Google, MTN , others strike partnership to drive internet penetration

UCHE AKOLISA
About 76 million Nigerians are connected to the internet in 2014,available statistics have shown. A greater percentage of Nigeria’spopulation of internet users does so on their mobile phones. They use
it to connect with friends, business associates and  to work, createand build businesses.

While about half of the Nigeria’s 150-man population  are connected,about 68 million of Nigerians are yet to have access to internet.Recently, Google in partnership with some  technology companies withshared vision;  MTN Nigeria, the Hong-Kong smartphone maker, Infinixand online retailer, Jumia, struck a deal to drive internetpenetration in Nigeria with the launch of  Android one in Nigeria.

Speaking at the launch in Lagos on Tuesday, the Vice President,Google, Caesar Sengupta, said that Androidone which is being deployedon Infinix Hot 2 smartphones will provide the platform for  Nigerianconsumers to enjoy more access to the internet at affordable priceeven as he promised regular updates of the product.

“Our vision at Google is to organise the world information and make ituniversally accessible and useful, independent of what kind ofsmartphone you have and the ways we do that are through apps,
platforms and connectivity.

“Androidone is our effort to bring to market high quality smartphonesand you get regular updates,” Sengupta said.

Also speaking at the event, the CEO, MTN, Michael Ikpoki, whoexpressed excitement at partnership said that MTN and Google share thesame passion of improving internet connectivity in Africa.

According to Ikpoki, with the new development, about 68,000 Nigerianswho are yet to be connected to the internet would be empowered to doso.

“We share a common passion with Google. Our vision is to lead thedelivery of internet on the continent. We have about 68 millionNigerians who are not connected to the internet and we need to empowermore Nigerians to work and play (with help of the internet).”

Android Lollipop 5.1 runs on the new Infinix Hot 2 smartphone whichis the phone maker’s first Android One device.  Infinix Hot 2 is adual-SIM device with features such as a quad-core MediaTek processor,large 2,200mAh battery(for longer battery life), an FM radio tuner16GB internal memory and comes in black, white, blue, and red even asthe  premium version with 2GB memory comes in gold.