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| Dr. Eugene Juwah, EVC of NCC |
His position is supported by the Secretary General of the
International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Dr. Hamadoun Toure, who also
commended government’s support for broadband connectivity and independent of
telecom regulation.
The plan as unveiled by the Commission confirms the ‘Open Access Model’ earlier indicated by the
Commission as Dr. Juwah presented a clearer perspective to the plan which he
said encompasses the current State Accelerated Broadband Initiative (SABI), and
the Wire Nigeria Initiative (WIN), programmes of the Commission.
“The Open Access Model is expected to help Nigerian’s plug
into the global knowledge grid and stay competitive with other countries,” he
said.
The key elements driving the objective focus on open access
deployment of fibre infrastructure, according to Dr. Juwah, is to achieve high level of penetration
across all geo-political zones, contribute to Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
growth and development of knowledge economy, provide competitive and affordable
pricing, ensure intelligent incentives to support industry players while
equipping Nigeria with leading
infrastructure in Africa
The ultimate imperatives for this objective, he said, is to
realize affordable prizing, high speed connectivity, high level of coverage and
targeted government support.
Dr. Juwah who spoke to an international audience including
Nigeria’s Communications Technology Minister, Mrs. Omobola Johnson,
Representative of the ITU Secretary General, Mr. Desire Karyabwite, the
Secretary of the Africa Telecommunications Union, ATU, Mr. Abdoulkarim
Soumaila, and a wide range of experts and Nigerian stakeholders, said the plan
is focused on accelerated broadband connectivity at affordable costumers.
The message of the ITU Sec. Gen. Dr. Toure was relayed to
the forum on video, where he commended the efforts of the drivers of Nigeria’s
broadband efforts and encouraged the government to support every effort
directed towards broadband availability in Nigeria as this is the focus of the
global ICT community.
Dr. Juwah who dissected a graphic representation of
Nigeria’s model, said the essence of the presentation is to equip stakeholders
and the investor community on the direction of the plan to enable their input
before the implementation, having completed the preliminary studies of the
Nigerian situation.
Dr. Juwah also presented a stakeholder mapping where the
Commission would be responsible for provision of licenses, regulation of
services, facilitation of agreements. This relationship is guided by an
industry structure of the open access model of the type being implemented in
Australia.
In explaining the market service structure in the Nigerian
model, Dr. Juwah said involves provision of non discriminatory broadband access
and services to end users, and provision of a non-discriminatory equal
wholesale broadband connectivity using active infrastructure, while NetCos
build and operate passive infrastructure.
Dr. Juwah said the integration of the SABI and WIN in the
current plan was to expand the horizon in the pursuit of the mandate of the
Commission to promote the provision of modern universal efficient, reliable,
affordable, and easily accessible communications services of the widest range
throughout Nigeria”.
The ITU Sec. Gen had through his representative at the event
emphasized the need for establishment of transparent and effective regulatory
framework and policy for broadband development in Nigeria.
Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson
had earlier assured of the support of
the Federal government towards this initiative with a planned setting up of a
Presidential Committee on Broadband deployment while indicating that
appropriate pricing and availability is critical in achieving universal access
to Broadband, especially in rural areas. Global phenomenon such as the scissors
effect and economic recession pose significant threat to the capacity to finance
broadband infrastructure developments. Stakeholders at the event concluded
among other things that “Broadband would facilitate the growth and availability
of innovative and evolving ICT services which will increase the national GDP.
“Provision of incentives by government will stimulate
investments in Broadband deployment similar to the tax exemption granted to GSM
operators at the inception of GSM mobile services in Nigeria.
“Recent study shows that there is huge demand gap for
broadband services in Nigeria. However, there is insufficient infrastructure to
support the provision of broadband to meet the demand.”
They also concluded that: strong government and political
commitment towards broadband provision is required and that migration to Long
Term Evolution (LTE) technology will require high level investment. It was also
recommended that spectrum congestion will need to be addressed through variety
of available options while 4G frequency spectrum will need to be licensed by
2015.
One of the conclusions reached at the forum hosted by the
NCC as part of the processes for provision of robust broadband services in
Nigeria was that rapid deployment and availability of broadband will lead to
the introduction of innovative services.
Remmy Nweke
... Making SENSE of digital revolution!
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