Business
By Anthony Isibor
THE Broadband Penetration in Nigeria has reached 48.28% with 92.2m Broadband Subscriptions and Teledensity now at 115.91%, while active voice subscriptions stands at 221.3m and active Internet subscriptions put at 159.6m, according to the May 2023 report of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC.
Prof. Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman said at a media interaction session in Lagos on Wednesday, July 5, 2023, that the national target in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan, NNBP 2013-2018 was to increase broadband penetration from around 6% to 30% by 2018.
Danbatta stated that the commission has continued to face numerous challenges of damage to telecommunications Infrastructure during road construction, vandalism and Insecurity, Quality of Service (QoS), Multiple Taxation and Regulations, Right of Way (RoW) issues and Power Supply.
He recalled that as at the time he was appointed as the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC in August 2015, the federal government had embraced broadband as a catalyst for sustainable development and had introduced NNBP for the fiscal years 2013-2018.
Therefore the task of spearheading the national target fell squarely on NCC as the key driver.
In order to strategically coordinate and align resources and actions to better achieve its mandate and facilitate the emergence of a knowledge-based economy in Nigeria, the commission had to develop a Strategic Vision Plan, SVP; 2015 – 2020, premised on 8 pillars.
In achieving its SVP; 2015 – 2020, the commission was able to surpass the 30% Broadband Penetration by December 2018 and achieved 31.48% instead.
Presenting the commission’s scorecards based on the performance results of each Agenda item under the SVP 1, from 2015-2020, Dambatta noted that as at November 2020, Broadband Penetration had increased to 45.02% .
Fibre Optic Transmission cables have increase from 47,000 km to over 54,725 km.
7 VSAT Gateway Earth Stations have been Licensed to provide Broadband capacity – MTN (3), Main One (2) & Viasat (2)
Provide Guidelines on Commercial Satellite Communications.
6 InFraco’s Licensed with plans to add 38,296 Km of OFC to the transmission.
3G & 4G BTS increased from less than 30,000 to over 53,460
As well as Guidelines on use of TVWS for Broadband deployment
As at November 2020 the commission has also been able to record the following achievements.
Improve Quality of Service, Optimize Usage & Benefit of Spectrum, Promote ICT Innovation & Investment Opportunities, Facilitate Strategic Collaboration and Partnership, Protect & Empower Consumers, Promote Fair Competition & Inclusive Growth, Regulatory Excellence & Operational Efficiency,
Further more, the Commission under Dambatta has been able to increase investment and innovative services leveraging global ICT conferences (i.e. ITU Digital World, GITEX, LEAP Tech Conference in Riyadh in 2021 & 2022, Saudi Arabia, Mobile World Congress etc.) to woo investors into Nigeria’s telecom sector.
So far, Investment profile rose to US$75bn from US$38bn in 2015, and provided 14.13% GDP, amounting to N2.508bn in Q1 of 2023 according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, NBS.
There have also been reductions in RoW cost and ongoing collaborations with the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF.
More Spectrum Opened/26 MVNOs Licensed
In the implementation of 100% last-mile connectivity to tertiary institutions in Nigeria, over N600m spent Telecoms Research, Professorial Chairs and MSMEs initiatives (i.e 7 professorial chairs endowed different universities.
Addressing the issue of multiple taxations and multiple regulations in the industry Building Digital Parks across the six geo-political zones of the country.
Digital capacity, literacy & entrepreneurship training for youths across the country
involvement of young people in indigenous telecom innovation (Over 165 indigenous Tech and start-ups have been provided with support via the Commission’s ICT Innovation and Competition events/Hackathon initiatives.
A.
– July 06, 2023 @ 14:08 GMT |
Tags: Anthony Isibor NCC Prof. Umar Danbatta
