Having surpassed the 30 percent penetration target of the 2013-2018 National Broadband Plan (NBP) approved by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, 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 of the population to over 70 percent in five years.
Pantami inaugurated a 25-member committee of industry experts in Abuja on Tuesday to help achieve this new target, including Funke Opeke, CEO of MainOne Cable Company Limited, as chairperson.
Other members of the committee include 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 secretary.
Pantami said pervasive broadband penetration of over 70 percent population reach would certainly make Nigeria a truly digital economy.
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.
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 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,” he said.
Industry stakeholders applaud this first step, saying that a number of initiatives, including plans to provide adequate lastmile 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.
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 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, would address significantly one of the eight pillars and the remaining seven would 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 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.
Speaking, 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,” she 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 would gulp tens of billions of naira from the national coffers.
But according to a report by the Gregory Kronsten-led team of research analysts at FBN Quest Capital, Nigeria’s internet subscription remains heavily dependent upon mobile networks services. As such, it has become even more necessary to invest in telecoms infrastructure.
Nigeria had over 123 million internet subscriptions via mobile networks in October 2019, according to the NCC.
Olusola Teniola, president, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria, which was inaugurated as part of the committee, told BusinessDay in telephone interview on Tuesday that the committee would 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,” Teniola said.
“Provision of funds for broadband spread is one of the issues that we are going to address, as we look at the failures of the past NBP and prioritise actual objectives that can be backed by available funds,” he said.
Umar Garba Danbatta, 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 adequate broadband infrastructure in place, Danbatta assured that everything else would fall into place, including the ability to deliver healthcare, best quality education even to generations unborn, ability to streamline transportation, meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 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.
