Technology leaders canvass deepening of broadband in Nigeria

Technology leaders including several leading CEOs have canvassed ways of deepening broadband penetration in Nigeria ahead of the 2018 deadline to reach thirty five per cent.

Speaking on the theme “driving accelerated broadband penetration in Nigeria” at the third annual BusinessDay broadband summit in Lagos, the technology leaders were of the view that whereas there was a role for the companies, government needs to seek ways of clearing obstacles on the way to attaining the 35 per cent penetration target in less than three years.

Global estimates suggest that a one per cent improvement in broadband penetration is capable to resulting in a 1.3 per cent increase in the GDP growth rate of an emerging economy.

Funke Opeke, CEO of MainOne, the sponsors of the event recalled some achievement recorded in the tenure of former Communications and Technology Minister Omobola Johnson and suggested that Nigeria should build on them, especially in the area of improving right of way access across the country.

Ibrahim Dikko, Vice President for regulatory affairs at Etisalat said the telecommunication firms will continue to require additional frequencies now and in the future and suggested that the Nigerian Communications Commission work harder to resolve the spectrum and frequency challenge of the companies in the sector.

He announced that his company and rival Airtel had entered into a novel pact which allows either of the two to build fibre optic network to a particular location and then allow access to the asset by the other on agreed terms which is helping to improve speed of fibre optic access around the country.

The CEO of Smile Communications Michiel Buitelaar raised issues with using the auction method in allocating technology assets by the government, speaking of how it is happening in many cases that winners are paying more than they should and that this could accelerate the collapse of companies buying these assets because of what he called the winners curse.

Buitelaar suggested a vast enhancement of content like applications targeted at education, health, and entertainment as well as such other such measures capable of increasing the attractions of broadband in Nigeria.

Tawa Bolarin, enterprise director at Airtel said despite the challenges, there were opportunities yet to be taken if companies were to pool resources to secure scale and one area she said this could be done quickly is in improving the availability of fibre optic cables to managed estates in cities across Nigeria.

David Venn, CEO of Spectranet advised the government to seek innovative ways towards the reduction of the cost of equipment and materials required to deepen broadband penetration in the country