Lagos, Kano, Abuja,  Benin and Port-Harcourt are among cities that have now been  added to the list of places covered by high-capacity, IP-based services by  Phase3 Telecom in continuation of the expansion and upgrade of its national,  aerial communications backbone.

Phase3 Telecom, Nigeria’s leading provider of carrier services, had in recent months embarked on the expansion and upgrade of its national aerial backbone in order to ensure the availability of abundant capacity for telecommunications services in Nigeria.

Prior to reaching the new cities, the network upgrade and expansion programme by the firm had successfully been completed in many other places including Oshogbo, Asaba, Ilorin, Akure and Abeokuta. The Chief Executive Officer, Phase3 Telecom, Mr. Stanley Jegede, said the firm embarked on the upgrade in view of the increasing need to facilitate the public’s access to International IP networks for the purpose of lower tariffs, lower termination charges and increased competitive pricing on all IP enabled services provided by Telecom operators in Nigeria. All these would be attained using Phase3 Telecom’s reliable IP transmission backbone infrastructure in Nigeria.

He noted that having already established one of the most extensive optic fibre coverage in Nigeria, Phase3 had taken up the challenge to meet the need of the marketplace with respect to capacity and network quality, hence it’s embarking on further network upgrade. Jegede noted that with the increasing use of telecommunication services by government, financial institutions, and many other businesses, there was need for communications backbone with adequate capacity that would meet their needs. Barely over a year ago, Phase3 Telecom said it had sunk over $100m in building its aerial network across Nigeria.

Earlier this year, it began a collaboration with Alheri Engineering Limited, a subsidiary of Dangote Group, to build a one network fibre backbone traversing major towns and cities in the country.”We see challenges in Internet services in many parts of Nigeria due to capacity and bandwidth challenges. Our network upgrade and expansion is designed to address this very challenge.

We have invested heavily on the network to ensure that latest services can be offered to anyone who require them in Nigeria Jegede noted that as an aerial infrastructure, Phase 3 backbone remained one of the best in the country, as it was safe from the incessant cuts thatcharacterize terrestrial optic fibre backbones.