Nigeria: MainOne to Invest N120bn in IT Infrastructure in 10 Years
Having invested $300 million (N60 billion) in Information Technology (IT) infrastructure in Nigeria and in some West African countries since its inception in 2010, MainOne has said the business space where it operates, has the capacity to enable it double its investments to $600 million (N120 billion) in the next five years.
MainOne is a major player in telecommunications and data services in West Africa.
Chief Executive Officer of MainOne, Ms Funke Opeke, made the disclosure in Lagos on Tuesday, while announcing the company's achievements of five years in business as a broadband enabler in Nigeria and other West African countries.
According to Opeke, "MainOne is celebrating five years of leadership in transforming the region’s internet landscape, and has invested $300 million in infrastructure in West Africa in its five years of existence as a business, with an ambition to invest another $300 million in the next five years, which will sum up to $600 million investments in 10 years."
Reeling out the achievements of MainOne in the last five years, Head of Finance at MainOne, Mr. Babatunde Dada said the company's investment of $300 million in five years, covers the establishment of 7,000km submarine cable, establishment of a Tier 111 Data Centre, building a 300km terrestrial network, and the creation of 1000 jobs in the industry, among others.
Speaking on the company’s five year milestone, Opeke explained that the evolution of the company initially started as a submarine cable operator to becoming a full-service business-to-business communications services provider.
According to her, within its five years of operation, the company had made further investments in growing directly and through partnerships, its fiber terrestrial network and Point of Presence (POP) across the region and opened a Tier III Data Centre, MDX-I, which was first of its kind for the region in Lagos earlier this year.
She explained that since inception, MainOne’s objective has been to bridge the digital divide in West Africa and to become the preferred provider of wholesale internet services and enabler of online business within the region.
According to Opeke, it has achieved this with services delivered to seven countries in West Africa, and an impressive list of 500+ major telecom operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), government agencies, large enterprises, and educational institutions, in the region on its network.
"Today, MainOne has the region’s highest active capacity on its submarine cable, and is the No.1 Internet transit provider in West Africa, interconnected with the London Internet Exchange (LINX), Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMIX), Nigerian Internet Exchange (IXPN) and the Ghanaian Internet Exchange (GIX). These achievements have opened up new business opportunities for indigenous enterprises, and positively impacted employment generation," Opeke said.
She added: “Despite the challenges we face in this region, predominantly a dearth and high cost of infrastructure, we are excited about the future prospects in the broadband market and are determined to remain consistent in our resolve to bridging the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world".