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FG to improve communication capacity

•Ahead of CTO conference

MR. John Odey the Minister of Information and Communications has informed that Africa needs investment in bandwidth network infrastructure in order to record all round success in telecommunications. Odey made the statement ahead of the 6th Annual commonwealth telecommunications Organization conference scheduled to hold in Abuja from October 06 to 08 2008.

According to him, investment in ICT infrastructure in Africa has improved dramatically in recent years, representing a total of approximately 10 USD billion in 2007, up from USD 3.5 billion 'in 2000. These figures, he said, reflect an increasingly vibrant private sector investment environment, especially in mobile telephony, which has been stimulated by competition and policy and regulatory reform in most African telecommunication markets. “However, access to ICT services needed for important business, government and consumer applications continue to be either very expensive or not available due to limited broadband network infrastructure investment.”

This challenge, he stated, must be addressed if Africa is to realize its full economic potential and optimize the opportunities that a seamlessly linked and connected Africa will create. “Our capacity to use telecommunications as a tool for accelerated socio-economic development has never been more evident.” He equally revealed the federal government will continue to highlight the importance of telecommunications and ICTs in Africa's economic and social development; examine and share current global ICT trends; develop regulatory frameworks to encourage the creation of a dynamic ICT market in Africa; promote Infrastructure Sharing and facilitate the Business Case for Network Sharing; create effective strategies for the achievement of better coverage and quality of service; promote the inclusiveness of Women and Youth in ICT Development; drive Rural Connectivity, also through innovation; Encourage Capacity Growth for Mobile, Wireless Broadband and Satellite Technology. These, he said, will enable the country to ride on the back of an effective and efficient telecommunications infrastructure; and also connect all the cities, towns and villages, thus, reaching the un-served, underserved and deep rural parts of the nation. The CTO Abuja Conference 2008 is designed to prepare delegates, leaders and stakeholders in the Nigerian and global telecommunications.