NIG tasks FG to subsidise Internet bandwidth

A member of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) stakeholder group, the Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) has advocated for a subsidized Internet access through the cost of bandwidth to boost adoption and penetration, reports DigitalSENSE Business News.

President of NIG, Mr. Bayo Banjo made this call in Lagos at the weekend while speaking to DigitalSENSE Business News as part of the event to herald the 2014 Cyber Security Summit which comes up in July this year, saying that subsidizing internet bandwidth delivery is core to internet access.

According to him, Internet holds the key to unemployment, saying that the government of the day as a matter of urgency should subsidise bandwidth cost for at least five years to spur internet access and adoption among Nigerians.

To encourage low income earners, Banjo said the government must subsidise bandwidth access, so as to enable them buy or have internet access, even if it’s by 20 per cent.

“Our problem now with the internet is cost, speed, reliability and availability of devices,” he said, stressing that if all is well as pointed by those in government, “what is stopping the explosion of internet access.”

Mobile operators, he lamented, are currently deploying internet as lip service due to old technologies deployed and cost of bandwidth, saying that it’s only small operators that could deploy with new technologies which are usually per usage.He maintained that government should subsidise delivery of the internet.

“If government is to bring down the cost of deploying the internet, probably the cost will come down coupled with the awareness. It’s something government has to attend to. Government should focus on influencing policy instead of going into this business themselves,” he said.