Ikechuwku Nnamani Makes Case for Edge Infrastructure, Charges Operators on Networks redesigning

The Chief Executive Officer of Medallion Communications, Ikechukwu Nnamani has charged telecommunications operators on the need to redesign the networks in the country.

Nnamani who made this call at a virtual meeting organized by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) noted that the networks are not properly designed for the future.

He stated that the coronavirus outbreak has exposed the big disconnection between the traffic pattern, content sources, and infrastructure distribution in Nigeria.

As a result, the Medallion Communications Boss has tasked mobile network operators and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) on the need to build on Edge Infrastructure.

Recall, Business Remarks reported last week that communications service providers (CSPs) believe they see a clear opportunity in the emerging edge computing market, while other potential players including public cloud providers and over-the-top (OTT) content players are equally attracted by the prospect of delivering the edge.

Today’s networks, according to him are not properly designed to accommodate the future services that will be run on the networks. Except the networks are redesigned and problems are addressed, there will be issues in the nearest future.

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In his words, “The advent of COVID-19 has brought about digital transformations and an increase in local traffic. There is a disconnect between the way networks are being distributed in the country and locations where traffic is generated.

“This has to do with the voice calling patterns, data traffic patterns, and what people are actually doing with telecoms and ICT services globally and in Nigeria.”

Speaking of the problem, Nnamani stressed that this will continue to impact the quality of service and content delivery to the subscribers if the networks are not redesigned to get the content closer to the end users.

“We will run into problems down the line, if we continue to build on it, without redesigning the networks. Although our local internet traffic is being exchanged here in the country, 80% of the contents are exchanged outside the cities they are generated this leads to network congestion.

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“We need to be mindful of this disconnect, if not all the efforts we are putting in now, even with the National Broadband Plan (NBP) or various investments, results will not be seen.” he explained.

Speaking further, Nnamani disclosed the future of telecom service delivery globally is at the Edge.

He said infrastructures are now been deployed and implemented on the Edge. For a better quality of service, better content delivery, operators needs to be as close enough as possible to their end-users.

“Edge infrastructure is what will drive the economy in the digital Nigeria we are looking forward to.

“If we don’t get it right, we will keep asking ourselves why the quality of service is still poor.” he emphasized.

Medallion Communications CEO also announced that their organization will be spending lots of resources building data-centres for the edge which will be concentrated in various cities in Nigeria.

However, he said “Medallion can’t do it alone. We need others to understand the changing pattern of traffic and how to redesign the networks to be able to get quality content closer to the end-users – our subscribers”.