Godfrey Ikhemuemhe
19 January 2005
EMBATTLED National carrier, NITEL, last week got a lifeline from Huawei Technologies to boost its transmission capacity and offer better services to Nigerians through a Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) project to be executed in one month.
This is coming a few months after China and Nigeria signed a memorandum of understanding on the development of telecom infrastructure.
The project worth about $3 million is a donation to the National Carrier by Huawei, and it is expected to ease traffic congestion on the NITEL network.
Managing Director of Huawei, Mr. John Wang, said that the project would run from Lagos through Benin and Enugu to Portharcourt. Once completed, the project is expected to relieve the shortage of transmission resources between Lagos and Port Harcourt and also provide more bandwitdh and offer more services to Nigerians.
Once equipped with the DWDM optical transmission systems, NITEL would be able to begin wholesale bundling of bandwidth to ISPs and other customers, as well as provide other broadband services.
While describing NITEL as a leading communications giant, Mr. Wang said that the mission of his company is to help NITEL become a successful player in the industry with sustainable growth.
Minister for Communications, Cornelius Adebayo, described the project as part of the efforts of government to rapidly improve on the tele-density for the social and development of the country. He praised the initiative of Huawei and NITEL to collaborate on the project, stressing that it is a testimony to the fact that between them, the two organizations can be of immense benefit to the development of telecommunications services in the country.
Only a few months back, the Federal Government represented by the Ministry of Communications, and the Peoples' Republic of China represented by Huawei Technologies, signed a memorandum of understanding seeking to establish strong partnership and mutual cooperation in the development of telecommunications infrastructure and training in Nigeria.
Chairman of NITEL, Vincent Maduka at the inauguration of the project, said that the modern digital equipment (DWDM) would enhance fibre optic wide band transmission on the NITEL network, and increase/improve voice and data traffic along the Lagos, Enugu and Port Harcourt route, which represents a major lucrative market for NITEL and other service providers.
Maduka used the opportunity of the event to reiterate that NITEL was on course in its privatization sometimes this year. But he contended that despite the planned privatization, the company was determined to improve its services, grow its assets and maintain its leadership position in the provision of traditional and modern telecom services and wholesale provisioning in line with its market position as a national and dominant carrier.
He also described the inauguration of the project as a clear demonstration of investors' confidence in the National carrier.
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