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THE Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has assured Nigerians of pervasive broadband penetration, irrespective of location. The commission disclosed that it has developed a framework to facilitate the deployment of broadband infrastructure in the country.
NCC said it was conscious of the pivotal role greater broadband penetration would play in actualising deployment of Internet of Things, IoT, devices and smart services in any economy. Umar Danbatta, executive vice chairman, NCC, dropped the hint at the opening session of the First Digital Africa Week, organised by the International Telecommunication Union, ITU.
Danbatta told the gathering that the NCC framework for broadband infrastructure has led to the licensing of six infrastructure companies for North East, North West, South East, South West, South-South and Lagos. He said the process for licensing a seventh InfraCo for the North Central, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has been concluded and the licence ready for award very soon.
The InfraCos are mandated to deploy metro and intercity fibre and broadband point of access with a minimum capacity of 10 gigabyte per second (10 Gbps) across the 774 Local Government Areas of Nigeria. “With the development of Smart Cities Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) by the ITU, it is imperative to have a pervasive and ubiquitous broadband infrastructure across all our towns and cities to achieve the objectives of making them Smart.
“Nigeria has not only achieved but exceeded the 30 percent penetration target set by the National Broadband Plan, NBP, 2013 – 2018 and at the end of June 2019, our broadband penetration stood at 33.31 percent,” he said.
Danbatta further submitted that the NCC would continue to work hard to ensure that all citizens of Nigeria have access to affordable broadband connection irrespective of location. “On the digital transformation agenda of the Federal Government anchored on Availability, Accessibility and Affordability of broadband.
“To actualise full expeditious action on the broadband penetration across the states of Nigeria, we have put in place Broadband Implementation Committee, BIMC, to monitor full implementation of the INFRACO Projects within the four-year implementation plan.
“We have finalised negotiations on the counterpart funding to InfraCos to support the deployment of the broadband infrastructure on which the Smart Services and other emerging technologies will be hosted. This is in tandem with the 8-point agenda of the NCC and declaration of the present administration for the provision of ubiquitous broadband infrastructure across the country in the next level document.”
– Aug. 30, 2019 @ 16:55 GMT |
Tags: We are committed to increasing broadband penetration – NCC
