By Prince Osuagwu
Nigeria lit Africa up again Thursday night at the Eko Hotel and Suites Victoria Island Lagos, when the Second National Operator, Globacom commercially launched services of its Glo1 cable in Nigeria.

Glo1 is an undersea cable system connecting Lagos to London with landing stations in 14 African countries and further extending connectivity to all major countries in the world.

The 9,800km-long Glo1 cable which Globacom built  connects Nigeria and 13 other West African countries directly to the United Kingdom with a dedicated extension to the United States of America.

The project has a head start over competition as it seamlessly connects to the already built Glo’s 10,000km fibre optic network in the country to offer a seamless communication from end to end. Perhaps, that could be why the Globacom Chairman, Dr Mike Adenuga Jr, at the launch, declared that “no one else can do this”

Glo 1 is expected to address the bandwidth problem which has hampered seamless telecom services in the West Africa sub-region by providing sufficient broadband capacity for the next twenty to thirty years. This will lead to unprecedented high speed internet services and make telecommunication much faster, more reliable and cheaper for consumers.

The facility is expected to offer comprehensive international communication services  to bridge the digital divide between Nigeria/Africa and the rest of the world.
Business activities that will benefit from the facility include information technology, banking, oil and gas, manufacturing and commerce, entertainment.

The project is also expected to facilitate foreign investment and employment opportunities, boost entertainment industry, e_ banking, disaster management and Call Centre services.

Packages that could be derived from the Glo1 facility included long distance voice, video and data communication services. The submarine cable will also boost e-medicine, including on-line diagnosis and video conferencing during surgery, distance learning, e-commerce and e_governance.

Flagging off the launching, an elated Senate President, David Mark said that the success of Glo1 had sparked off a retrospect into how the Nigerian business men should be encouraged and promised that the Senate would aid the Nigerian business men with a favourable legislative environment to ply their trade.

According to Mark, “ if we had provided the right opportunity for Nigerians ever since, perhaps we would be in the moon today. You can imagine what Mike Adenuga had done single handedly bringing a submarine cable initiative to bear in Nigeria. With good business environment, many would do even more.

But my promise is that me and my members in the National Assembly would provide favourable legislative environment to aid their businesses” he added.

However, Mark was not alone. All the prominent Nigerians attracted by the event, including state governors, Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos, Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, Olagunsoyi Oyinlola of Osun State and Gbenga Daniel of Ogun  State, eulogized the business prowess of Dr Mike Adenuga and the business foresight of Globacom.

In fact it was the eloquent Gov Adams Oshiomhole who after seeing the benefits Nigerians could derive from Glo1, that described Adenuga as a ‘business militant’.

According to Oshiomhole, “in this era of militancy, I think that Globacom should be regarded as a business militant. Yes! Militancy can not only be in the negative direction.

Globacom always tread where other businesses are afraid to try. When other companies told us that per second billing system would not allow Return on Investment, Globacom militantly debuted with it and changed the landscape.

When others were condemning the Nigerian business environment engendering a mass exodus of businesses from Nigeria, like a militant, Dr Adenuga brought his businesses home to show that one can strike gold in Nigeria.

Today when up to 20 and 30 companies are teaming together to land a cable, Globacom, like a militant has landed a massive cable system single handedly. I think that Adenuga is the most successful business militant alive” he added.

The event also attracted the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, who sent a representative and her Ghanaian counterpart Mr Haruna Idrissu .

Also, former Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, was among many captains of industries, particularly in the information technology sector that graced the occasion.