The outgoing Head of Region, Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Lars Linden, has said lack of sufficient bandwidth penetration in Africa, is largely responsible for its under-development. This was at a recent press briefing in Lagos during the familiarisation tour of the incoming Head of Region, Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa.
“Africa still lag behind in technology development because of insufficient bandwidth to connect Africa to the rest of the world.” Mr. Frank Jejdling, said
Africa has experienced several and latest technology product launch, yet the continent, is still under-developed in terms of technology growth because it lacks sufficient bandwidth to drive technology development, he explained.
“Virtually every kind of technology in hardware, software, mobile phone, computers and in telecommunications that have been developed and launched in developed countries of the world, has equally been launched in most Africa countries, yet the digital gap between African countries and developed countries is far apart,” Linden said.
He Cited Nigeria as a country with vast opportunities to bridge the digital divide, Linden said Nigeria could connect Africa to the rest of the world if it could fully utilise that avalanche of broadband capacities that are lying at its seashores.
According to him, “Ericsson is partnering different governments of the world in driving network rollout that will boost technology development, aimed at ensuring that everyone has connectivity.”
In addressing low bandwidth penetration in Nigeria, Ericsson is partnering the federal government to give insight to what is important to fibre and bandwidth development and how government could develop its fibre connectivity to increase bandwidth penetration in the country.
“It is not our duty to invest in infrastructure, but it is our duty to design, build and manage infrastructure for government and corporate organisations and to advise government on the right technology investment that is profitable to embark upon that will drive technology development within the country,” Linden said.
Jejdling, who is pleased to replace Linden, said he would build on the ideas of Linden to further drive development in Nigeria and the rest of Africa, instead of introducing complete new ideas that will derail from the Ericsson’ philosophy.
He however advised the Nigerian government to build a national backbone infrastructure that will help take bandwidth capacities from the shores to hinterland, for effective distribution and use for last-mile and middle-mile connectivity.
He insisted that government has a mandate to build national backbone infrastructure for its citizens, for the growth of mobile broadband in the country, since mobile broadband development in Nigeria will further boost job creation, cloud computing and mobility.
Credit: This Day
