internet accessible to all, especially in the West African sub-region.
He added that telecom providers can also start to confront environmental and market limitations by offering innovative, affordable and scalable solutions that allow more of the unconnected on the continent to access internet connectivity.
“Africa must start to leverage the dividends of connectivity on a far higher scale than it currently does, which heavily impedes earning capacity and economic growth of individuals, institutions, industries and several other businesses thus producing low level of economic contributions on the continent in comparison with other global economies,” he said.