Telecommunication Companies: Driving Broadband Penetration in Nigeria (part II)

Ikechukwu Nnamani (president) medallion communications and the president, Association of Telecommunication companies in Nigeria in an interview with Businessday Jude Ofoegbu.

Please sir, we will like to know you? I am Engr. Ike chuk wu Nnamani, President/ceo Medallion Communications Limited

Your Ministry or Organization has been adjudged as one of the innovative Companies in Nigeria, how have maintained this feat?

We thank God for every success we have achieved so far and also appreciate the hard work and dedication of our staff. We are a forward looking organization that has been blessed to have insight into the happenings in the telecom and ICT space and the emerging trends in the sector so we put in the work required to make us relevant as the sector develops. We are industry pioneers in the class of services we offer in the space notably datacenter services and interconnect exchange services

What are the remarkable projects or solutions your ministry or organization have been pursuing towards the realization of the 70% penetration target before 2025?

Medallion’s datacenter is rated the most interconnected datacenter in Nigeria. We have enabled peering of networks within Nigeria and ensured that international players are able to localize their contents in Nigeria. A very significant quantity of the internet traffic within the Nigerian Internet Exchange is exchanged within the Medallion datacenter. We are at the forefront of promoting digitization of the economy using broadband as a facilitator

What are some of the challenge’s businesses face in Nigeria that you think require urgent attention of the government?

Multiple taxation, poor funding, and lack of adequate power supply

Do you believe that 5G will affect the GPD of Nigeria economy if fully Installed?

Response: Yes 5G will improve the quality of service to the subscribers, lead to job creation both during the implementation of the infrastructure and post implementation as new classes of service will be developed and offered to the citizens. This will lead to economic development and higher GDP

Sir, what can you say are the consequences of “Covid-19 and End Sars” to Nigerian economy?

Covid-19 is global pandemic that affects not only Nigeria but the rest of the world’s economy. It is estimated it will take a minimum of 3 years from when a solution is found for it for the global economy to fully recover.

How has the government policies affected the growth of ICT in Nigeria?

It has been positive to a large extent. The economy has grown as a result of the contribution of ICT and this is possible because of the government policies. However there are still works to be done in the areas of right of way for laying of fiber infrastructure and adequate funding of the sector

What security measures have you put in place to guide your data services?

I assume you are referring to cyber security and not physical security in this case. We have adequate cyber security policies in place to guide and protect our data against external threats. We also implement the right policies for our staff to ensure no one is compromised since they use handheld devices as work tools.

Sir, as the new president of ATCON, how will you drive your association to achieve the 70% penetration target?

We are fully involved in the 2020-2025 NNBP. We contributed greatly to the creation of the policy and working with both our members and the various government agencies to actualize it.

Sir as the new president of ATCON what are your plans for your Association?

We will be engaging our members to address some of the issues confronting their businesses. We have already started this and several of our members are already benefitting from our intervention on challenges they are facing with various arms of the government and regulatory agencies. We will tackle the challenge of lack of adequate funding that our members are facing hence we have asked that telecom and ICT financing should be given priority by the various arms of government as they draw up intervention funds to confront the covid-19 pandemic.