National broadband plan: Speed matters

The federal government and telecommunication practitioners are on the same page that Broadband Internet fosters GDP growth, creates new jobs, spurs innovation and improves public services.

At a special reception organised recently by the Association of Telecommunication Companies in Nigeria (ATCON) for the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, the Minister reiterated federal government’s determination to move forward with the National Broadband Plan, even as he re-emphasised the need for the country to join the comity of nations driven by digital technology.

His remark came on the heel of the address by Lanre Ajayi, president, ATCON, who lamented the slow progress recorded so far in the implementation of the National Broadband Plan. According to him, ‘the plan which aimed to increase broadband penetration in Nigeria from 6% in 2013 to 13% in 2018 has only been able to increase penetration to 10% in 2016, just two years to 2018’. He continued, that ‘most of the timelines in the plan are not met and there is a general poor supervision of the plan implementation.’ On this note, he called for accelerated action on the implementation of the plan.

As a practitioner, he understands the benefits of broadband deployment in the provision and facilitation of government services, education, commerce, entertainment, healthcare, agricultural practices and law enforcement. In a smart city environment for instance, broadband networks enable police, fire and emergency medical personnel to reach to crises more quickly… and countless lives saved.

Although broadband can be defined in many ways, it is generally understood to be a service that enables reliable, high speed transfer of data, voice and video over the internet. According to a World Bank report, Broadband is not just an infrastructure; it is a general purpose technology that can fundamentally restructure an economy.

Speed Matters, a project by the Communication Workers of America emphasised the essence of high speed internet in job creation, global competitiveness and economic growth.

South Korea is one of such countries. With its capital, Seoul, referred to as the “bandwidth capital of the world’ South Korea has pulled ahead of every other country when it comes to broadband internet, in all categories including speed, quality, adoption, price etc and has become the country, than any other, that broadband experts look for solutions.

According to Intel World Ahead, countries must be proactive to achieve the benefits inherent in the deployment of broadband technologies in order to become more competitive in the global marketplace. Governments can lead the way by working with partners to develop plans and progress that encourage the rapid expansion of broadband. Governments must also strive to remove disincentives to network build-out and deployment that are inherent in regulatory systems.

One of the good news that emanated from the special reception program hosted by ATCON for the Honourable Minister is that according to Shittu, the Nigerian government is collaborating with South Korea in the implementation of e-government services. A good beginning to a hopefully, lasting relationship.

 

This article has been contributed by Ndudi Osakwe, consultant, IBG Nigeria and a PhD student, economic geography, University of Ibadan