Glo has all it takes to connect African research institutions for seamless exchange access
Leading West African integrated telecommunications service provider, Globacom, has opened up on its preparedness to drive infrastructure and international partnerships to connect tertiary institutions in Africa.
Explaining more on the capabilities of Globacom, Mr. Folu Aderibigbe, Globacom’s Enterprise Group Commercial coordinator,who spoke at the at the third Annual Conference and fourth Annual General Meeting of the West and Central African Research and Educational Network (WACREN) in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire recently said Globacom is in the forefront of delivering connectivity to organizations and higher institutions in Nigeria, Ghana and Benin Republic in the most effective and cost-efficient manner.
According to him, “With its Glo 1 international submarine fibre-optic cable originating from Europe and crossing through West African countries, Globacom, would love to support WACREN in ensuring all the universities in the region have seamless connectivity to Europe”.
Coming under the theme, “Catalyzing Quality Higher Education and Research”, other experts at the summit include head of Glo1 Ghana, Mr. Joseph Odoi, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Côte d’Ivoire, Prof. Ramata Bakayoko Ly, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Togo, Prof. Broohm, and the Vice President, Agriculture, Human and Social Development Complex, African Development Bank, Dr. Jennifer Blanke, among others.
Earlier in his remarks at the opening ceremony, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Togo, Professor Octave Nicoué Broohm, reiterated the need for countries in the region to step up to the growing need for research in higher institutions by rapidly building digital capacities.
According to him, the government of Togo is currently building Data Centers in state universities and restoring optic fibre cable connections to all universities across Togo.
Another strategic reform being carried out in Togo is the removal of taxes on computers to help facilitate access to ICT and boost research.
Cathrin Stöver, who stood in for GÉANT, Europe’s leading collaboration on e-infrastructure and services for research and education, stressed the need to drive down the cost of bandwidth in the region and added that Geant has connected 42 universities in 15 years with €100s millions in contributions from the European Union and others.
The group is responsible for connecting higher institutions in Africa to Europe to ensure students in Africa have access to knowledge bases from across the world.
