FG in talks with ITU on digital infrastructure

The Federal Government and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have resumed discussion targeted at protecting submarine cables and other digital infrastructure.

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, disclosed this on his X handle. 

ITU, which is headquartered in Geneva, is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for matters related to information and communication technology.

The move to build resilience in the digital infrastructure followed the recent undersea cable cut that disrupted telecommunications in Nigeria and other West African countries.

Tijani was upbeat about the meeting he had with the ITU Deputy Secretary-General, Tomas Lamanauskas, in Geneva.

The Minister wrote: “Following the recent cuts to submarine cables off the coast of West Africa, I spoke about my desire to initiate dialogue on building resilience in our digital infrastructure, so I was pleased to meet with Tomas Lamanauskas, the Deputy Secretary General of the ITU, in Geneva today (Wednesday) to kickstart action on organising regional and global efforts for the protection of submarine cables and other digital infrastructure.

“The Deputy Secretary-General and I discussed the review of global laws with relevant government and private sector stakeholders to ensure the enhancement of global digital resilience plans. We also spoke about building investment models for expanding broadband penetration on a global scale, with Nigeria’s Broadband Alliance and Fibre fund as potential case studies for other global markets.

“As an immediate action point, we will be engaging African countries and partners at a stakeholder roundtable in Abuja, to chart a path towards building resilience in our digital infrastructure which remains a critical backbone for national development.”

It would be recalled that telecommunications subscribers and bank users have been experiencing bad network service as a subsea cable cut in the Atlantic Ocean offshore Cote D’Ivoire, along the coast of West Africa.

This has seriously paralysed digital transactions and internet communications.

Mobile network operators like MTN and some banks attributed the network outage to a subsea cable cut in the Atlantic Ocean but the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said network has been restored.