CTO FORUM2013: REVOLUTIONARY PLATFORM FOR NEW TELECOM SECTOR The 2013 edition of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation was an historical event that took many by surprise in the Nigerian telecommunications sector. The event, which kicked off on October 7, running through a three day journey to end on October 9, served as a medium of knowledge impartation of international standard, taking all participating stakeholders in the industry through the awareness, relevance and benefits of exploring the concept of broadband in the telecommunications industry. This years edition of the event, hosted by Nigeria, brought together Ministers, Senior Officials, Regulators, Universal Service Fund Administrators, Operators and Vendors. With the theme; Innovation Through Broadband, the objective of the event, showcased presentations, workshops and sessions that addressed pressing issues faced by stakeholders in the industry with regards increasing usage, enhancing access and rolling out suitable infrastructure. About 225 foreign delegates were converged at the event, which took place at Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, Nigeria. Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr. Eugene Juwah, disclosed earlier at a press conference hosted by the regulatory agency in Abuja on Sunday that the event was expected to accommodate the indicated number of participants. And so was the reality of the prestigious occasion, all through the period. Foreign delegates that participated in the event include 20 ministers responsible for telecommunications in their different countries. The event focused on harnessing broadband to improve access to Information and Communication Technologies among Commonwealth countries. It brought together governments, policy makers, regulators, service providers, investors, telecom fund administrators, and experts in the field of ICT to highlight regional solutions to broadband infrastructure, revenue management and security issues. The forum also demonstrated innovations and benefits that have accrued from broadband implementations. Evolutions like the social media, e-governance, and innovations like cloud computing and the likes were given attention at the forum. While earlier harping on the prospect of the event, the NCC boss said, “For us, the focus on broadband for this forum is a welcome development and a complement to our ongoing efforts to exploit this technology for our future ICT development. We are therefore excited that CTO is giving this focus at this event in Nigeria and we hope the outcome will add value to our aspirations for broadband deployment and affordability.” Fortunately, in line with the EVCs words, the forum offered all participating stakeholders in the industry the opportunity for both public and private sectors to discover how suitable partnerships can hasten ICT development for the benefit of all, including the marginalised across the world. The program was composed of sessions and workshops by a variety of top international speakers, offering stimulating intellectual discussions with practical applications. The Forum was complemented by networking opportunities throughout its period. Among speakers at the forum, who graced the occasion with their wealth of experience in their individual fields of endeavourer included Honourable Omobola Johnson, Minister Of Communications Technology, Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, Nigeria; Dr.EugineEkemefunaJuwah , EVC, CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Malcolm Johnson, Director of the Telecommunications Standardized Bureau, International Telecommunication Union; Jumakandie, Director, Human Capital And Administration, Communications Commission of Kenya; Kai Wulff, Access Field Development Director, Google; Rebecca Zausmer, project Manager, Global Partners; BitangeNdemo, Honorary Chairperson, Alliance for Affordable Internet; Karen Alexander, Web Index Manager, World Wide Web Foundation; Onika N. Makwakwa, head of Consumers, International office for Africa; Honourable KoffiAthor, Administrator, The Ghana Investment Fund For Electronic Communications (GIFEC); Lasantha De Alwis, Director and Head of the Operations Department and Corporate Secretary, CTO; Sonia Jorge, Executive Director, Alliance for Affordable Internet; Robert Pepper, Advisory Council Manager, Alliance for Affordable Internet and Vice President, Global Technology Policy, CISCO; Jenifer Haroon, Principal of Strategy and operations. GOOGLE. Others are SophierHuyer, Executive Director, Women in Global Science and Technology (WISAT), Michael Ikpoki, CEO, MTN, Nigeria; Professor Tim Unwin, Secretery-General, Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization; Gertrude AkapelwaEhueni, Board Chairperson, Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA); Jamie Saunders, Director, Cyber Policy, Foreign Commonwealth office, UK; EbeleOkobi, Global head of Human Rights, YAHOO; Allison Gillworld, Executive Director, Research ICT AFR; John Roman, Director of Broadband and Productivity Policy, INTEL Corporation; Ann Mei Chang, Senior Adviser to Women and Technology Secretarys office of Women Affairs, US Depertment of States and Greg Montjole, Executive Council Secretary, Business Unit, Internet Solution. Nigerias Minister of Communications Technology, HonorableOmobola Johnson, in her address at the forum, noted that, in todays world, it is seen too often the unfortunate examples of things that tear the world apart and so any efforts to leverage commonalities should be value and cooperation should be encouraged in the midst of diversity. This is why, according to her, both hands should be used to grab issue of the “moral agenda” that has been graphically laid out for us over these past few days. According to her, “We have heard from the actual creators of the Internet and can appreciate how much this tool has progressed from being a “good to have“novelty to a “must have” necessity if we are to address our developmental challenges. “We have heard about current drivers of innovation as we consider the needs of a demanding market that seeks novelties like wearable devices and is hungry for the requisite broadband speeds that serve the Internet are all similar examples of innovation driving broadband usage statistics and only the pace of infrastructure roll out can possibly slow this down. “We have heard impassioned pleas to turn “rhetoric into Broadband” if we are to redress the imbalances that keep the poor and un-connected continually marginalized while those that already have access are free to do more, with the relative ease that this technology brings. We have also considered the challenges of rolling out the very expensive infrastructure these technology needs, of managing scarce resources to ensure ubiquitous, reasonably priced access. “We have to use this forum and initiatives like the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), launched right here to bring the expertise together that could positively influence policy, roll out best practices and also conduct the research needed to take the guess work out of our decision making. We have to make more concerted and well thought out efforts to bring the previously unconnected to the Internet just as we roll out the Internet aggressively towards them. Motivating research in various aspects of human language technology such as speech synthesis, speech recognition, natural language understanding and machine translation for human-human and human-machine communication in none-traditional languages will help close the “last six inches of the last mile” as it is termed by one of our respected academics.” Organizations like the ITU and CTO have been indicated as key to formulating policies and helping bring well-placed pressure to bear on the globally popular applications and Internet services that will ultimately benefit the most from the high speed access that we want our citizens and their customers to have. This, she said, “will help to harness relatively untapped resources, badly needed to bridge one of the most basic portions of the Digital Divide, that of inadequate infrastructure.” Throughout the forum, participants acquired knowledge on best practices to emulate and lessons to share if taking a wrong turn along the way. In her conclusion, Omobaola said, “We are all at various stages of development as nations and even more so as ICT proponents but I can think of few organizations that will allow “baby countries” like South Sudan share their ICT development experiences with “older brothers” like Kenya, confident that they will learn something as well as impart some knowledge in the process. Many thanks for sharing and to our esteemed visitors, we wish you all safe travels.”
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 08:43:06 +0000
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