The Chief Executive Officer of Medallion Communications Limited, Engr. Ikechukwu Nnamani has called for the establishment of more data centers across Nigeria, saying this will allow citizens in other parts of the country to enjoy telecom services like those in Lagos, South-West Nigeria.
Nnamani, who made this call today, while speaking at a Innovative Forum organized by the Nigeria Information Technology Reporter Association (NITRA), also advised that stakeholders in the Nigerian Information Communications Technology (ICT) should not limit the availability of Data Center to Lagos, which is less than 15 percent of Nigeria’s population.
“Data centers and other telecom infrastructure play a major role in offering servives to Nigerians. Thus, its availability should not be limited to Lagos, which is less than 15 percent of Nigeria,” he said, warning that doing so would amount to denying other parts of the country, which constitute about 85 percent access to basic Information Communications Technology tools that are being leveraged to drive economy across the world..
Nnamani also note that if the fundamental of ICT infrastructure in Nigeria must grow exponentially, the government through the regulator must encourage investors to set up data center infrastructure in other parts of the country even as global operators are gradually setting up infrastructure in Lagos.
“Having data center across the country will enable the end customers to have the best experience of internet and Internet based applications, which will also help local hosting and local cloud service delivery,” he argued.
Medallion operates the most prominent data center in Nigeria. Dubbed Nigeria’s Telehouse, Medallion is the number one go-to facility for fast, efficient and cost effective datacenter and connectivity services when time to market and affordability is essential.
Its data center is today the most connected facilities in West Africa. It is the region’s number one peering point connecting the sub-region to the rest of the world. Medallions currently have above 90 service providers as its customer.
Medallion hosts the Nigerian Internet Exchange, The Nigeria .ng domain servers, all international submarine fibers, all long-distance service providers in Nigeria, all GSM, CDMA, Fixed Line, and Fixed Wireless service providers, Value Added Service Providers and Premium Rated Service Providers like Google, Facebook, Orange, Sparkle amongst others.