Govt targets improved broadband penetration by 2015

THE Federal Government has unfolded plans to actualise 12 per cent broadband penetration in the country by 2015.

THE Federal Government has unfolded plans to actualise 12 per cent broadband penetration in the country by 2015.

The initiative, according to the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), was in line with the current declaration by the United Nations that countries should put in place broadband strategies that will ensure deeper penetration, availability and affordability by 2015.

NCC said that the country would be exploring the ‘Open Access Model’ for the effective deployment of a national fibre network that would ensure an even platform and playing field for the retail service providers and enhance the achievement of the nation’s ‘e-economy’ objectives.

The Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, revealed this at the just concluded International Telecommunications Union (ITU) world conference 2011, held in Geneva, Switzerland.

Juwah, who said that the open access model would enhance infrastructure sharing among operators in the country, noted that this model was also programmed to forestall current challenges posed by some operational issues and the complexities arising from roles of different agencies, including urban and regional administrative setups which impinge on the right of way of facility deployments.

According to him, with this model, “Nigeria’s expectations by 2015 is to achieve 12 per cent broadband penetration, 80 per cent mobile penetration, two per cent fixed line growth, 34 per cent Internet growth and 12 per cent PC penetration.”

He added: “Going by my knowledge as the industry regulator, it certainly will take very huge local and international investment to achieve these goals. This we believe presents great investment opportunity for serious players. We invite prospective investors to exploit the opportunities presented by Nigeria,” he declared.

Juwah, in a document made available to journalists recently, said that a major attraction to the strategy was that government would offer subsidies to enable broadband services to the under-served and un-served areas of the country, where it might not be economically viable to deploy fibre, adding that the strategy would also ensure that investors reap good returns.

He explained that in using the open access model, the plan was to unbundle the broadband market structure into three layers namely: the passive infrastructure layer, the active infrastructure layer and the retail service layer in an arrangement which would determine the roles to be played by the different types of services providers in the broadband market.

“To ensure vibrancy of the market and prevent dominance, no company will be allowed to play in more than two of the service layers,” he said.

Juwah also said that the implementation of this model would bridge the gaps in broadband deployment, eliminate last mile issues, reduce the price of bandwidth for end users and unlock the market for massive broadband usage in Nigeria.

He affirmed that during the implementation, the Commission would issue licenses in the passive and active layers, while price caps would be implemented in these layers using cost based pricing.

The ITU Secretary-General, Dr. Hamadoun Toure, said: “Nigeria has always made us proud and has consistently taken the lead for upwards of five years.