AFFABLE 

The initial investors in the Nigerian telecoms industry were mostly focused on providing voice applications, for obvious reasons. For many years, majority of Nigerians never experienced communications through the phone, whether fixed or mobile, so their hunger for talk over a phone line was understandable and it was quite reasonable for an investor in such an environment to aspire to provide that which is most essential.

It was against this setting that the first few years of the telecommunications boom in the land was voice all the way with an infinitesimal showing of data traffic carriage by the same operators. The mobile telephony was an easy and the most reasonable technology that could bring this essential service to the people fastest and at the most affordable cost.

That there are more than 78 million active lines in Nigeria in the first quarter of 2010 only confirms this thirst and there is little anyone could do to stop Nigerians from talking. They are just like a baby who suddenly regains his/her voice after a long while, the excitement could be imagined. Talking is the most beautiful thing for them.

However, after the celebration of the high numbers, consumers are demanding for more quality services and value added to whatever it is a network has been giving to them. And this has prompted innovativeness and collocation of infrastructures among operators and attracted support services providers.

One company that has evolved over the years as one of the leading providers of fibre optics connection and a veritable traffic carrier for operators across Nigeria and the West Africa sub-region is Phase 3 Telecom. Licensed to provide transmission services in the telecommunications sector, it has in less than five years of its existence become a choice player in the area of its specialisation taking its world class service beyond Nigeria and is now linking West African countries in a rampage that seem to amaze older players in the industry.

The chief executive of Phase 3 Telecom is a young Nigerian entrepreneur with a simple disposition to life and a penchant for quality in this business, Stanley Jegede. He has been variously described as a man on a mission, to transform the telecommunications environment in Nigeria and the entire West Africa.

Dark and tall with a disguising boyish look, Mr. Jegede has more than 10 years experience in the telecommunications industry and enjoys the reputation of being described often as a dynamic telecommunications engineer and this is the same with the similar minds he has assembled at Phase 3.

Managing a long distance telecommunications infrastructure deployment company means that the chief executive of Phase 3 must have a good grasp of the industry and the management of human and material resources of the company to meet the growing intricate customer needs.

Mr. Jegede seems to be quite prepared for this as he holds a Masters degree in Business Information Technology from Middlesex University in London, England. To compliment this , he is also a certified Systems Application Product Expert in Material Management.

The company which name evoke thoughts among clients and the public alike, could simply mean that the industry has entered its third phase after the initial stand alone voice and data communications era and now, the world is at the phase of convergence.

A privately owned long distance telecommunications firm, when Phase3Telecoms announced that it had acquired the High Voltage Telecommunications Infrastructure which belonged to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, it was news. But, the company has continued to make more headline news ever since.

The concessions deal with PHCN entails coverage of the Northwest, Midwest, and Southwest regions of Nigeria, and this will last for a period of 15 years. Simply put, the deal involves the use of optic fiber backbone that will allow mobile telecommunications to transmit data and voice data over long distances.

It is based on agreements as this with the PHCN that Phase 3 can boldly declare that it would run fibre rings around the entire local government areas in Nigeria in no distant future and perhaps extend same to the West Africa sub-region.

Mr. Jegede understands what the telecommunications industry of the future entails and that is why his company is always in the fore front of making propositions that will bring about that change at reasonable cost to all the parties.

When he sat on table to deliver first class connectivity with a company like Alhaeri Engineering, one of the unified licenses holder in Nigeria, it is to make available such a robust facility that will enable traffic to be carried between one part of the country and another. Thus, each time Phase 3 puts pen to paper, it is to help in creating a functional data backbone in Nigeria and beyond.

Part of the objective of Phase 3 to connect the entire Nigeria and foray into the West African territory is embedded in a $200 million budget that the company plans to spend for its optical fiber coverage across Nigeria.

According to Mr. Jegede, over $100 million of this sum has already been spent deploying optical fiber in many cities in Nigeria and providing the needed backbone that had been absent in many towns and cities.

And knowing that operators across the region would need to connect with one another and most businesses in the region have offices across their various borders, Phase 3 in the later part of 2009 announced that it has expanded its network to cover the Republic of Benin and Togo, two countries that share a lot in common with Nigeria.

Ever determined to do what it must do right to connect people of different countries, Phase3 executed an exclusive right of way concession agreement with the Communauté Electrique du Benin (CEB), the authority responsible for the operation of high voltage power lines in both Benin and Togo Republics and agreement document signed by Mr. Djibril Salifou, Director-General of CEB and Mr. Stanley Jegede, CEO of Phase3 on behalf of the Nigerian company.

This expansion into the two West African countries establishes the fact that Phase3’s network becomes the longest regional terrestrial fiber network, linking Nigeria to the Republic of Benin and Togo, with potential for connections to Ghana and Burkina Faso from Togo.

The company also, by this development becomes the first regional fiber optic cable network provider in West Africa to operate national fiber optic cable backbone interconnecting six West African countries, and the number is growing by the day.

On account of this initiative, which Phase3 commenced to expand the aerial national infrastructure in the two countries, the earlier combined length of fiber of Togo and Republic of Benin of 600km is now far above 3,000km and this was achieved in a matter of months of the agreement.

Both countries have as operators most companies that have operations in other neighbouring countries like Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone and with this deployment, Phase 3 hopes to link existing regional telecommunication service providers currently operating in these countries, as well as the transmission needs of operators who plan to interconnect with those in Togo and Benin.

Thus, Jegede’s Phase is positioned as the infrastructure provider for the distribution of broadband services to various locations in these countries, something most of these nations have craved for years before now.

It is on record that the Phase3 aerial infrastructure in Nigeria is deployed on the 330kV and 132kV high voltage lines; whilst aerial infrastructure in Togo and Benin are deployed on 161kV high voltage lines. These regional networks, according to Phase 3, would be equipped with state-of-the-art 10G DWDM systems providing multi services platform for all carriers for layer 1 and layer 2 operations.

When this young telecoms company chief executive sees opportunity to speak concerning the industry in his native Nigeria and the rest of West Africa, he does it with a different kind of passion uncommon to most company executives – he loves to see great things happen in his homeland and he makes them happen.