• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

Update: FG initiates new 5-year national broadband plan

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The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the minister of communications and digital economy, Isa Ali Pantami, has released a new plan for 2020-2025 to boost broadband penetration levels from its present coverage of 37.8 percent to over70 percent population coverage in five years, having surpassed the 30 percent penetration target of the 2013-2018 National Broadband Plan (NBP) approved by the former President, Goodluck Jonathan administration.

The Minister who in Abuja on Tuesday, inaugurated a 25 member committee of industry experts including Funke Opeke, CEO of MainOne Cable Company Limited, as chairperson, Bahir Gwandu, chairman of Commonwealth ITU (International Telecommunications Union) Group, as co-chairman and Ubale Maska, executive commissioner, technical services, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), as the secretary to the committee – to help achieve this new target, said pervasive broadband penetration of over 70 percent population reach will certainly make Nigeria a truly digital economy.

The committee is to develop a new National Broadband Plan that will be the guiding template for the development of this very important area of telecommunications.

“The Committee is to take a critical look at where we are after a painstaking review of the 2013-2018 phase and the status of penetration now. The members are enjoined to also examine the challenges with a view to proffering solutions thereto. They should also look at the position of growing and emerging technologies among others. The new NBP has the collaboration and support of the United Kingdom (UK) Government,” Pantami said.

Industry stakeholders applaud this first step, saying that a number of initiatives including plans to provide adequate last-mile infrastructure should be established and executed timely in order to fast track the development of the ICT sector.

“We need investors to facilitate the build-out of a robust and cost-effective broadband network aimed at increasing internet penetration within the country,” Paul Udochi, a telecoms industry analyst told BusinessDay in a telephone interview.

The inauguration of this new Committee is a follow up to the launch of the National Policy for Digital Economy and Strategy by President Muhammadu Buhari, in November 2019.

The policy has eight pillars among which are developmental regulation, digital literacy and skills, solid infrastructure, service infrastructure, digital services development and production, digital society emerging technologies and indigenous content development.

Pantami has told the committee members to lay emphasis on the third pillar of the national policy which accommodates broadband and data centre, key components for economic growth, and promotion of digital economy.

The Committee’s work, he explained will address significantly one of the eight pillars and the remaining seven will also run as one of this all-important pillar.

“The work of this Committee will go a very long way in supporting the national digital economic policy and strategy for the Federal Government because the digital economy is strategically dominating the world economy today,” he said.

According to Pantami, members of the Committee were selected based on their competence, integrity and professionalism.

Funke Opeke said the target of the committee is to achieve at least 65-70 percent broadband penetration across Nigeria in the next five years, and that the objective is technology neutrality for the right purpose. “The Minister has set the goal and I am sure the NCC is in agreement,” Opeke said.

Industry watchers say that the Federal Government’s determination to boost broadband penetration and expand telecoms infrastructure in line with the new proposed target of 70 percent penetration by 2025 will gulp tens of billions of naira from the federation coffers.

It has become even more necessary to invest in telecoms infrastructure, as a report from the Gregory Kreston-led team of research analysts at FBN Quest Capital shows that ‘Nigeria’s internet subscription remains heavily dependent upon mobile networks services.’

According to the NCC, Nigeria had over 123 million internet subscriptions via mobile networks in October 2019.

Olusola Teniola, president of the   Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria which was inaugurated as part of the committee told BusinessDay in a telephone interview on Tuesday that the committee will sit to decide a realistic target between 65-70 percent depending on the availability of funds.

“We are yet to decide on a realistic target. The United Kingdom government has mandated 65 to 66 percent. However, ATCON members decided 70 percent but the National Policy for Digital Economy report issued by the President in November 2019 states 75 percent. So, we need to harmonise all these, deliberate, and come up with a reasonable target figure,” he said.

Teniola added that funding would be one of the major determinants of a realistic target, saying; “provision of funds for the broadband spread is one of the issues that we are going to address, as we look at the failures of the past NBP and prioritize actual objectives that can be backed by available funds.”

Umar Garba Danbatta, the executive vice-chairman, NCC, said broadband infrastructure remains one of the top priorities of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to ensure people around the world have access to equitable and affordable broadband, wherever they are and whatever the circumstances they are in. With an adequate broadband infrastructure in place, Danbatta assured that everything else will fall into place.

‘‘The ability to deliver healthcare, best quality education even to generations unborn, ability to streamline transportation, meet up with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the ability to transform the economy into a digital one.’’ He pledged the commitment of the board and management of NCC, especially in the area of driving the infrastructure that will ensure that critical mass of ICT adoption in use will in time increase the level of broadband penetration in the country,” Danbatta said.

Besides, Opeke, Gwandu and Maska, the 25-member Committee also has representatives from the academia, NCC, Galaxy Backbone, MTN , Google, NiRA, Defence Space Administration, National Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd (NIGCOMSAT), Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), GSM Association among others.