Galaxy Backbone serves as catalyst in building Infrastructure in Nigeria’s Digital Economy

Galaxy Backbone (GBB) has been described as a catalyst in building infrastructure in Nigeria’s digital economy.

This is the nexus of the presentation made recently by Mr Chidi Okpala of Galaxy Backbone Marketing in Abuja at the recent Nigeria Information Reporters Association(NITRA) Growth Conference (2022) held in Lagos with the theme “The Role of Infrastructure in Building A Digital Economy”.

Okpala said that Galaxy Backbone is an integrated ICT services and solutions Limited liability organisation established in 2006, adding that it was created to help the government strategically deploy and manage its IT Infrastructure and operations.

“The mission is to deploy state of the art digital infrastructure for a Digital Nigeria, with a responsibility to drive initiatives for digital inclusion in the public sector, underserved areas, and other stakeholder communities.

“It has also positioned its digital infrastructure platform to enable private businesses and government establishments alike to power their operations in real-in time and on demand,” he said.

He listed the Galaxy Backbone’s Digital Infrastructure Platforms to include Internet Connectivity, Data Center Infrastructure and Unified Communications.

GBB, he said, has a pervasive Fibre connectivity network across the nation, which the private sector can key into.

“We are presently partnering with Real Estates to provide Fibre to the home. GBB provides the Last Mile Fibre for free in designated areas, and the subscribers only need to pay for subscription,” he said.

According to him, the Data Centre Network is underpinned with layered connectivity that comprises of Backbone Network – Abuja Data Center; Kano Data Center; Metro Network- Aggregation 10 rings with MSTP protection; Access Network- Campus WLAN; eLTE Network; OLT,ODN, FTTX in Abuja.

Speaking on 4G eLTE Wireless Penetration across the Country, Okpala said that GBB has several eLTE Base Stations to deepen its connectivity reach via wireless technology, stressing that GBB has partnered with resellers in the Private Sector to deliver this service to their customers at a reduced cost.

Speaking on the Data Centre Infrastructure, he disclosed that GBB operates state-of-the-art Data centre infrastructure for the provision of secure and available Data centre services across the nation.

“It provides the hosting and colocation platform for software/applications and hardware services organizations in the private sector to leverage on. The private sector can always reach out to us for partnerships in this area,” he added.

Okpala underscored that GBB has taken steps to secure public confidence in the use of its Digital Infrastructures, through trusted international third-party attestations, such as: BSI certification to ISO 27001 Information Security Management System standards in 2012;

BSI certification to ISO 20000 IT Service Management standards in 2017; Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Certification PCI DSS (2019);

1st Place Winner of 2013 United Nations Public Service Award for “Promoting Whole of Government Approach to Technology Uptime Institute Certification for Tier 3 Data Centre, 2018;

Ongoing Business Continuity Certification to ISO 22301.

Digital infrastructure providers will thrive through partnerships, while the benefits for the government, he said, will be to build a knowledge economy that will power a great digital economy; to be able to attain the government ICT penetration objectives; to improve the economy of rural/underserved areas, leading to the creation of indirect jobs in the economy.

He stated further that the benefits for the private sector is that it will be able to deliver ICT services to rural areas at a much lower cost than if they were to bear the whole cost; and to attain financial sustainability due to the enabling environment provided by the government.

Digital Infrastructure is the main engine of economic growth; hence he explained, that nations, organisations, are investing hugely on Infrastructure because it powers transformation across industries.

He referenced that Digital Payments is projected to hit 19.89 trillion USD by 2026.

According to Mackinsey, between 2020 and 2025, the epayments market in Africa is set to grow by 150%; totalling $40billion from domestic payments.

Tekedia also stated that E-Commerce in Africa is projected to grow by 56% by 2025.

“Proliferation of POS Businesses – possible death of traditional banking.

“FINTECH industry is expected to grow by 10% year on year until 2025.

“Virtual/Video Conferencing Market is currently at $6.87billion and expected to hit $14.58billion by 2029.

“New opportunities were born; New Skills powered by digital were learnt; Millions of commercially viable content were created;

People dared; Organisations dared e.g Galaxy Backbone,” he stressed.