Canadian ICT company, Nortel is opening a new office in Lagos, Nigeria to meet increasing demand for communications in West Africa. The new Lagos office wil enhance Nortel's presence in the region where the company also has offices in Johannesburg, Algiers, Tunis and Cairo.

Technology Consultancy, Ovum forecasts that Africa will add another 200 million telecoms customers by 2013 to the existing 370 million, and over half of this will come from the West Africa region. "End user demand on this scale will require considerable infrastructure investment by service providers, many of whom face challenges in balancing network capacity with growing demand" says Angel Dobardziev, practice leader, Emerging Markets, Ovum.

"Western Africa, including Nigeria, is one of the top 10 fastest growing mobile markets in the world," said Michel Clement, vice president, Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Nortel. "Growth is fuelled by investments in the region's energy producing infrastructure and effective communications plays a major part in economic development and investment progress. Nortel is strongly committed to our customers in Western Africa and the opening of our new office in Lagos will help us serve this region in a faster and more efficient manner."

The recent visit to Lagos by Darryl Edwards, president, Nortel EMEA, to meet customers also highlights the importance of the Nigerian market for Nortel. "There is unparalleled investment in the Nigerian telecommunications market driven mainly by the market demand for wireless services," says Edwards. "Nortel's carrier and enterprise business are also showing significant growth in the country. The new office in Lagos shows that Nortel is firmly established in Nigeria and will allow us to address customer needs directly in-country."

Nortel has been active in Africa since the 1980's, working with carriers, service providers, governments and enterprises to deliver services and solutions, designed to reduce the complexity of communications for its customers. Customers include Sun International, ABSA/Barclays, BHP, Telecom Egypt, Maroc Telecom, Chevron, Exxon Mobile, Sonatrach, Algerian ANESRIF/SNTF and many administrations and universities.

Nortel's new Lagos office will deliver technical and operational support to Nortel enterprise and carrier customers in Western and Central Africa and to CDMA customers such as Movicel, a cellular operator and subsidiary of Angola Telecom; and Multi-Links, the first operator to introduce CDMA 2000 1X technology in Nigeria.