The Federal Ministry of Science and Technology in Nigeria desires to develop an effective and efficient communication infrastructure. This is in line with resolutions and conclusions on the development of information and communication technologies, infrastructure particularly in developing countries and having fully realized the potentials of ICT as a global tool for a knowledge-based economy.
Mr. Ahmed Rufai the Programme Manager and Assistant Director Space System said “the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), is mandated to implement the national space programme, and we have been waiting for this moment for a very long time.”
Companies that had shown interest are EADS/Astrium of France, ALENIA SPAZIO & TELESPAZIO of Italy, CGWIC of China, ACSAT for BOEING of USA and SSTL of UK.
The satellite will be called NIGCOMSAT-1 and will have the cutting edge features in a competitive market.
Ahmed Rufai revealed that the NIGCOMSAT-1 will have stronger footprints and Centre beams over the African continent.
He also added that “This will entrench the dominance of our service over other satellite providers and better look angles and shorter latency for intra Africa communication traffics.”
The target applications of NIGCOMSAT-1 will be in telecommunications, broadcasting, Internet (Tele-education, Telemedicine, e-Government, e-Commerce, Real-time monitoring services and Navigation and Global Positioning System.
The NIGCOMSAT-1 will boost the economy in the industrial and commercial sectors because of the advancement of technology and terrestrial networks. Another benefit is that the NIGCOMSAT-1 will provide job opportunities to over 150,000 Engineers, Technicians and Telecoms services providers.
Autor: Nontokozo Mhlongo
Quelle: A.N.D. African News Dimension, 23.02.2006
