Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari will soon announce who will be replacing Adebayo Shittu as Minister of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Whoever the mantle falls on needs to focus on a comprehensive broadband strategy, experts have said.
Broadband technology refers to high-speed, higher bandwidth connection to the internet than is offered by a standard telephone. The speeds vary according to the type and level of services offered, broadband services deployed for residential consumers provide faster downstream speeds than upstream speeds.
The two main categories of broadband technology are fixed-line broadband and wireless technologies. Fixed-line solutions communicate through physical networks that provide direct wired connection from customer to service provider. Wireless solutions, on the other hand, use radio or microwave frequencies to provide connections between operator and customer networks.
It is also important to note that just as satellite orbiting the earth provides necessary links for telephone and television, they can also provide links for broadband. Satellite broadband is another form of wireless broadband, and is useful for serving rural or sparsely populated areas.
The Nigerian National Broadband Plan drafted in 2013 which timeline ended in 2018, recognised the critical role and transformative benefits of providing an elaborate broadband infrastructure.
“Because of the diverse nature of the country in terms of class and geography, different technologies must be deployed, including terrestrial wireless networks, optic fibre transmission networks, fibre to the home/premises, DSL systems, satellite systems and fibre/broadband over power lines. This will ensure the provision of solutions tailored to the needs of individual groups or communities,” the plan stated.
The growth and development of digitalisation in Nigeria and the impact it will bring to the national economy depends on the extent of investment and rollout of critical infrastructure.
South Africa’s broadband outcomes were improved only after enabling infrastructure operators such as Dark Fibre Africa and FiberCo, which fostered growth for mobile network operators including Vodacom and Cell C. The South African government also took deliberate steps by investing billions of rand to expand the country’s fibre network. Kenya also built over 6400km cables under its National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI) project and supported operators to build another 5000km.
Although Nigeria managed to attain and exceed the 30 per cent penetration target specified in the plan, much of the promises have not been fulfilled. For instance, the plan promised that the federal government would promote the rapid establishment of recovery agreements and the delivery of additional cable landing points to other coastal states such as Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa and Ondo as soon as possible. It also promised to promote a seamless interconnectivity regime and an Open Access Infrastructure sharing agreement among fibre optics operators in the country.
Under the administration of the previous Minister of ICT, Adebayo Shittu, many experts believe the ministry lost direction, thus the many controversies and challenges that operators within the telecommunication sector, particularly, faced.
For the new minister of ICT, Temitope Osunrinde, Manager, Marketing and Communications at Verraki, said the national broadband plan has to be revisited and Nigeria must work towards speedy implementation. He identified three legs the focus could take for the new minister.
“Discussions around open-access infrastructure, new last mile access networks to connect more people, protection of these infrastructure and smart-city initiatives form the infrastructure leg,” Osunrinde said. “Harmonizing the different telecoms taxes across government levels and scrapping Right of Way costs, fast-tracking use by homes, enterprises, government and its MDAs, research and healthcare institutions plus interventions to support new players form the policy requirement. Content deals with human capacity and other actual outcomes of internet.”
He also recommended exploring ownership of fibre ducts by federating units and Private sector in a PPP mode to accelerate laying of fibre.
“It is critical to explore incentives to accelerate renewable energy to reduce energy cost and partner with creative sector to drive rich relevant local contents for broadband,” he said.
Adedeji Olowe, CEO of Trium Networks and a trustee of Open Banking Nigeria said the new minister must work with Internet service providers (ISPs) and GSM providers to crash the cost of data and improve the speed of internet.
“We should be targeting the same price in India (or even lower) where 1 gigabyte cost about N108 only,” he said. “Government should also see how the cost of cheap smartphones can be reduced – waive the custom duties on phones whose cost is below N10,000 and also see how local smartphones can be assembled in Nigeria.”
He also sees opportunities in leveraging 5G technology which has the potential to perform as well as fixed for fraction of the cost. However, the policy the minister should pursue has to support the rollout of a nationwide optical fibre backbone to ensure that cell-sites and remote outposts can easily be deployed.
“Our young population and high digital adaptation skills puts Nigeria ahead to take advantage of broadband proliferation and create sustainable impact,” Osunrinde said.
