The big players in Nigeria’s telecommunications market have eyes fixed on future mobile spectrum licensing as they look to push affordable broadband services to rural communities in consonance with the national broadband plan.
“We are looking to participate in future mobile spectrum licensing. We will be availing ourselves more in initiatives aimed at taking broadband services to rural areas”, Wale Goodluck, corporate services executive, MTN Nigeria told BusinessDay at an industry forum in Lagos.
This position explains why there was a general lack of interest amongst GSM operators in the recently concluded 2.3GHz spectrum auction, midwifed by the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). South Africa’s MTN, India’s Airtel, and UAEs’ Etisalat showed little interest in the two-day spectrum auction.
Bitflux Communications Limited, however emerged winner of the auction, with N3.8 billion bid to beat national carrier, Globacom.
Industry analysts are of the view that peharps the spectrum resource in question did not really suit the business model of most GSM networks. In explaining the reason for backing down from the 2.3GHz frequency spectrum auction, Segun Ogunsanya, chief executive officer, Airtel Nigeria, said the telecoms company was more interested in the 700MHz spectrum of digital dividend. The Digital Dividend spectrum band, according to the analysts, seems to be a much better option for telecoms companies (telcos) looking to roll out efficient and reasonably priced broadband services to unserved and underserved communities.
But the spectrum band is expected to be available subsequently, after broadcasters successfully migrate from analogue to digital transmission in 2015.
“The plan for700MHz and 2.5GHz will help to drive mobile broadband”, said Ibrahim Dikko, director, regulatory affairs, Etisalat Nigeria. “The timely release of these resources over the next two years will be critical to our ability to provide efficient broadband services to unserved and underserved areas”, he added.
With the rural telephony project failing to live up to its billing, and the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) foot dragging in terms of project implementation, mobile operators see that the onus really lies on them to connect rural communities to the internet, industry insiders have said.
In view of this situation, operators in Nigeria have renewed calls for more spectrum frequency to support their respective rural expansion initiatives. Analysts say spectrum availability is critical for telcos’ looking to move to the next evolutionary path in wireless communictions – Long Term Evolution (LTE).
“Post 2007 3G license acquisition, we have determined a clear strategy pending when 4G/LTE licenses will be available”, said Osondu Nwokoro, director, regulatory affairs at Airtel Nigeria. According to experts, LTE technology is ideal for rural expansion due to its spectral efficiency, speed and wider coverage.
Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, has a broadband penetration rate of 6 to 8 percent, said the ministry of communications technology.
Nwokoro however feels the broadband penetration is low, further adding that there is need to create massive demand for broadband services. “E-government is a critical area that can help accelerate broadband uptake in rural communities”. According to him, the company is partnering with the Cross River, Kaduna and Osun State governments on e-health initiatives. “If the initiative works out, we will roll out nationwide”, he further added.
Ben Uzor Jr
