Ondo partners ATC on digital village infrastructure

The Ondo State Government is currently working with the American Tower Company (ATC) on the establishment of digital villages in the state.

The Chairman, Ondo State Information Technology Agency (SITA), and Senior Special Assistant (SSA), to the Governor on ICT, Olumbe Akinkugbe, who disclosed this at the Nigeria ICT Impact CEO Forum, in Lagos, said the state is building infrastructure to connect people in the rural villages and communities to maintain the cities and promote inclusive growth.

Besides, Akinkugbe informed that Ondo State is one of the first to have a full- fledge agency that is dedicated to technology.

Currently, he said all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), are connected using fibre optics and radio connections with high speed broadband Internet connectivity across all the organs of government in the state.

He informed that the state is also planning to increase broadband penetration for its people to advance technology.

Akinkugbe urged the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), to be purposeful in its engagement with the government to ensure seamless partnership for development.

To move the telecoms sector forward, the SITA Chairman recommended that government at all levels must engage the private sectors and telcos must be involved for rapid growth of all rural communities.

“The government has collaborated with reputable organisations to deploy ICT to the grass root in the state. Ondo state government has collaborated with American Tower Corporation to establish digital villages to bring technology to the rural dwellers across the state, and many youths have been trained on emerging technologies and other various IT skills in Ondo state,” he stated.

He revealed that the Federal Government has granted O’odua Infraco Resource Limited the licence to provide and operate on a wholesale basis in open access metropolitan fibre network to connect the 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state to gain access to 10GBPS broadband Internet capacity.

According to him, stakeholders must earn from the efforts of both the state and federal government connect the unconnected and provide useful suggestions that will assist us to achieve our goals.