Nigeria’s Broadband penetration target has now exceeded the 30% benchmark set for it in the National Broadband plan of 2013 to 2018. It currently stands at 33.31% since June 2019.
This was revealed by the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, at the opening of an International Telecommunications Union (ITU) event in Abuja.
Danbatta stated that a framework that would facilitate the deployment of broadband infrastructure all over the country had been developed through licensing Infrastructure Companies (INFRACO). This move is expected to open the country for a 5G trial of services, speed up internet processes and make it faster, according to a Nairametrics report.
More inclusion: The NCC boss disclosed that the next stage was reaching the 774 Local Government Areas of Nigeria via the deployment of metro and intercity fibre and broadband Point of Access in all cities and states. For this advancement to occur, members of academia will be involved as strategic stakeholders in the activities towards developing the telecom sector.
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The steps taken: Danbatta stated that the Research and Development Department of NCC had begun to collaborate with universities and other higher institutions to develop the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector.
“We have put in place, Broadband implementation and Monitoring Committee (BIMC) to monitor the full implementation of the INFRACO projects within the four-year implementation plan. With the development of Smart Cities KPIs by the ITU, it is imperative to have pervasive and ubiquitous broadband infrastructure across all our towns and cities to achieve the objectives of making them smart. We will continue to work hard to ensure that all citizens of Nigeria have access to affordable broadband connection in respective of their circumstances or location.’’
Bako Wakil, Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity, NCC, applauded the programme, saying it would bring the African perspective to the standardisation of the new technologies that support African nations. Wakil also remarked that the African nations could contribute to the standardisation process of the ITU and share ideas that best suit the African nation.
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