Danbatta Extols Role of Data Centres in a Digital Economy

The Executive vice chairman, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, has identified Data Centre services as critical in a digitalized economy.

 

He stated this in his keynote speech at the Telecoms Sector Sustainability Forum with the theme: “Mainstreaming Data Centres in the Nigerian Digital Economy” held in Lagos yesterday.

 

Prof. Danbatta who was represented at the event by Dr. Sunday Atu, head Traffic Administration at NCC, said that one of such key roles is the added impetus towards improving the security and reliability of the nation’s digital infrastructure.

 

“The nature and functional model of data centres with special regard to its centralized architecture, with compelling assurance provides greater guarantee against various malicious attacks and unauthorized access to sensitive information.

 

“This is in addition to the efficiency engendered by the robust economies of scale through critical resources shared and made available by Data Centres.

 

“Being able to substantially underwrite some of our critical resource gaps such as weak energy challenges, Operators within the Data Centre space ensure that the well-established and globally accepted tripods of confidentiality, integrity and availability are so seamlessly provided for uptake by users in the most economical way,” he explained.

 

He said that recent developments point to the limitless treasure within this space. “Africa has recently assumed a new frontier and compelling destination for global Big Tech players.

 

“These include such giants as Google with its Equiano subsea fibre cable spanning 15,000 km from Portugal to South Africa with strategic landing points in Nigeria and Namibia and expected to increase connectivity more than five-fold within Nigeria while creating an expected 1.6m jobs.

 

“Also, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is equally at the threshold of launching its own subsea cable called 2Africa in 2024 to connect 16 African countries at an estimated cost of $1bn. It is targeted to generate close to $36bn of economic output within 2 to 3 years of operation.

 

“While these no doubt portends significant socio-economic impacts for Nigeria, it brings to fore the debate around digital sovereignty and the need for national policy and regulatory frameworks to further localize traffic and data,” he said.

 

 

 

According to him, “the Federal Government of Nigeria has taken laudable steps to encourage and support data centres services in the country in its drive to ensure data sovereignty.

 

 

 

“This is encapsulated in the National Digital Economy Policy Strategy (NDEPS) Pillar on Solid Infrastructure which states that; The Government will Promote the Development and Deployment of robust and scalable data center infrastructure.

 

“It therefore goes to show that these centres, and their potential to attract foreign investment remain massive. The global data centre market is worth billions of dollars, and Nigeria is well-positioned to attract a fair share of this investment.

 

The EVC however, noted that by providing a reliable and secure environment for the services Data centres offer within a well nurtured policy and regulatory framework, Nigeria represents an attractive destination for more investment in data centre services and operations. The implication of such investments, he said is in the construction, operation, and maintenance of these data centres can only be imagined.

 

“With the commencement of the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the role and criticality of Data centres become increasing overwhelming. This is underscored by the kind of efficiency derivable when critical resources are shared at costs far significantly smaller than the actual costs of setting up such resources from scratch.

 

“It therefore provides a veritable platform for greater productivity and the attendant national competitiveness for businesses and public sector entities to effectively harness the opportunities to be unlocked from the estimated $1.2 Trillion latent treasure within the AfCFTA continental block through its 1.3 billion people.

 

“The NCC has long recognized the imperatives around the sharing of critical resources within the telecoms industry, particularly in relation to recent engagements on regional roaming with the ECOWAS.

 

“This is underscored by the Commission’s recent guidelines and framework, leading to emergence of collocation and infrastructure sharing entities such as tower companies that rest on this premise.

 

“The Commission has also concluded its framework, and further facilitated the test run on national roaming and active infrastructure sharing to further galvanize efficient roll out through a well-coordinated network optimization and expansion strategies,” he stated.