Phase3 Telecom, Africa’s leading independent telecommunications cum technology player, says to fortify the nation’s ICT readiness and foster strong market competitiveness on the continent, enhanced industry collaborations on information communication technology development across sectors are imperative.

This the company posits at a recent conference on next-generation telecommunications technology and systems. Adding that it is also a key objective of the subsequent phase of network investments which will see the company expand its footprint across new routes in the coming months.

It will be recalled that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicated in its Q2 report released on the 26th of August 2022 on Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that the ICT sector contributed 18.44% of the total real GDP. Thus, establishing an upward sector growth trajectory for the third time in three years with Q1 2020 and Q2 2021 being the two other instances.

According to executive chairman, Phase3, Mr. Stanley Jegede, “it cannot be overstated that ICT is both an enabler and service structure with a multiplier economic and social effect, especially in consideration of its immense capabilities. It serves as a major distribution platform for providing public and private services to the citizenry in urban, rural, and underserved areas, as well as the enterprise framework propelling innovation and the connectivity demand for access to market information, financial education, or even health services”.

Consequently, “active collaborations between the federal government, industry regulators, service providers, stakeholders, and end-users are required to stimulate innovative and consistent ICT infrastructure development across the country for an economically and socially sustainable future”.

Those such collaborations are conduits for mitigating impediments to meeting infrastructure demands; connecting a larger portion of the about 51% of unconnected Nigerians according to recent surveys; unlocking the unquantifiable revenue that can be derived from the ICT sector alone and utilized as an enabler to all sectors of the economy as well as to assure the faster implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS).