BY the first week of November, 2012, stakeholders in the Nigerian ICT sector would gather in Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, to brainstorm on the NigComSat Bill now before the National Assembly.

The one day forum slated for November 8, is at the auspices of the ICT Publishers Alliance – a group made up of foremost Nigerian ICT trade journal publishers.

The forum is designed to create awareness on the Bill among all stakeholders and the general public with a view to raising public awareness on the formation of the law on NigComSat as conceived by the Bill.

The Bill which seeks to establish NigComSat as a Corporation has been received by the House of Representatives as at March 2012. The Bill is now set for deliberation at the Senate before it will eventually be sent to the President for assent.

If the bill eventually becomes an Act, all assets and liabilities of Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) will be inherited by the new corporation.

NigComSat Limited is a government owned company with the mandate to launch and manage Nigerian Communication Satellites. The company already has a Communication Satellite, NigComSat 1R in orbit and plans to launch two other Satellites, NigComSat 2 and 3.

NigComSat 1R is Africa’s first communication satellite in space with footprints over the entire continent. It is designed to provide backbone connectivity bandwidth for Nigeria and African countries.

Expected at the Forum are stakeholders from the private and public sectors of the economy including heads of MDAs, CEOs of ICT companies, telecom analysts, lawyers, the media, trade industry associations and members of the academic community.