MainOne Chief Executive Officer, Funke Opeke was last week, featured on ‘CNN Marketplace Africa’, a programme, which showcased a delegation from Nigeria as they visited the United States to learn how to improve broadband capabilities in the country.
Designed to expose the delegates to some of the challenges the country must overcome in order to fulfil its broadband potential, CNN Marketplace Africa highlighted some of the challenges encountered in deploying these technologies effectively enough to grow out the infrastructure and reach more Nigerians.
In a sit-down with CNN Marketplace, the CEO underscored Nigeria’s immense broadband capacity thanks to the submarine fibre optic cables currently under-utilized at 10 per cent capacity. She however, believes that the advantages brought by broadband outweigh this, particularly for rural areas. According to her, “One has to consider the enablement that such access to the internet would bring in terms of education, job opportunities, entrepreneurial opportunities, access to social services, and the ability to secure our environment.”
Opeke explained to CNN why groups like this delegation are looking to Western markets for solutions: “The US is still the largest innovator and manufacturer of ICT technologies. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We can take the best practices from other markets and deploy those, which actually gives us the opportunity to leap-frog.”
Watch the full interview below:
