‘Inadequate Infrastructure, RoW Charges Hindering Broadband Penetration’

By Emma Okonji

The Chief Operating Officer of MDXi Data Centre, a subsidiary of MainOne Broadband Company, Mr. Gbenga Adegbiji, has said the low level of broadband infrastructure across the country, coupled with the indiscriminate charges on Right of Way (RoW) by state and local government agencies, will pose serious setback to the country’s broadband penetration plan.

The federal government had projected 70 per cent broadband penetration by 2025 as contained in the Nigeria National Broadband Plan (2020-2025).

The broadband plan promises to deliver data download speeds across Nigeria at a minimum of 25Mbps in urban areas, and 10Mbps in rural areas, with effective coverage available to at least 90 per cent of the population and penetration rate of 70 per cent by 2025 at a price not more than N390 per 1GB of data.

The broadband plan also targets the deployment of nationwide fibre coverage to reach all state capitals, and provision of a point of presence in at least 90 per cent of local government headquarters.

It also targets tertiary educational institutions, major hospitals in each state and fibre connectivity at statutory rates of N145/ linear metre for Right of Way (RoW).

Adegbiji who commended the set targets, however said Nigeria still had a long way to go in broadband penetration across the country, even though the country was making some progress in broadband penetration.

In 2001, broadband penetration stood at a paltry six per cent penetration, which rose to 41.18 per cent as at March 30, 2021.

Despite the recorded progress in terms of growth in broadband penetration, Adegbiji who spoke recently on ‘The Morning Show,’ a programme monitored on ARISE NEWS Channel, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers, said there were still inadequate broadband infrastructure in the country.

According to him, “Nigeria has about five broadband companies that berthed their undersea cables at the shores of Lagos, so Nigeria has sufficient broadband capacities at the shores of the country, but less than 10 per cent of that capacity has been distributed in the hinterland because the country lacks the national backbone infrastructure that will transmit broadband capacities from the shores of the country to the hinterlands, where we have people and institutions waiting to be connected to broadband.”

He quoted the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), as saying that Nigeria has about 40 per cent of 4G penetration. Therefore, he deduced that the country still had about 60 per cent non-coverage areas, which he said was a lot ground to be covered.

Adegbiji also raised the challenge of RoW charges, whereby government agencies impose arbitrary fees on telecoms operations, said the development was slowing the pace of broadband infrastructure rollout across the country.

“Most state governments believe that RoW charges are source of income to boost their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), but that is beginning to change, with the recent intervention of the federal government.

“The challenges has caused a lot of setbacks on broadband penetration in the country because several public institutions like schools and hospitals, including recreational centres, are not connected to the internet.

“Most state and local government facilities are not connected to the internet, which is an indication that Nigeria still has a long way to go in broadband penetration,” Adegbiji said.

He explained that the best way to deepen broadband infrastructure and increase digital expansion in the country, was for state governments to allow open access infrastructure rollout, whereby investors in telecoms operations would be allowed to rollout telecoms infrastructure in order to expand telecoms operations and at the same time develop the country.

According to him, MDXi has expanded its data centre operations in Lagos and in most West African countries, in order to produce broadband infrastructure that would help businesses to grow faster and digitally.

He said MDXi built another data centre in Lekki, Lagos, to complement the existing Lagos Data Centre, which has a capacity of 600 racks and four megawatts of energy capacity.