Galaxy Backbone (GBB) Limited, an information and communications technology service provider wholly owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria, says the plan to lay fiber optic cables across all 36 states in the country and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), will soon come to fruition.
The ICT company has already connected 22 states in Nigeria with digital infrastructure and hopes to expand to the remaining states before the end of 2023.
Mr. Chidi Okpalathe Marketing Manager of Galaxy Backbone Limited, reiterated these plans on Thursday, September 29, 2022 in Lagos during a presentation at the ICT Growth Conference 2.0 organized by the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA).
Okpala, whose presentation emphasized “The role of infrastructure in building a digital economy”, added that having digital infrastructure in the most populous black nation will accelerate the government’s quest for the digital economy.
In his words: “Currently we have the digital infrastructure in 22 states that the private sector can plug into. But our goal is to have infrastructure such as internet connectivity, data center infrastructure and unified communications in all 36 states of the country, including the FCT”.
He further explained that the Galaxy Backbone data center network relies on layered connectivity which includes core network, metro network and access network.
Mr. Okpala also stressed that digital infrastructure providers will thrive through partnerships with government and the private sector.
According to him, with the digital infrastructure in place, the government will be able to build a knowledge economy that will fuel a large digital economy, achieve the government’s ICT penetration targets and improve the economy of rural areas. / poorly served, leading to the creation of indirect networks. jobs in the economy.
The private sector will be able to provide ICT services to rural areas at a much lower cost than if they were to bear the full cost and achieve financial sustainability through the enabling environment provided by the government.
To ensure public confidence in the use of its digital infrastructure, GBB has taken steps through trusted international attestations, such as BSI certification to ISO 27001 Information Security Management System standards. in 2012, BSI Certification to ISO 20000 IT Service Management Standards in 2017. , PCI DSS Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Certification (2019), 1st Place Public Service Award of United Nations 2013 for “Promoting a whole-of-government approach to technology, Uptime Institute certification for Data Center Tier 3, 2018 and ongoing business continuity certification for ISO 22301.
Galaxy Backbone operates state-of-the-art data center infrastructure to deliver secure and available data center services across the country.
GBB also provides the hosting and colocation platform that private sector software/application and hardware services organizations can rely on.