Two States in Nigeria will be the recipient of a metro fibre infrastructure project that will be built in a bid to deepen broadband penetration in Nigeria and accelerate the digital transformation in these parts of the country.
The metro fibre infrastructure project is the brainwork of cable company, MainOne, who in partnership with social networking service company, Facebook, intend to connect more people to broadband internet in Edo State and Ogun State.
Both Edo and Ogun, considered as the fastest growing States in Nigeria, will be home to approximately 750 km terrestrial fibre infrastructure MainOne is building and as well intend to operate.
Benefactors of the partnership
The collaboration between the cable company and the social media firm will birth open-access transport networks which will provide metro fibre connectivity to reach more than 1,000,000 people in Benin City, Abeokuta, Sagamu and 10 other towns.
These will be carried out by the connection of mobile operators’ base stations, Internet Service providers, Points of presence (POPs), and public locations including schools and hospitals.
Benefit of the partnership
The collaboration between Main One and Facebook will further deepen the penetration of broadband internet in Nigeria, and it is believed the experience of both companies in their various markets will ease the process.
With investment from Facebook and support from local regulatory and state authorities, the partnership will leverage MainOne’s strength as a wholesale Telecoms Infrastructure service provider.
“We are working closely with MainOne and other partners to accelerate broadband deployment. In Nigeria, we are bringing together Facebook’s learnings from scaling our global infrastructure with MainOne’s knowledge of the local environment to develop and test new working models for multiple operators to access common infrastructure.” – Ibrahima Ba, Network Investments Lead for Emerging Markets at Facebook
The effort of the authorities in Nigeria and Facebook in ensuring the expansion of internet broadband was lauded by the Chief Executive Officer of MainOne, Funke Opeke. She also affirmed the commitment of MainOne in creating job opportunities and contributing to the growth of West Africa through digital economy.
“MainOne has always been committed to broadband innovation, job creation, as well as growing the digital economy of West Africa.
“We believe that this partnership and the open-access network we have developed will be beneficial to improving the quality of access and accelerating the digital transformation in Ogun and Edo States.” – Opeke
About MainOne
MainOne is a broadband infrastructure company, providing innovative telecoms services and network solutions across West Africa. Since its launch in 2010, MainOne has developed a reputation for providing highly reliable services to major telecom operators, ISPs, government agencies, small to large enterprises, and educational institutions in West Africa. MainOne also owns a data centre subsidiary, MDXi which builds and operates Tier III data centres across West Africa.